This episode introduces 2023 paper presented at the ACM SIGIR Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval. This research was conducted by PhD students Li Shi, Nilavra Bhattacharya and Anubrata Das under supervision of Dr. Jacek Gwizdka and Dr. Matt Lease.

Shi, L., Bhattacharya, N., Das, A., & Gwizdka, J. (2023). True or false? Cognitive load when reading COVID-19 news headlines: an eye-tracking study. Proceedings of the 2023 Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval, 107–116. https://doi.org/10.1145/3576840.3578290

This podcast discussion summarizes a study using eye-tracking to examine how people process online information. The research reveals position bias, where information presented first receives disproportionate attention. Pupil dilation indicated increased cognitive effort when encountering information contradicting personal beliefs or presenting incorrect evidence, especially when aligning with pre-existing biases. Interestingly, belief changes didn't significantly impact cognitive load. The study highlights how our brains prioritize information confirming existing beliefs, even if inaccurate, emphasizing the need for critical thinking and awareness of cognitive biases.

IX Lab website: https://ixlab.us/

Dr. Jacek Gwizdka website: https://jacekg.ischool.utexas.edu/

The audio for this conversation has been generated by AI using: https://notebooklm.google/

Music intro created by a human (C) Jacek Gwizdka