Visual Credibility Project

Welcome to the Visual Credibility Project!

This website features research from a National Science Foundation (NSF)–funded project, Understanding How Visual Features of Misinformation Influence Credibility Perceptions. Supported through the NSF Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) program (Awards CNS-2150716 and CNS-2150723), this project was awarded to Cuihua Shen (University of California, Davis) and Yilang Peng (University of Georgia). Conducted from 2022 to 2026, the project brings together researchers and student collaborators from the University of Georgia, the University of California, Davis, Northwestern University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and other partner institutions.

This blog presents a collection of public-facing articles based on findings from the project. Each article explains a different aspect of our research, including how people judge the credibility of social media posts, how visual features influence trust, how misinformation spreads through images, and how emerging technologies such as AI are changing the online information environment.

Explore the articles below to learn more about the science of visual communication, misinformation, and online credibility.