The UTC Graduate School is pleased to announce that Hannah Daugherty will present Master’s research titled, Decoding Belief: Neural Mechanisms of Conspiracy Message Evaluation on 03/04/2026 at 2 pm in 540 McCallie Building Room 394. Everyone is invited to attend.
Psychology
Chair: Ricardo Wilhelm
Co-Chair:
Abstract:
Conspiracy theories offer alternative explanations for significant events, often proliferating rapidly online and challenging individuals’ ability to judge message credibility accurately. Although behavioral factors influencing belief in conspiracy theories have been extensively studied, little is known about the real-time neural mechanisms underlying these credibility judgments. This study will leverage the high temporal resolution of electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine neural correlates of message evaluation processes. Specifically, participants will complete a conspiracy message evaluation task (CMET) under varying message content (conspiracy vs. true) and social credibility conditions (high, ambiguous, none). ERP analyses will focus on cognitive processing (N400), cognitive control (N2, P3), error monitoring (ERN), and emotion regulation (LPP). Additionally, resting-state EEG measures will be collected to explore baseline predictors of emotional regulation during message evaluation. Findings from this study will advance theoretical understanding of misinformation processing and inform practical interventions aimed at enhancing critical evaluation and mitigating susceptibility to misinformation.