Fernanda Pérez-Gay - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Fernanda Pérez-Gay
PLOS ONE, Dec 20, 2023
Vaccine hesitancy remains a significant and evolving public health challenge. The COVID-19 pandem... more Vaccine hesitancy remains a significant and evolving public health challenge. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a unique decision context with significant uncertainty caused by the novelty of the disease being targeted, unfamiliarity with the vaccines being offered, misinformation, and strong handed government measures. In an effort to extend our understanding of vaccine hesitancy to the high uncertainty decision environment presented by COVID-19, we present a novel taxonomy of the determinants of vaccine hesitancy, based on an inductive analysis of qualitative data gathered during the COVID-19 pandemic. We report on focus group data from a purposive sample of 18 Canadians with varying sociodemographic characteristics and COVID-19 vaccination attitudes. An inductive thematic analysis of this data reveals eight core themes related to vaccine hesitancy: values, trust, social environment, personal anecdotes, environmental fluctuation, prior knowledge, perceived risk & systems of care. We explore these core themes as well as 25 sub-themes, contrasting them with previous models of vaccine hesitancy and suggesting potential strategies for public health professionals.
BMC Public Health, Dec 11, 2023
Background Vaccine hesitancy is driven by a heterogeneous and changing set of psychological, soci... more Background Vaccine hesitancy is driven by a heterogeneous and changing set of psychological, social and historical phenomena, requiring multidisciplinary approaches to its study and intervention. Past research has brought to light instances of both interpersonal and institutional trust playing an important role in vaccine uptake. However, no comprehensive study to date has specifically assessed the relative importance of these two categories of trust as they relate to vaccine behaviors and attitudes. Methods In this paper, we examine the relationship between interpersonal and institutional trust and four measures related to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and one measure related to general vaccine hesitancy. We hypothesize that, across measures, individuals with vaccine hesitant attitudes and behaviors have lower trust-especially in institutions-than those who are not hesitant. We test this hypothesis in a sample of 1541 Canadians. Results A deficit in both interpersonal and institutional trust was associated with higher levels of vaccine hesitant attitudes and behaviors. However, institutional trust was significantly lower than interpersonal trust in those with high hesitancy scores, suggesting that the two types of trust can be thought of as distinct constructs in the context of vaccine hesitancy. Conclusions Based on our findings, we suggest that diminished institutional trust plays a crucial role in vaccine hesitancy. We propose that this may contribute to a tendency to instead place trust in interpersonally propagated belief systems, which may be more strongly misaligned with mainstream evidence and thus support vaccine hesitancy attitudes. We offer strategies rooted in these observations for creating public health messages designed to enhance vaccine uptake.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought about unique challenges, leading to a simultaneous decline in globa... more The COVID-19 pandemic brought about unique challenges, leading to a simultaneous decline in global mental well-being and an increase in perceived social threats. The present study explores the interplay between COVID-19 beliefs and mental health symptoms in a multinational sample of 1500 individuals primarily from Canada, the US and Mexico. Between May 2020 and February 2021, participants completed an online survey assessing somatic symptoms, anxiety, depression, alexithymia and psychotic-like symptoms, along with the newly developed COVID-19 beliefs questionnaire (CBQ). The CBQ consisted of a series of statements corresponding to different beliefs about the origins and effects of the virus and it revealed two dimensions through Exploratory Factor Analysis: Fear of contagion of COVID-19 and COVID-19 denial/conspiratorial ideation.Correlation analyses and linear regressions revealed a negative correlation between these two belief patterns as well their distinct associations with ment...
Through a series of black marks on a sheet of paper or a screen, literature manages to build enti... more Through a series of black marks on a sheet of paper or a screen, literature manages to build entire universes: transport us to other times, show us unknown places, introduce us to characters with whom we will never interact in real life; make us live adventures and suffer tragedies and, all while sitting alone, share the feelings and mental states of others. How is this possible? What happens in our brains and bodies when we read a book? Reading fiction activates very diverse neural networks, from the classic circuits of language processing to the wide networks (which include sensory and motor systems) in which “meaning” is encoded and retrieved in the brain. Furthermore, researchers in cognitive neuroscience have shown that the neural circuits processing certain fictional situations (e.g., a social exchange between characters) overlap with circuits that process similar situations in real life, providing biological evidence for the idea that literature simulates conscious experience...
