Lisa Fazio
Associate Professor of Psychology and Human Development | Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN, UNITED STATES
Expert on how people process true and false information, and how to mitigate the effects of reading and sharing false information.
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Biography
Lisa Fazio's research is focused on how the brain learns new information, and why our minds are susceptible to misinformation and lies.
Her research answers questions such as:
•How does the brain process information - both true and false?
•How can we prevent the sharing of false information online?
•How do people learn simple facts and more complex knowledge such as mathematical procedures?
•What can teachers and students do to improve learning within and outside the classroom?
•How do students learn incorrect information and how can those errors be corrected?
Her research informs basic theories about learning and memory, while also having clear applications for practitioners, such as journalists and teachers.
Areas of Expertise (15)
How to prevent sharing false information online
Lies
Fake News
Developmental Science
Cognition
Cognitive Neuroscience
Learning & Memory
Development of mathematics understanding
The effects of giving and receiving feedback
Applying cognitive science to educational issues
Instability of general knowledge
How people learn true and false information
Why people believe false information
Fact checking
Memory
Accomplishments (6)
Beyond the Ivory Tower 2020 Fellow
Lisa Fazio is among the latest cohort of fellows for the Beyond the Ivory Tower writing workshop, hosted by the Templeton Foundation and New York Times contributor James Ryerson.
Outstanding Presentation Award, Midwest Cognitive Science Conference
2018
frank Research Prize in Public Interest Communications
2017
Junior Faculty Teaching Fellow, Vanderbilt University
2016
APA Dissertation Research Award,
2008
James B. Duke Graduate Fellowship Recipient
2004 - 2008
Education (2)
Duke University: Ph.D., Department of Psychology and Neuroscience 2010
Washington University in St. Louis: B.A., Department of Psychology 2004
Links (3)
Selected Media Appearances (10)
Why Disasters Like Hurricanes Milton and Helene Unleash So Much Misinformation
Scientific American online
2024-10-11
“You always see misinformation after disasters,” says Lisa Fazio, an associate professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University. “You don’t always see national political figures being the ones spreading that misinformation.”
How to deal with misinformation about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump
Marketplace radio
2024-07-18
FBI officials are still looking into what motivated the 20-year-old gunman who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump on Saturday. Marketplace’s senior Washington correspondent, Kimberly Adams, speaks with Molly Dwyer, director of insights at PeakMetrics, and Lisa Fazio, associate professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University, about the false narratives surrounding the shooting and how to separate fact from fiction in the aftermath of a violent event.
From the ’60s till now, TV news coverage of large-scale university protests doesn’t look so different
The Conversation online
2024-07-10
While much has changed over the past 50 years, evening television news remains a prominent source of information for Americans. I am a scholar of psychology and study how people learn information from the world around them. I was struck by how the recent televised segments of college campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza brought to mind images from other student movements in the United States – particularly the widespread campus protests in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
How to Trust Your Brain Online
The Atlantic radio
2024-05-27
Co-hosts Megan Garber and Andrea Valdez explore the web’s effects on our brains and how narrative, repetition, and even a focus on replaying memories can muddy our ability to separate fact from fiction. How do we come to believe the things we do? Why do conspiracy theories flourish? And how can we train our brains to recognize misinformation online? Lisa Fazio, an associate psychology professor at Vanderbilt University, explains how people process information and disinformation, and how to debunk and pre-bunk in ways that can help discern the real from the fake.
How misinformation works on the brain, according to a psychologist
CBS News online
2024-01-02
With the 2024 elections less than a year away, a recent survey found 53% of Americans say they see false or misleading information online every day. Lisa Fazio, associate professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University, joins CBS News to unpack why people fall for misinformation -- and what it's doing to our brains.
YouTube is cracking down on anti-vaccine misinformation
CNN
2021-09-29
YouTube's action is potentially significant because of its impact on the misinformation ecosystem. "A lot of the vaccine misinformation you see on other platforms links to YouTube videos," said Lisa Fazio, an associate professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University who has studied misinformation. "It was a major loophole in our information ecosystem that it was so easy to post blatantly false information about vaccines on YouTube and have it gain large audiences."
YouTube is banning prominent anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content
The Washington Post online
2021-09-29
That dynamic is often overlooked in discussions about coronavirus misinformation, said Lisa Fazio, an associate professor at Vanderbilt college who studies misinformation. “YouTube is the vector for a lot of this misinformation. If you see misinformation on Facebook or other places, a lot of the time it’s YouTube videos. Our conversation often doesn’t include YouTube when it should,” Fazio said.
