Orthography implicitly influences the trustworthiness of onscreen information in the Japanese language

In computer-mediated English-language text on health topics, spelling errors and unorthodox emphasis (e.g. 'shouting' capitalisation) implicitly result in linear and additive penalties to trustworthiness.

(1) To quantify the effects of misspelling, unorthodox emphasis (boldface text), and their combination on the trustworthiness ratings by native-speaking Japanese laypersons, and to compare these to the analogous effects in English. (2) To compare the trustworthiness ratings between the Japanese and English text of the same statements.

In an online experiment, ninety-seven Japanese adults rated the trustworthiness (0-100 scale) of 9 brief statements about multiple sclerosis as if presented on an unmoderated health forum. Each statement was randomised into one of four conditions: 5 misspellings, 5 words in boldface text (unorthodox emphasis), the combination of both of those orthographic deviations, or neither. Statistics were assessed using linear mixed effects models.

Paragraphs in Japanese that contained any misspellings, were rated significantly less trustworthy compared to the same statements with neither orthographic deviation (p < 0.0001). Furthermore, boldface alone did not elicit a penalty to trustworthiness. In comparing Japanese-speakers to previous data on English-speakers, the English-speakers rated the same text excerpts -8.27 scale-points less trustworthy (p < 0.001).

We conclude that the penalties to trustworthiness of misspelling in Japanese and English were nearly identical. However, unlike for English-speakers, the Japanese unorthodox emphasis we tested (boldface text) did not elicit a penalty to trustworthiness, possibly because no direct equivalent to capitalised 'shouting text' exists in Japanese writing.