Neurocase, 2014
The current study describes the case of a woman with symptomatic epilepsy due to brain cysticerco... more The current study describes the case of a woman with symptomatic epilepsy due to brain cysticercosis acquired during childhood. During her adolescence, she developed seizures characterized by metamorphopsia, hallucinations of autobiographic memory and, finally, asomatognosia. Magnetic brain imaging showed a calcified lesion in the right occipitotemporal cortex, and positron emission tomography imaging confirmed the presence of interictal hypometabolism in two regions: the right parietal cortex and the right lateral and posterior temporal cortex. We discuss the link between these brain areas and the symptoms described under the concepts of epileptogenic lesion, epileptogenic zone, functional deficit zone, and symptomatogenic zone.
Scientific Reports
Face masks obscure a significant portion of the face, reducing the amount of information availabl... more Face masks obscure a significant portion of the face, reducing the amount of information available to gauge the mental states of others—that is, to exercise the Theory of Mind (ToM) capacity. In three experiments, we assessed the effect of face masks on ToM judgements, measuring recognition accuracy, perceived valence, and perceived arousal in various sets of facial expressions comprising 45 different mental states. Significant effects of face masks were found in all three variables. Judgements of all expressions are less accurate when masked, but, while judgements of negative expressions do not show consistent changes in valence or arousal, positive expressions are perceived to be less positive and less intense. In addition, we identified face muscles associated with changes in perceived valence and arousal, shedding light on the mechanisms through which masks impact ToM judgements, which might be relevant for mitigation strategies. We discuss the implications of these findings in ...
International Journal of Comparative Psychology
Learning to categorize requires distinguishing category members from non-members by detecting the... more Learning to categorize requires distinguishing category members from non-members by detecting the features that covary with membership. Human subjects were trained to sort visual textures into two categories by trial and error with corrective feedback. Difficulty levels were increased by decreasing the proportion of covariant features. Pairwise similarity judgments were tested before and after category learning. Three effects were observed: (1) The lower the proportion of covariant features, the more trials it took to learn the category and the fewer the subjects who succeeded in learning it. After training, (2) perceived pairwise distance increased between categories and, to a lesser extent, (3) decreased within categories, at all levels of difficulty, but only for successful learners. This perceived between-category separation and within-category compression is called categorical perception (CP). A very simple neural network model for category learning using uniform binary (0/1) f...
Revista de la Universidad de México, 2020
Royal Society Open Science, 2021
The COVIDiSTRESS global survey collects data on early human responses to the 2020 COVID-19 pandem... more The COVIDiSTRESS global survey collects data on early human responses to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic from 173 429 respondents in 48 countries. The open science study was co-designed by an international consortium of researchers to investigate how psychological responses differ across countries and cultures, and how this has impacted behaviour, coping and trust in government efforts to slow the spread of the virus. Starting in March 2020, COVIDiSTRESS leveraged the convenience of unpaid online recruitment to generate public data. The objective of the present analysis is to understand relationships between psychological responses in the early months of global coronavirus restrictions and help understand how different government measures succeed or fail in changing public behaviour. There were variations between and within countries. Although Western Europeans registered as more concerned over COVID-19, more stressed, and having slightly more trust in the governments' efforts, there...
Scientific Data, 2021
This N = 173,426 social science dataset was collected through the collaborative COVIDiSTRESS Glob... more This N = 173,426 social science dataset was collected through the collaborative COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey – an open science effort to improve understanding of the human experiences of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic between 30th March and 30th May, 2020. The dataset allows a cross-cultural study of psychological and behavioural responses to the Coronavirus pandemic and associated government measures like cancellation of public functions and stay at home orders implemented in many countries. The dataset contains demographic background variables as well as measures of Asian Disease Problem, perceived stress (PSS-10), availability of social provisions (SPS-10), trust in various authorities, trust in governmental measures to contain the virus (OECD trust), personality traits (BFF-15), information behaviours, agreement with the level of government intervention, and compliance with preventive measures, along with a rich pool of exploratory variables and written experiences. A global consortiu...
Revista de la Universidad de México, 2021
Face masks obscure a significant portion of the face, reducing the amount of information availabl... more Face masks obscure a significant portion of the face, reducing the amount of information available to gauge the mental states of others—that is, to exercise the Theory of Mind (ToM) capacity. In two experiments, we assessed the effect of face masks on ToM judgements, measuring recognition accuracy, perceived valence, and perceived arousal of a set facial expressions corresponding to 45 different mental states. Significant effects of face masks were found in all three variables, with differential effects found for positive and negative mental states: Judgements of positive expressions are less accurate when masked, and the expressions are perceived to be less positive and less intense; judgements of negative expressions are also less accurate but, in contrast, the expressions are perceived to be more intense. In addition, we identified face muscles associated with changes in perceived valence and arousal, shedding light on the mechanisms through which face masks impact ToM judgements...
