How does cognitive warfare work in favor of the hegemonic narrative? (4)

Published at: 28/08/2026 05:00 PM

As has been stated in recent articles, cognitive warfare is a mechanism of attack that directly affects our way of thinking and puts our mental health at permanent risk, and consequently causes psychological damage to the community. To demonstrate this assertion, we did research on the impact and how it is manifested in contemporary society.

Venezuelan neuroscientist Dr. Francisco Rivero explained in an interview on the Consequences of cognitive warfare and its social effects, that “over the long term, the constant bombardment of disinformation loaded with negative emotions profoundly alters brain processing and maintains a state of chronic vigilance, repeated exposure to manufactured threats, permanently activates the amygdala (the area of the brain linked to fear), and this keeps the individual in a state of continuous biological stress, raising cortisol levels and deteriorating the executive functions of the prefrontal cortex”.

Rivero also warned that “in the face of the need to be informed in an ecosystem saturated with distorted truths and contradictory narratives, the brain suffers from cognitive overload. Over time, people develop apathy and the belief that it is impossible to change their reality or distinguish what is real from false, leading to chronic psychological exhaustion.”

This is how what is known as cognitive resonance and alienation are produced , which is the constant clash between what people experience in their daily lives and the alternative realities imposed by the algorithms of social networks, which causes a fracture psychological and triggers a strong disconnection with the real social environment, seeking the similarity between what is experienced and what is said on social networks and other news.

Dr. Rivero also commented that “other effects of cognitive warfare are associated with anxiety and depression disorders; the systematic erosion of perceived security gives way to the development of persistent depressive disorders, generalized anxiety and symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress, which can be perpetuated in a way intergenerational if they are not mitigated in time”.

A recent example of the impact on society and media manipulation from the digital environment has caused tangible perceptual crises, is the post-electoral polarization that occurred in Venezuela; of various social and technological analyses indicate that the country has been a critical scene of cognitive warfare through the massive use of bots and artificial intelligence on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram or messaging services. The bombardment of hyperpersonalized narratives of hostility and demoralization sought to break the capacity for analysis and to condition reflex acts of institutional rejection, causing a persistent collective emotional imbalance based on anger and uncertainty.

In the case of the manipulation of the Venezuelan elections, we also saw the effect caused by post-truth. This concept does not simply refer to traditional lying, but to the creation of a structured alternative narrative where objective facts and material evidence are ignored or replaced by discourses strongly charged with emotions and ideological biases. Although the US International Intelligence Agency (CIA) clarified in declassified documents that it could not confirm the material execution of a massive electronic fraud, attributing electoral success to the ruling party; this truth has not been the subject of headlines, interviews or a topic of conversation among current influencers.

Containment and Defense Strategies

Knowing then the emotional damage and how this type of war affects mental health, structural and collective actions are required to break media hegemony and recover intellectual sovereignty, such as:

Algorithmic literacy: To educate citizens on how recommendation systems work to break echo chambers, to keep the user comfortable, the algorithm shows them only content that reinforces what they already think, hiding contrary opinions.

Strategic narrative analysis: Early monitoring and dismantling false discursive frameworks before they take root in the collective imagination.

Recovery of historical memory: Actively contrast the appearance built on social networks with empirical data and real territorial experiences.

This war persists, and as the general secretary of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello Rondón, said in his Con El Mazo Dando program, last Wednesday: “Venezuela is the only country in the world that has faced two earthquakes with a media war and now, with the rains that do not bring good forecasts; the hegemonic media are going to party, and we always we will be with the answer attached to the truth, above all else, the truth unties knots and highlights liars and puts things in their place”.

AMELYREN BASABE/Mazo News Team