Communicating scientific information with the help of cue manipulation

Communication of scientific information is a difficult task for a many a scientist, the present study seeks to remedy this issue with the use of multiple cue probability learning. This study is a replication of Palmer and Drummond’s (2022) study, where an unreliable cue was highlighted, then scientific information was presented to participants. They found that highlighting an unreliable cue improved memory and risk perception, it is hypothesised that these results will also be replicated. 232 participants were gathered via an online survey recruitment site. Participants were placed in one of three groups, sleep control, covid control, and the highlighted cue experimental group. The covid control is an addition in this replication to test the effects of priming. Data was analysed using t-tests between the experimental and both control groups, as well as moderation analysis of political affiliation of memory and risk perception. The results showed that the cue manipulation was significantly successful among conservatives, but not progressives, different to Palmer and Drummond’s study where political affiliation had no influence. These results offer partial evidence for the hypothesis, but the difference between political groups is unexpected. Priming was found to not be a factor in the cue manipulation