Conflicting health information can compromise our attention

By Emily Reynolds We get our information about health from many sources. Sometimes we seek advice from doctors or other medical professionals; sometimes we talk to friends or family; we read newspapers and watch TV; and we diagnose ourselves with rare and alarming afflictions with the help of the internet. In some ways, this variety offers a democratisation of knowledge, a way for more of us to understand what’s going on with our health. But what happens when this information contradicts itself? This is the subject of a new study from a team at Rutgers University, published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine. Participants were first asked to read an article focused on whole grain intake and the health benefits of such food. In one condition, participants were shown positions on the topic that were congruent, reading that experts agreed whole grains were indeed healthy. In the other condition, participants read that experts disagreed about whether there were positive outcomes from eating whole grains. They then took part in a game designed to test attention, in which they had to indicate as quickly as possible the direction of a target arrow, displayed among distractor arrows. Following the game, participants rated how mentally demanding the task was, and indicated how confused they were about which foods are best to eat and how bored and tired they were of hearing about what foods are best to eat. Those who had read conflicting health information h...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Cognition Decision making Health Source Type: blogs