MSGID: 1:317/3 6270b031   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Aging and fake news: It's not the story you think it is    
      
     Date:   
         May 2, 2022   
     Source:   
         University of Florida   
     Summary:   
         A new study has found that older adults are no more likely to fall   
         for fake news than younger adults, with age-related susceptibility   
         to deceptive news evident only among those categorized as the   
         'oldest old.'   
      
      
   FULL STORY   
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   Not being able to distinguish fake news from real news can have serious   
   consequences for a person's physical, emotional and financial well-being -   
   - especially for older adults, who in general have more financial assets   
   and must make more high-stakes health decisions.   
      
      
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   So how good are older adults at detecting fake news?  A new study has   
   found that older adults are no more likely to fall for fake news than   
   younger adults, with age-related susceptibility to deceptive news evident   
   only among those categorized as the "oldest old."  The study, conducted   
   by researchers at the University of Florida (UF) and the University of   
   Central Florida during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, was   
   published May 2 online by the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.   
      
   The research is the first to delineate the role of analytical reasoning,   
   affect and news consumption frequency on detection of fake news in   
   older adults across a broad age range as well as in direct comparison   
   to young adults.   
      
   "We wanted to see if there was an age difference in determining whether   
   news is true versus false," said Didem Pehlivanoglu, lead author and   
   a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology at UF. "We   
   specifically wanted to look at this because we know that with aging most   
   people show some decline in their cognitive abilities. But we also know   
   some information processing abilities are preserved or even improved."   
   The research is scant regarding older adults' susceptibility to fake news   
   and what factors might aid or impair a person's ability to judge the   
   veracity of information. Raising concern, some previous work suggested   
   that older adults shared false information over social media more often   
   than did young adults during the 2016 presidential election. And the   
   dramatic increase in misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic has   
   heightened concern, given that the virus has been particularly deadly   
   for older adults.   
      
      
      
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   But is that warranted? "People have this perception that older adults are   
   going to perform worse than young adults across the board but that is not   
   the case," said Brian Cahill, a co-author and psychology professor at UF.   
      
   While many people show cognitive decline as they age, it is also true   
   that with age comes a broader knowledge base, more life experience and,   
   often, more positive affect. As a group, older adults also tend to   
   consume more news than younger adults. These factors may filter and   
   contextualize information processing in older adults.   
      
   The researchers set out to explore age differences in the ability   
   to identify fake news and how analytical reasoning, affect and news   
   consumption frequency effected that ability. The study was conducted   
   between May and October of 2020; the older adults ranged in age from 61   
   to 87 years and the younger adults were college students.   
      
   In the study, participants read and evaluated 12 full-length news articles   
   about COVID and non-COVID topics, with six real and six fake stories in   
   each category. After reading an article, participants were asked such   
   questions as whether the article was real or fake and how confident they   
   were in their decision.   
      
   The researchers then measured the participants' analytical reasoning   
   skills, affect and news consumption frequency.   
      
      
      
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   They found that the ability to detect fake news was comparable between   
   young and older adults. Determining an article was fake was related   
   to individual differences in analytical reasoning skills for both age   
   groups. Also, both young and older adults showed a lower ability to   
   detect fake COVID news compared to everyday fake news, which may reflect   
   low familiarity with information related to COVID at the beginning of   
   the pandemic.   
      
   Importantly, however, the more elderly older adults -- that is those   
   individuals age 70 years or older -- showed a reduced ability to detect   
   fake news, whether about COVID or another topic, and that decreased   
   ability was associated with levels of analytical reasoning, affect and   
   news consumption frequency.   
      
   Adults in the 70+ age group who had greater positive affect and   
   who frequently consumed news were most likely to engage in "shallow"   
   information processing, including not looking as closely at information   
   or paying attention to details.   
      
   It may only be in very late old age, at a time in life when declines   
   in cognitive abilities cannot be compensated for anymore by gains in   
   life experience and world knowledge that individuals become particularly   
   vulnerable to deception via misinformation and fake news, the researchers   
   said in the study.   
      
   "It is a particularly high-risk population with high stakes for wrong   
   decision making, not just for themselves but also for society at large,"   
   said Natalie Ebner, a co-author and psychology professor at UF.   
      
   The findings have the potential to influence design of decision-supportive   
   interventions to enhance news communication and reduce misinformation   
   across the lifespan and in aging, the team said.   
      
      
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   Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Florida. Original   
   written by Brooke Adams.   
      
   Note: Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Didem Pehlivanoglu, Nichole R. Lighthall, Tian Lin, Kevin J. Chi,   
      Rebecca   
         Polk, Eliany Perez, Brian S. Cahill, Natalie C. Ebner. Aging in an   
         "infodemic": The role of analytical reasoning, affect, and news   
         consumption frequency on news veracity detection.. Journal of   
         Experimental Psychology: Applied, 2022; DOI: 10.1037/xap0000426   
   ==========================================================================   
      
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220502142230.htm   
      
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