The unwitting are the target of COVID-19 falsehoods online
AP News online
2021-05-14
Sharing other people’s posts or photos out of context is a common tactic in the disinformation playbook because it’s an “easy, cheap way to gain credibility,” said Lisa Fazio, a Vanderbilt University psychology professor who studies how false claims spread.
Biden’s plan to fight online harassment could set up new confrontation with tech companies, experts say
CNBC online
2020-11-10
“I think this particular task force plan aims to address a real need,” said Lisa Fazio, a Vanderbilt University professor of psychology and human development who studies the effects of misinformation. “We know these platforms are consistently the source of online harassment and threats to women, and there’s a connection to extremist consequences.”
Election results misinformation, fraud claims threaten to distort Americans' views of the democratic process
USA Today online
2020-11-06
“We often remember the content of information while forgetting the source or who said it,” said Lisa Fazio, assistant professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University, who has studied the effects of misinformation. “Over time, we might remember the allegations of voter fraud but forget that they came from an unreliable source.”
Selected Articles (5)
Pausing to consider why a headline is true or false can help reduce the sharing of false news
Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation ReviewLisa Fazio
2020-03-10
In an online experiment, participants who paused to explain why a headline was true or false indicated that they were less likely to share false information compared to control participants. Their intention to share accurate news stories was unchanged. These results indicate that adding “friction” (i.e., pausing to think) before sharing can improve the quality of information shared on social media.
Repetition increases perceived truth equally for plausible and implausible statements
Psychonomic Bulletin & ReviewLisa K. Fazio & David G. Rand & Gordon Pennycook
2019-09-03
Repetition increases the likelihood that a statement will be judged as true. This illusory truth effect is well established; however, it has been argued that repetition will not affect belief in unambiguous statements. When individuals are faced with obviously true or false statements, repetition should have no impact. We report a simulation study and a preregistered experiment that investigate this idea. Contrary to many intuitions, our results suggest that belief in all statements is increased by repetition. The observed illusory truth effect is largest for ambiguous items, but this can be explained by the psychometric properties of the task, rather than an underlying psychological mechanism that blocks the impact of repetition for implausible items. Our results indicate that the illusory truth effect is highly robust and occurs across all levels of plausibility. Therefore, even highly implausible statements will become more plausible with enough repetition.
Retrieval-based learning in children
Current Directions in Psychological ScienceLisa K. Fazio and Elizabeth J. Marsh
2019-09-01
Testing oneself with flash cards, using a clicker to respond to a teacher’s questions, and teaching another student are all effective ways to learn information. These learning strategies work, in part, because they require the retrieval of information from memory, a process known to enhance later memory. However, little research has directly examined retrieval-based learning in children. We review the emerging literature on the benefits of retrieval-based learning for preschool and elementary school students and draw on other literatures for further insights. We reveal clear evidence for the benefits of retrieval-based learning in children (starting in infancy). However, we know little about the developmental trajectory. Overall, the benefits are largest when the initial retrieval practice is effortful but successful.
Retrieval practice opportunities in middle school mathematics teachers’ oral questions
British Journal of Educational PsychologyLisa K. FAzio
2018-09-01
Background. Tasks that involve retrieving information from memory, such as answering short answer questions, are more effective at improving learning than restudying, concept mapping, and other study techniques. However, little is known about how often teachers naturally provide these retrieval practice opportunities during lectures and classroom discussions. Aims. To identify how often teachers ask questions that require retrieval, what types of retrieval questions they ask, and whether teachers in high-growth classrooms differ in their use of retrieval questions compared to teachers in low-growth classrooms. Sample. The sample included twenty middle school mathematics classrooms that showed high growth on a test of mathematics achievement and twenty with low growth. For each classroom, we examined a videotape of one class period. Methods. We coded the number of teacher questions in each lesson, and the number and type of questions that provided an opportunity for retrieval. Results. We found wide variability in the frequency and type of questions asked across classrooms. On average, almost half of the non-classroom management questions provided an opportunity for retrieval. However, teachers in high- and low-growth classrooms asked similar numbers and types of retrieval questions. Conclusions. Teachers naturally use a wide variety of retrieval questions in their mathematics classrooms. As such, improving their use of retrieval opportunities will require only small changes to their natural practice, rather than large changes to their instructional style.
The Optimal Learning Strategy Depends on Learning Goals and Processes: Retrieval Practice Versus Worked Examples
Journal of Educational PsychologyDarren J. Yeo and Lisa K. Fazio
This study suggests that learning strategies should be flexible across and within domains. Consistent with recent frameworks, rigid dichotomies between domains and instructional sequences should be avoided. The optimal learning strategy depends on the kind of knowledge to be learned (e.g., stable facts vs. flexible procedures) and the target learning processes (e.g., inducing an underlying principle vs. memory and fluency building).
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