FAKE NEWS AND UNDERLINED NEUROCOGNITIVE MECHANISMS

Abstract

The notion of fake news and its effect on the public has been widely publicized. Fake news consists of deliberate misinformation spread via traditional print or online social media and may contain false, misleading, imposter, manipulated or fabricated content. Repeating a false claim increases its believability, giving the illusion of truth effect. Multiple neuropsychological theories of awareness emphasize in the process of representation and interpretation of information (meta-representation process), as well as in the cognitive enrichment and subsequent processing (meta-cognitive process). Neuropsychological theories of awareness emphasize the role of an error-monitoring system, which consists of an internal representation of the desired outcome, a feedback related to the outcome, and a comparison between the desired and final outcome. According to the cybernetic model, lack of awareness of one’s goals leads to disorders of willed action characterized by negative symptoms, such as apathy, while lack of awareness of one’s intentions leads to self-monitoring disorders. We may hypothesize that internal representation of the desired outcome, can be based on biologically determined self- or other-deceptive mechanisms. In other words, humans are biased information-seekers that prefer to receive information that confirms their existing views or imagination. The anterior cingulate plays a key role in distinguishing between imagery and perception. In addition, intentions are involved in the monitoring system from the prefrontal cortex, through the hippocampal-endorhinal cortex and the cingulate, and are completed in the basal ganglia and supplementary motor area. Underlined neuropsychological processes, probably based on biologically determined self- or other-deceptive mechanisms, may serve in the development, and even the conservation, of at least some of the social behaviors related to the fake news phenomenon. These underlined neuropsychological mechanisms may support the human tendency for biased information-seeking, or even the evolutionary persistence of that fake news phenomenon.