Individual differences in susceptibility to false memories for COVID-19 fake news

Exposure to ‘fake news’ can result in false memories, with possible consequences for downstream behaviour. Given the sharp rise in online misinformation during the coronavirus pandemic, it is important to understand the factors that influence the development of false memories. The present study measured susceptibility to false memories following exposure to fabricated news stories about the pandemic in a sample of 3746 participants. We investigated the effect of individual differences in (1) knowledge about COVID-19, (2) engagement with media or discussion about the coronavirus, (3) anxiety about COVID-19 and (4) analytical reasoning. Notably, objectively and subjectively assessed knowledge about COVID-19 were not significantly correlated. Objectively assessed knowledge was associated with fewer false memories but more true memories, suggesting a true discrimination between true and fake news. In contrast, participants who merely believed themselves to be very knowledgeable were more likely to report a memory for true stories, but showed no reduction in false memories. Similarly, individuals who reported high levels of media engagement or anxiety about COVID-19 reported an increase in true (but not false) memories. Finally, higher levels of analytical reasoning were associated with fewer memories for both true and fabricated stories, suggesting a stricter threshold for reporting a memory for any story. These data indicate that false memories can form in response to fake COVID-19 news and that susceptibility to this misinformation is affected by the individual’s knowledge about and interaction with COVID-19 information, as well as their tendency to think critically.

Optimal Contracting with Subjective Evaluation

This paper extends the standard principal–agent model to allow for subjective evaluation. The optimal contract results in more compressed pay relative to the case with verifiable performance measures. Moreover, discrimination against an individual implies lower pay and performance, suggesting that the extent of discrimination as measured after controlling for performance may underestimate the level of true discrimination. Finally, the optimal contract entails the use of bonus pay rather than the threat of dismissal, hence neither “efficiency wages” nor the right to dismiss an employee are necessary ingredients for an optimal incentive contract.

Using Economic Incentives to Distinguish Perception Bias from Discrimination Ability in Taste Tests

Taste test are commonly used to determine if participants can detect a difference between products; however, any test is subject to guessing and a perception bias by the participants. The authors use economic incentives to induce subjects to reveal their perceived tasting abilities and minimize their guessing. The method provides three additional pieces of information: (1) a test of the differences between the products, (2) a measure of the subject's perceived discrimination ability, and (3) a measure of the subject's perception bias with respect to his or her true discrimination ability.

Estimation Errors of Component Spectra Estimated by Means of the Concentration-Spectrum Correlation: Part II

Estimation errors accompanying component spectra calculated by means of the concentration-spectrum correlation method are investigated by theoretical analysis and computer simulations. Discussion is concentrated on a modified version of the method, which operates under the constraint that the sum of all the component concentrations in a sample is unity. In an agreement similar to that for the basic method, which was treated in an earlier paper [Appl. Spectrosc. 43, 74 (1989)], the estimation error consists of a superposition of other component spectra, each multiplied by a weighting factor. In this case, however, the weighting factor is a function of five sample statistics: the averages and the standard deviations of the concentrations of both the objective and the interfering components, and the correlation coefficient of these two components. It is shown again that the nonparametric statistical technique called a bootstrap is useful as a tool of false-true discrimination of the peaks in the estimated spectra.

Extradimensional Shift Learning in Pigeons: Positive and Negative Transfer Produced by Prior Discrimination Training

Four groups of pigeons were trained on a free operant successive discrimination between line-stimuli differing in orientation. The groups differed according to their previous treatment. Two groups had received true discrimination (TD) training with stimuli differing in colour and two groups had received pseudo-discrimination (PD) training. For one pair of groups the line-stimulus that was to become the positive stimulus in the transfer stage of the experiment was superimposed on both colours and in these the subjects given PD training learned the orientation discrimination more readily than those given TD training. In the other pair of groups TD animals learned more readily than PD. These results require us to modify current theories of attentional factors in transfer.