Xiaoli Nan
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drxnan.bsky.social
Xiaoli Nan
@drxnan.bsky.social
Professor of Communication Science @UMD | persuasion, health communication, misinformation, AI, media effects
🚨New research from our lab! Generative AI and misinformation: a scoping review of the role of generative AI in the generation, detection, mitigation, and impact of misinformation link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Generative AI and misinformation: a scoping review of the role of generative AI in the generation, detection, mitigation, and impact of misinformation - AI & SOCIETY
The rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has introduced both opportunities and challenges in the fight against misinformation. This scoping review synthesizes recent empirical studies to explore the dual role of generative AI—particularly large language models (LLMs)—in the generation, detection, mitigation, and impact of misinformation. Analyzing 24 empirical studies, our review suggests that LLMs can generate highly convincing misinformation, often exploiting cognitive biases and ideological leanings of the audiences, while also demonstrating the ability to detect false claims and enhance users’ resistance to misinformation. Mitigation efforts show mixed results, with personalized corrections proving effective but safeguards inconsistently applied. Additionally, exposure to AI-generated misinformation was found to reduce trust and influence decision-making. This review underscores the need for standardized evaluation metrics, interdisciplinary collaboration, and stronger regulatory measures to ensure the responsible use of generative AI in the information ecosystem.
link.springer.com
September 30, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
WHO joins global health leaders rejecting U.S. acetaminophen warnings www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

@who.int: “no conclusive scientific evidence confirming a possible link.”

"Public health leaders and organizations around the world have been sounding off..."

U.S. become Dark Age Nation
WHO joins global health leaders rejecting U.S. acetaminophen warnings
The World Health Organization is the latest to criticize claims from President Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. linking autism to Tylenol use during pregnancy.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 24, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
We are going to miss the days when the GOP official position on vaccines was that it’s “personal choice “
May 12, 2025 at 1:44 AM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
A new study tested five interventions—including value-based messaging and showcasing conservative scientists—but none increased conservatives’ trust in science, suggesting these attitudes are stable and resistant to brief messaging.
www.nature.com/articles/s41... #ScienceSky #SciComm
Political ideology and trust in scientists in the USA - Nature Human Behaviour
In this Registered Report, Gligorić et al. find that liberals in the USA tend to have higher trust in most scientists compared with conservatives. However, they find no evidence that a series of inter...
www.nature.com
April 14, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
|| New Publication (Nature Communications)

Psychological Booster Shots Targeting Memory​ Increase Long-Term Resistance Against Misinformation
doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Press Release
www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-03...

Key Findings
* Inoculation works
* Effects dissipate
* Booster shots remedy this

(1/10)
March 11, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
As usual on point from @garymarcus.bsky.social . AI as a persuasion agent is a dangerous tool (Gary gives our work as an example, but there's a lot more, see thread) and our best guess should be that the recent Trump Executive Order on AI Bias does not intend to fix it (or fix AI Bias). Thread 1/
Elon Musk’s terrifying vision for AI; short, urgent new piece at Marcus on AI.

I can’t remain silent - and hope you won’t, either.

open.substack.com/pub/garymarc...
Elon Musk’s terrifying vision for AI
All your thoughts belong to him
open.substack.com
February 16, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
Instead of directly correcting false claims, “bypassing” offers an alternative strategy: focus on positive, truthful statements about the same topic. New research suggests it can be very effective and I cover it in more detail here!
substack.com/home/post/p-... #MisinfoResearch
"Bypassing" is a new way to counter misinformation, but how does it work?
A new study found that "bypassing" can counter misinformation without direct confrontation.
substack.com
January 26, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
The spread of misinformation and disinformation top the WEF short-term global risk report for 2025. www.weforum.org/publications...
January 26, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
Juste came across this interesting paper: repetition does not just cause "illusory truth" but also "illusory implications" -- people make inferences on the basis of familiar (illusory) information. @lkfazio.bsky.social @profsanderlinden.bsky.social @ulliecker.bsky.social doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
January 26, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
Our paper "Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries" reached 100 citations today 🤓 (within a year of being published)! Huge thanks to our 258 co-authors.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries
Climate interventions increase beliefs, policy support, and willingness to share information but not higher effort action.
www.science.org
January 17, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
This week's cover and editorial @thelancet.bsky.social on mis- and disinformation's impact on public health
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
January 16, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
When it comes to statistical power, how is Communication Science doing? Sun, Shen, Pan, and Quan’s article: “Toward a More Powerful Experimental Communication Science: An Assessment of Two Decades’ Research (2001–2023)” gives an answer. In short, not so good: doi.org/10.1177/0093...
January 2, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
We have a new paper explaining all the ways you can use natural language processing to analyze text data in @natrevpsych.bsky.social

