The persistence and peril of misinformation — IELTS Reading Answers

What point does the writer make about misinformation in the first paragraph?

1. AMisinformation is a relatively recent phenomenon.
2. BSome people find it easy to identify misinformation.
3. CMisinformation changes as it is passed from one person to another.
4. DThere may be a number of reasons for the spread of misinformation.correct

“Misinformation – both deliberately promoted and accidentally shared – is perhaps an inevitable part of the world in which we live”

The writer calls misinformation 'both deliberately promoted and accidentally shared', offering several different causes rather than one single explanation.

What does the writer say about the role of technology?

1. AIt may at some point provide us with a solution to misinformation.correct
2. BIt could fundamentally alter the way in which people regard information.
3. CIt has changed the way in which organisations use misinformation.
4. DIt has made it easier for people to check whether information is accurate.

“Yet the means to correct misinformation might, over time, be found in those same patterns of mass communication and of the facilitated spread of information.”

Technology is presented as the possible cure: 'the means to correct misinformation might... be found in those same patterns of mass communication'.

What is the writer doing in the fourth paragraph?

1. Acomparing the different opinions people have of misinformation
2. Bexplaining how the effects of misinformation have changed over time
3. Coutlining which issues connected with misinformation are significant todaycorrect
4. Ddescribing the attitude of policy makers towards misinformation in the media

“At least three observations related to misinformation in the contemporary mass-media environment warrant the attention of researchers, policy makers, and really everyone who watches television, listens to the radio, or reads information online.”

Paragraph four announces 'at least three observations' that 'warrant the attention of researchers, policy makers', so it sets out today's significant issues.

What point does the writer make about regulation in the USA?

1. AThe guidelines issued by the FDA need to be simplified.
2. BRegulation does not affect people’s opinions of new prescription drugs.
3. CThe USA has more regulatory bodies than most other countries.
4. DRegulation fails to prevent misinformation from appearing in the media.correct

“Organizations such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) offer considerable monitoring and notification functions, but these roles typically do not involve preemptive censoring.”

The FDA monitors and notifies but its roles 'do not involve preemptive censoring', so regulation cannot stop false claims appearing.

“Although it is fairly routine for individuals to come across information that is false, the question of exactly how – and when – we mentally label information as true or false has garnered philosophical debate.”

The gap needs a noun for the unresolved argument about labelling information true or false; the text calls it a 'philosophical debate', carried by option G.

“The dilemma is neatly summarized by a contrast between how the 17th-century philosophers Rene Descartes and Baruch Spinoza described human information engagement, with conflicting predictions that only recently have been empirically tested in robust ways.”

The Descartes and Spinoza contrast produced 'conflicting predictions' that only recently were tested, which is the idea option J carries.

“Spinoza argued that people accept all encountered information (or misinformation) by default and then subsequently verify or reject it through a separate cognitive process.”

Spinoza held that people 'accept all encountered information... by default', so option H carries that automatic-acceptance idea.

“In recent decades, empirical evidence from the research teams of Erik Asp of the University of Chicago and Daniel Gilbert at Harvard University, among others, has supported Spinoza’s account:”

The Asp and Gilbert findings 'has supported Spinoza's account', so option B carries the notion of research evidence backing one view.

“people appear to encode all new information as if it were true, even if only momentarily, and later tag the information as being either true or false”

People 'encode all new information as if it were true, even if only momentarily', so option E conveys initial acceptance.

“a pattern that seems consistent with the observation that mental resources for skepticism physically reside in a different part of the brain than the resources used in perceiving and encoding.”

Skepticism's mental resources 'physically reside in a different part of the brain', so option C conveys a separate brain process.

Campaigns designed to correct misinformation will fail to achieve their purpose if people are unable to understand them.

“For corrective campaigns to be persuasive, audiences need to be able to comprehend them”

'For corrective campaigns to be persuasive, audiences need to be able to comprehend them', so failure to understand defeats their purpose.

Attempts to teach elementary school students about misinformation have been opposed.

“That some audiences might be unaware of the potential for misinformation also suggests the utility of media literacy efforts as early as elementary school.”

The text recommends media literacy 'as early as elementary school' but never mentions any opposition to teaching it.

It may be possible to overcome the problem of misinformation in a relatively short period.

“Yet at this time many people also are passionately developing potential solutions and remedies. The journey forward undoubtedly will be a long and arduous one.”

The writer says 'the journey forward undoubtedly will be a long and arduous one', directly contradicting a quick solution.

The need to keep up with new information is hugely exaggerated in today’s world.

“Misinformation arises as a result of human fallibility and human information needs.”

Human information needs are discussed, but the passage never claims that keeping up with new information is hugely exaggerated.