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Abstract
Social media tends to use “catchy” headlines to intentionally get people to click news. However, clickbait headlines can erode readers’ trust and devalue news. To combat clickbait, it is necessary to understand how clickbait headlines influence readers’ clicking behavior and attention allocation. In this study, the researchers first collected headlines of news stories that had different amount and duration of media coverage, then identified whether these headlines include forward-reference strategies, and conducted an EEG experiment based on N2b and P3a. The results showed that the clickbait headlines with a forward-reference device attracted more attention resources and induced the involuntary attention allocation more quickly, compared with those without a forward-reference device. Unexpectedly, whether the news stories were top news stories or non-top news stories didn’t significantly influence the attention allocation.
Ethical approval
Ethical approval was obtained by Chongqing University. Written informed consent to participate in this study was obtained from all participates.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Xin Li
Xin Li has been registered as a full-time student in the Master’s degree program in the College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering at Chongqing University. His research focuses on clickbait and cognitive process of attention.
Jia Zhou
Jia Zhou is an associate professor in the School of Management Science and Real Estate at Chongqing University. Her research interests include Human-Computer Interaction, digital footprint, information processing and misinformation detection.
Honglian Xiang
Honglian Xiang is a PhD student in the School of Management Science and Real Estate at Chongqing University and major in management science and engineering at Chongqing University. Her research focuses on older adults’ vulnerability to misinformation and fraud.
Jingjing Cao
Jingjing Cao has been registered as a full-time student in the Master’s degree program in the School of Management Science and Real Estate at Chongqing University. Her research focuses on older adults’ spatial congition.