3.3. Discussion
Study 2 developed a self-help misinformation game to verify the effectiveness of the online inoculation intervention on the ability to recognize misinformation and the persuasive intent of misinformation through a randomized controlled trial. It also explored the mediating effect of perceived threat and persuasion knowledge. The results showed that after completing the five-day online intervention, the intervention group demonstrated a significant improvement in the ability to recognize misinformation compared with the control group, although it did not persist in the follow-up period. The persuasive intent of misinformation was also significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group. In addition, the results of this study showed that in the intervention group, persuasion knowledge significantly mediated the relationship between the inoculation intervention and misinformation discrimination. Notwithstanding, the mediating effect of perceived threat was not significant, providing evidence to explain the mechanism of the online inoculation intervention for improving misinformation discrimination.