Digest Research riporta i risultati di uno studio che ha esaminato l’impatto delle informazioni su salute e benessere sulle capacità cognitive delle persone. Il fatto che esistono posizioni diverse sulla salutarietà di alcuni alimenti sembra far diminuire la nostra capacità di attenzione, e induce reazioni emotive negative verso altre informazioni sull’argomento.

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.

I soggetti sottoposti a informazioni conflittuali circa i benefici della farina integrale hanno mostrato maggiori difficoltà nel superare il test di attenzione, e hanno esternato emozioni più forti e negative, quando si trattava di giudicare l’impatto delle informazioni nutritive sulla propria salute.

So how do we stop people from being overwhelmed by conflicting information? The team suggests that, in a clinical setting, health practitioners should seek to understand whether patients have been exposed to inconsistent messages, and help them clarify what they believe and why. More broadly, educational programmes that help people understand how best to analyse information could also ease some of the attentional demand of conflicting advice. And while we can’t prevent exposure to all forms of conflicting health information, the study may be one motivation to stop those anxiety-inducing Google self-diagnosis spirals.