Remembering Political Messages in Dynamic Information Environments: Insights from Eye Movements

An important but understudied characteristic of the information environment involves political information changing across time. This dynamic feature of the environment can make it difficult for voters to possess accurate political knowledge. In this study, we assessed memory for political information using self-report and eye movement methods. We used these metrics to examine how individuals learn facts about policies whose important features have changed across time. We find that eye movements can accurately assess changes in political information even when self-reports fail to do so. Our results highlight the utility of a converging methods approach in the study of dynamic information environments, and specify mechanisms that facilitate or inhibit people’s capacity to recognize changes in political information.