We provide user friendly recommendations for using NLP to ensure rigour and reproducibility

Here is a free link: www.nature.com/articles/s44...
January 2, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
What lies ahead in global health in 2025? I can't tell you if #H5N1 #birdflu is going to trigger a pandemic, but I can tell you a few things I'm going to be watching in the new year. www.statnews.com/2024/12/26/g...
Three issues to watch in global health in 2025
Three issues to watch in global health in 2025: H5N1 bird flu, mpox, and U.S. influence on the global stage.
www.statnews.com
December 26, 2024 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
This is consistent with a review of 747 COVID papers we published in @nature.com finding that evidence for social science and behavior claims during COVID as very high (16/18 claims were supported) and this research was highly rigorrous (average N= 16,848) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A synthesis of evidence for policy from behavioural science during COVID-19 - Nature
Evaluation of evidence generated to test 19 proposed policy recommendations and guidance for the future.
www.nature.com
December 23, 2024 at 1:00 PM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
New in NHB: An appetizer from the SCORE project. We replicated 29 social science COVID papers. Beginners and more experienced researchers forecasted the replication outcomes following a structured elicitation process and were similarly successful at prediction, ~65%.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
December 23, 2024 at 11:34 AM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
We wrote about this at some length in our paper "Misinformation in and about science".

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
December 22, 2024 at 10:26 PM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
Out now - National Academies consensus report on Understanding and Addressing Misinformation About Science 🧪

It was a privilege to serve as one of the 15 committee members from a wide range of scientific disciplines who put this report together. Quick 🧵1/

www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/und...
December 19, 2024 at 6:20 PM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
🚨Our meta-analysis of the motives associated with conspiracy beliefs has been accepted at Psychological Bulletin!🚨“Reasons to believe: A systematic review and meta-analytic synthesis of the motives associated with conspiracy beliefs” osf.io/preprints/ps... 🧵👇 1/16
December 17, 2024 at 2:27 PM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
Pleased to share the latest version of my paper with Arthur Spirling and @lexipalmer.bsky.social on replication using LMs

We show:

1. current applications of LMs in political science research *don't* meet basic standards of reproducibility...
December 17, 2024 at 7:50 PM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
Conspiracy theory believers who interacted with an AI chatbot that asked them to reflect on the uncertainties of their beliefs had significantly less conviction in their conspiracy theory beliefs.
misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/usin... #MisinfoResearch
Using an AI-powered “street epistemologist” chatbot and reflection tasks to diminish conspiracy theory beliefs | HKS Misinformation Review
Social scientists, journalists, and policymakers are increasingly interested in methods to mitigate or reverse the public’s beliefs in conspiracy theories, particularly those associated with negative ...
misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu
December 17, 2024 at 5:12 PM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
🚨In Science🚨
Conspiracy beliefs famously resist correction, ya?
WRONG: We show brief convos w GPT4 reduce conspiracy beliefs by ~20%!
-Lasts over 2mo
-Works on entrenched beliefs
-Tailored AI response rebuts specific evidence offered by believers
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
1/
[X->BSky repost]
December 16, 2024 at 7:29 PM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
In this new article in American Psychologist we respond to critics in detail and clarify two key points for the field;

(1) The prevalence of misinformation in society is substantial when properly defined.

(2) Misinformation causally impacts attitudes and behaviors.

psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...
December 16, 2024 at 11:16 AM
Reposted by Xiaoli Nan
December 15, 2024 at 5:23 PM