Cornell U. Study Reveals Students’ Trust in Google

According to a recent study completed at Cornell, students “trust Google’s positioning more than their rational judgments.” The study revealed that students are biased towards links that appear first when using a search engine such as Google.

The study obtained information through the use of “eye tracking,” where a small camera captures the reflection off a subject’s cornea to determine the position of the eye on the computer screen. According to Prof. Geri Gay, communication, co-author of the study, researchers were then able to know exactly what each subject looked at and for how long.

Twenty two Cornell undergraduates were randomly selected to participate in the study, and each was given 10 questions to find the answers to on Google.