Analysis of vaccine and anti-vaccine information on social networks and internet. Visual and emotional patterns of their stimulus

Abstract

This research analyzes the flow of information and communication about vaccines and anti-vaccines through the monitoring of issuers, groups, news sites and messages in RRSS. We also investigate its effects on attention, emotion and engagement analyzed with Eye Tracking, GSR and Facial Expression respectively. Results: the flow of communication is unstable, in press and sites and informative and neutral tendency, often with non-professional sources. On RRSS, anti-vaccine Facebook messages and groups are identified and an exploratory mapping of influencers is presented. Analysis of the temporal evolution (years 2015 to 2018) of communicative flows showed a positive evolutions: antivaccine tendencies decrease. Emotional responses and engagement do not show differences between antivaccines and vaccines: this important data is interpreted in the terms of processing by heuristics. Gender differences appeared in the pattern of exploration of the information and the emotion provoked (GSR and Expression).