Augmented reality (AR) has been extensively applied to health science education. However, a question still remains as to the optimal way to design AR interfaces to enhance users’ understanding of information that is presented in text format. Utilising the context of indoor air pollution, the current study examines the effects of messages about particulate matter (PM) delivered using different modes of AR visualisation (i.e. overlaying AR visuals onto users’ faces [AR-overlay self] vs. overlaying AR visuals onto users’ surroundings [AR-overlay environment] vs. no use of AR [AR control]). A between-subjects online experiment (N = 306) demonstrated that the AR-overlay environment has a pronounced effect on perceived realism toward 3D-rendered PM, which induced powerful effects on increasing both issue involvement and positive attitudes toward the textual information being presented. Compared to the AR control, the AR-overlay environment demonstrated a serial and positive mediation effect on perceived realism, which subsequently influenced issue involvement and message attitudes. However, overlaying 3D-rendered PM onto one’s face turned out to be a less effective means of eliciting perceived realism. Implications are discussed in the context of how to design effective AR interfaces that can best help users understand health science information.

This study examines how intrinsic message characteristics (i.e. call to action, negative emotions, and informality) drive online information engagement (i.e. the numbers of likes and retweets). We also explore how the veracity of information (i.e. misinformation vs. accurate information) is intertwined with negative emotions in promoting online information engagement. Analyses of 472 tweets demonstrate that tweets with higher anger-laden words were more likely to be retweeted. By contrast, those with higher anxiety-laden words and more informal language were more likely to receive likes. Regarding the interaction between distinct emotions and the veracity of information, the results showed that anger-laden misinformation tended to be retweeted more and received more likes from users whereas anger-laden accurate information received fewer likes. Further, anxiety-laden accurate information received more likes. This study contributes to existing scholarship surrounding online information engagement by illustrating how intrinsic message features are differentially associated with liking and retweeting behaviours. Our findings also provide practical implications on how messages should be tailored to encourage engagement on social media and devise effective countermeasures to curb the potentially detrimental effects of anger when used for the purposes of misinformation.

AI communicators (e.g., AI voice assistants) play an increasingly important role in how individuals receive information, and, sometimes, calling for a more comprehensive understanding of the effectiveness of messages communicated through human and non-human sources. Through a web-based experiment (N = 228), we tested how the persuasive effects of messages are influenced by their format (narrative vs. non-narrative) and the communicator (human voice vs. AI voice) in the scenario of debunking myths about COVID-19 vaccination. The findings revealed that the human communicator was perceived to be more credible and had more influence on participants’ attitude than the AI communicator. Further, the human communicator was particularly persuasive than the AI communicator in delivering a narrative persuasive message, but the effect was not mediated by perceived communicator credibility. The findings augment the literature on narrative persuasion by comparing human and non-human communicators as the delivery source. It also reveals the importance of considering non-human information communicators in research on narrative persuasive messages.

How to combat the spread of misinformation on social media is a long-standing issue in the academic and practical fields, but creating effective correction strategies remains a challenge. Moreover, why people use social media has not been considered in understanding the effects of correction on misperception. Building on existing research, the current study examines two agendas: (a) whether different conditions of correction – no correction, web add-on correction and narrative correction – affect misinformation believability and (b) how different motivations of using social media – receiving news and interaction with other users – moderate the effects of correction types on misperception. The online experiment (N = 171) notes several key findings. Web add-on correction was effective in decreasing belief in misinformation. For those who use social media for social interaction, narrative correction was effective in reducing misperception. These findings revisit the effects of different correction types on beliefs in misinformation by emphasising the features of social media users.

Incivility has been a primary concern of healthy debate in the online environment. Realising the individual and societal impacts of incivility, much research has investigated the role of incivility; however, a consensus has not yet been reached on how it plays a beneficial role in politics. In the current two-wave survey study (N = 933) of Americans in the context of the 2016 presidential election, we revisit the role of online incivility in cross-cutting attention and online/offline political participation with a focus on anxiety, outrage, and pride toward the candidate respondents’ support (i.e. emotions toward the in-group). Our results reveal that in general, online incivility directly increases cross-cutting attention. In addition, when encountering online incivility, people who are anxious about the in-group pay more attention to cross-cutting opinions. Inversely, however, those who feel pride over the in-group do not pay much attention to cross-cutting opinions when facing online incivility. Such cross-cutting attention ultimately leads to online/offline political participation. This study advances the current understanding of inter-group emotions theory by suggesting the intervening roles of distinct emotions toward the in-group.

As smoking has emerged as a health-risk behavior, communication scholars and practitioners have put many efforts into finding out ways to achieve smoking cessation. In this research, participants (N = 57) were randomly assigned to a spatial augmented reality (SAR) condition (3D projection mapping) and 2D flat screen to be exposed to an anti-smoking message. This research provides insightful evidence that the effects of SAR on people’s behavioral intention to spread anti-smoking messages online could be explained by spatial presence and negative emotions. Implications for research on the potential of SAR in terms of emotions and online viral behavioral intentions are discussed.