From online manipulation to disinformation. Here are the risks of cognitive warfare

And it was Nato representative Janet Blatny who explained during the conference how the virtual environment has now become an unpredictable place. A debate where, together with Associate Professor of International Relations at John Cabot University and moderator Simone Tholens and Director of the Department of Psychology at La Sapienza University of Rome Anna Maria Giannini, the focus was on the tools for manipulating human mental processes.

"We are witnessing rapid technological development and we are faced with various actors and adversaries who - as the NATO researcher stated - exploit or attempt to exploit the openness of our society. We have seen the influence of different election campaigns, as well as disinformation, misinformation and propaganda. Therefore, what we need to do is to strengthen our resilience against these kinds of cognitive warfare actions. Cognitive warfare is an area that we need to look into, which is why this topic, which is also about cognitive superiority, was born'

In the crosshairs of the cognitive wars are mainly young adults. They are - as stated by academic Anna Maria Giannini - the most exposed generational groups and therefore could become easy targets.

Although they are the so-called digital natives, and thus more adept at juggling the tools offered by the Internet, at the same time they are more exposed to the emotional aspects of navigating information flows. Anxiety, depression and stress are just some of the most frequently identified disorders.

Sites that become traps, to which one can add the information found through any social network. "Exposure to information that is contrasting with one's own mental schemata or conflicting with each other can generate paradoxes at the cognitive level or difficulties in tolerating ambiguity, incongruity and uncertainty," the professor's words.

Fake news constructed ad hoc in order to get their hands on the ideas - especially political ones - of the user, and which may push them to favour a certain political party.

"What happens with long-term exposure of this type and intensity to people?" is the lecturer's question, emphasising how the techniques of warfare shift to information technology aspects to generate uncertainty in people.

If younger generational groups start out with a head start on the technical-manual aspect, their critical sense becomes their Achilles heel, as the risk is that they expose themselves without having a concrete idea of what a source is.

Thus, the likelihood of falling victim to manipulation and fake news increases, they become victims of this new virtual war.