PLOS ONE, Dec 20, 2023
Vaccine hesitancy remains a significant and evolving public health challenge. The COVID-19 pandem... more Vaccine hesitancy remains a significant and evolving public health challenge. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a unique decision context with significant uncertainty caused by the novelty of the disease being targeted, unfamiliarity with the vaccines being offered, misinformation, and strong handed government measures. In an effort to extend our understanding of vaccine hesitancy to the high uncertainty decision environment presented by COVID-19, we present a novel taxonomy of the determinants of vaccine hesitancy, based on an inductive analysis of qualitative data gathered during the COVID-19 pandemic. We report on focus group data from a purposive sample of 18 Canadians with varying sociodemographic characteristics and COVID-19 vaccination attitudes. An inductive thematic analysis of this data reveals eight core themes related to vaccine hesitancy: values, trust, social environment, personal anecdotes, environmental fluctuation, prior knowledge, perceived risk & systems of care. We explore these core themes as well as 25 sub-themes, contrasting them with previous models of vaccine hesitancy and suggesting potential strategies for public health professionals.
BMC Public Health, Dec 11, 2023
Background Vaccine hesitancy is driven by a heterogeneous and changing set of psychological, soci... more Background Vaccine hesitancy is driven by a heterogeneous and changing set of psychological, social and historical phenomena, requiring multidisciplinary approaches to its study and intervention. Past research has brought to light instances of both interpersonal and institutional trust playing an important role in vaccine uptake. However, no comprehensive study to date has specifically assessed the relative importance of these two categories of trust as they relate to vaccine behaviors and attitudes. Methods In this paper, we examine the relationship between interpersonal and institutional trust and four measures related to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and one measure related to general vaccine hesitancy. We hypothesize that, across measures, individuals with vaccine hesitant attitudes and behaviors have lower trust-especially in institutions-than those who are not hesitant. We test this hypothesis in a sample of 1541 Canadians. Results A deficit in both interpersonal and institutional trust was associated with higher levels of vaccine hesitant attitudes and behaviors. However, institutional trust was significantly lower than interpersonal trust in those with high hesitancy scores, suggesting that the two types of trust can be thought of as distinct constructs in the context of vaccine hesitancy. Conclusions Based on our findings, we suggest that diminished institutional trust plays a crucial role in vaccine hesitancy. We propose that this may contribute to a tendency to instead place trust in interpersonally propagated belief systems, which may be more strongly misaligned with mainstream evidence and thus support vaccine hesitancy attitudes. We offer strategies rooted in these observations for creating public health messages designed to enhance vaccine uptake.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought about unique challenges, leading to a simultaneous decline in globa... more The COVID-19 pandemic brought about unique challenges, leading to a simultaneous decline in global mental well-being and an increase in perceived social threats. The present study explores the interplay between COVID-19 beliefs and mental health symptoms in a multinational sample of 1500 individuals primarily from Canada, the US and Mexico. Between May 2020 and February 2021, participants completed an online survey assessing somatic symptoms, anxiety, depression, alexithymia and psychotic-like symptoms, along with the newly developed COVID-19 beliefs questionnaire (CBQ). The CBQ consisted of a series of statements corresponding to different beliefs about the origins and effects of the virus and it revealed two dimensions through Exploratory Factor Analysis: Fear of contagion of COVID-19 and COVID-19 denial/conspiratorial ideation.Correlation analyses and linear regressions revealed a negative correlation between these two belief patterns as well their distinct associations with ment...
Through a series of black marks on a sheet of paper or a screen, literature manages to build enti... more Through a series of black marks on a sheet of paper or a screen, literature manages to build entire universes: transport us to other times, show us unknown places, introduce us to characters with whom we will never interact in real life; make us live adventures and suffer tragedies and, all while sitting alone, share the feelings and mental states of others. How is this possible? What happens in our brains and bodies when we read a book? Reading fiction activates very diverse neural networks, from the classic circuits of language processing to the wide networks (which include sensory and motor systems) in which “meaning” is encoded and retrieved in the brain. Furthermore, researchers in cognitive neuroscience have shown that the neural circuits processing certain fictional situations (e.g., a social exchange between characters) overlap with circuits that process similar situations in real life, providing biological evidence for the idea that literature simulates conscious experience...
