Department of Psychology, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Caserta, Italy.
Inmates Ward, Department of Internal Medicine, Antonio Cardarelli Hospital, Naples, Italy.
Brain Behav. 2023 Jan;13(1):e2815. doi: 10.1002/brb3.2815. Epub 2022 Nov 30.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was accompanied by an overabundance of fake news increasing the risk of developing false memories (FMs). Previous studies have shown that the relationship between fake news and FMs could be mediated by some individual variables, including attitudinal biases. We explored the role of these variables in true memories (TMs) and FMs formation, with special emphasis on vaccine- and Green Pass (GP)-related topics.
We set up a large online survey exploring several constructs including media usage, attitude toward vaccines and GP, perceived (PK) and objective knowledge (OK) about COVID-19-related information, fear of the disease, depression and anxiety symptoms, coping mechanisms, and reasoning skills. Then, we asked participants whether they remembered certain news (true or fake), providing confidence ratings.
Data from 289 respondents (198 females) from the general population were analyzed. Participants with positive attitude reported a greater fear that their loved ones contracted the COVID-19, a more frequent use of traditional media, and a higher PK when compared with respondents with negative attitude. On the whole sample, participants reported higher confidence levels when required to judge their memory of true than fake news; however, participants with positive attitude reported a higher confidence for both true and fake news. The relationship between attitude and TM confidence was mediated by the PK, whereas the relationship between attitude and FM confidence was probably affected by OK.
Attitude can modulate individual behaviors in the context of health issues. The PK and OK may interact with attitude in the memory formation.
2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行伴随着大量虚假新闻的出现，增加了产生错误记忆（FM）的风险。先前的研究表明，虚假新闻和 FM 之间的关系可能受到一些个体变量的影响，包括态度偏见。我们探讨了这些变量在真实记忆（TM）和 FM 形成中的作用，特别强调了与疫苗和绿码（GP）相关的话题。
我们进行了一项大型在线调查，调查了包括媒体使用、对疫苗和 GP 的态度、对 COVID-19 相关信息的感知（PK）和客观知识（OK）、对疾病的恐惧、抑郁和焦虑症状、应对机制和推理技能等多个构念。然后，我们询问参与者是否记得某些新闻（真实或虚假），并提供置信度评级。
对来自普通人群的 289 名受访者（198 名女性）的数据进行了分析。与持负面态度的受访者相比，持积极态度的参与者报告说，他们更担心亲人感染 COVID-19，更频繁地使用传统媒体，对 PK 的认识也更高。在整个样本中，参与者报告说，在需要判断他们对真实新闻和虚假新闻的记忆时，他们的置信度水平更高；然而，持积极态度的参与者对真实和虚假新闻的置信度都更高。态度和 TM 置信度之间的关系是由 PK 介导的，而态度和 FM 置信度之间的关系可能受到 OK 的影响。
态度可以调节个人在健康问题方面的行为。PK 和 OK 可能会与态度相互作用，影响记忆的形成。
