NeuroCognitive Shield

False or misleading online stories now travel faster than official facts, eroding public trust in elections, vaccination campaigns and civic institutions. The challenge is magnified in "super-diverse" cities such as Birmingham, where residents have roots in more than 180 countries and speak well over 100 languages. Messages move through many cultural and linguistic networks, so a correction that reaches one group may never reach another.

Most existing countermeasures to misinformation treat audiences as if they were identical. They overlook two well-established findings: the human brain reacts emotionally to new information before it engages in a reasoned way with evidence, and an individual's cultural experience shapes what they share, trust or ignore. Interventions designed without embracing these insights often miss their target or even reinforce the very myths they seek to debunk.

In our project NeuroCognitive Shield, co-created with diverse community groups in Birmingham, we use cutting-edge brain mapping techniques to observe, in real time, how individuals from varied backgrounds respond to trustworthy and false digital content. We use these data to build an AI model that helps individuals recognise when they are at risk of uncritically accepting or rejecting information and help them activate their reflective and critical thinking skills.

By turning diversity from a vulnerability into a shield, our project will ready democratic societies to meet the misinformation age with confidence. The resulting healthier information ecosystem will reduce the cost of public health and civic campaigns, sustain democratic participation and position the UK as a leader in trustworthy AI.