Neurocase, 2014
The current study describes the case of a woman with symptomatic epilepsy due to brain cysticerco... more The current study describes the case of a woman with symptomatic epilepsy due to brain cysticercosis acquired during childhood. During her adolescence, she developed seizures characterized by metamorphopsia, hallucinations of autobiographic memory and, finally, asomatognosia. Magnetic brain imaging showed a calcified lesion in the right occipitotemporal cortex, and positron emission tomography imaging confirmed the presence of interictal hypometabolism in two regions: the right parietal cortex and the right lateral and posterior temporal cortex. We discuss the link between these brain areas and the symptoms described under the concepts of epileptogenic lesion, epileptogenic zone, functional deficit zone, and symptomatogenic zone.
Scientific Reports
Face masks obscure a significant portion of the face, reducing the amount of information availabl... more Face masks obscure a significant portion of the face, reducing the amount of information available to gauge the mental states of others—that is, to exercise the Theory of Mind (ToM) capacity. In three experiments, we assessed the effect of face masks on ToM judgements, measuring recognition accuracy, perceived valence, and perceived arousal in various sets of facial expressions comprising 45 different mental states. Significant effects of face masks were found in all three variables. Judgements of all expressions are less accurate when masked, but, while judgements of negative expressions do not show consistent changes in valence or arousal, positive expressions are perceived to be less positive and less intense. In addition, we identified face muscles associated with changes in perceived valence and arousal, shedding light on the mechanisms through which masks impact ToM judgements, which might be relevant for mitigation strategies. We discuss the implications of these findings in ...
International Journal of Comparative Psychology
Learning to categorize requires distinguishing category members from non-members by detecting the... more Learning to categorize requires distinguishing category members from non-members by detecting the features that covary with membership. Human subjects were trained to sort visual textures into two categories by trial and error with corrective feedback. Difficulty levels were increased by decreasing the proportion of covariant features. Pairwise similarity judgments were tested before and after category learning. Three effects were observed: (1) The lower the proportion of covariant features, the more trials it took to learn the category and the fewer the subjects who succeeded in learning it. After training, (2) perceived pairwise distance increased between categories and, to a lesser extent, (3) decreased within categories, at all levels of difficulty, but only for successful learners. This perceived between-category separation and within-category compression is called categorical perception (CP). A very simple neural network model for category learning using uniform binary (0/1) f...
Revista de la Universidad de México, 2020
Royal Society Open Science, 2021
The COVIDiSTRESS global survey collects data on early human responses to the 2020 COVID-19 pandem... more The COVIDiSTRESS global survey collects data on early human responses to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic from 173 429 respondents in 48 countries. The open science study was co-designed by an international consortium of researchers to investigate how psychological responses differ across countries and cultures, and how this has impacted behaviour, coping and trust in government efforts to slow the spread of the virus. Starting in March 2020, COVIDiSTRESS leveraged the convenience of unpaid online recruitment to generate public data. The objective of the present analysis is to understand relationships between psychological responses in the early months of global coronavirus restrictions and help understand how different government measures succeed or fail in changing public behaviour. There were variations between and within countries. Although Western Europeans registered as more concerned over COVID-19, more stressed, and having slightly more trust in the governments' efforts, there...
Scientific Data, 2021
This N = 173,426 social science dataset was collected through the collaborative COVIDiSTRESS Glob... more This N = 173,426 social science dataset was collected through the collaborative COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey – an open science effort to improve understanding of the human experiences of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic between 30th March and 30th May, 2020. The dataset allows a cross-cultural study of psychological and behavioural responses to the Coronavirus pandemic and associated government measures like cancellation of public functions and stay at home orders implemented in many countries. The dataset contains demographic background variables as well as measures of Asian Disease Problem, perceived stress (PSS-10), availability of social provisions (SPS-10), trust in various authorities, trust in governmental measures to contain the virus (OECD trust), personality traits (BFF-15), information behaviours, agreement with the level of government intervention, and compliance with preventive measures, along with a rich pool of exploratory variables and written experiences. A global consortiu...
Revista de la Universidad de México, 2021
Face masks obscure a significant portion of the face, reducing the amount of information availabl... more Face masks obscure a significant portion of the face, reducing the amount of information available to gauge the mental states of others—that is, to exercise the Theory of Mind (ToM) capacity. In two experiments, we assessed the effect of face masks on ToM judgements, measuring recognition accuracy, perceived valence, and perceived arousal of a set facial expressions corresponding to 45 different mental states. Significant effects of face masks were found in all three variables, with differential effects found for positive and negative mental states: Judgements of positive expressions are less accurate when masked, and the expressions are perceived to be less positive and less intense; judgements of negative expressions are also less accurate but, in contrast, the expressions are perceived to be more intense. In addition, we identified face muscles associated with changes in perceived valence and arousal, shedding light on the mechanisms through which face masks impact ToM judgements...