Abstract:
The development of technologies aimed at people’s daily communication allows
for greater access to information. However, much of this content is the result
of disinformation campaigns. Despite efforts to combat fake news, how people
read content to identify false messages and make decisions is still not well
understood. This study aims to use eye-tracking technology to identify and
understand differences in the reading patterns of fake news and real/authentic
news sources. Therefore, an experiment was conducted with 23 participants, who
had their ocular behavior data measured while watching two types of content
in the Brazilian scenario: real news and artificially produced news (fake news).
The main results suggest differences and similarities in the way that people read
and pay attention to content elements, such as headlines, main text, images, and
news sources. The importance of using eye tracking in new studies aimed at
combating disinformation is verified.