When people are lying, their brains work harder than people who tell the truth.
Lying leaves telltale traces on brain scans, report Feroze Mohamed, PhD, and colleagues in Radiology.
Lying is among the most sophisticated and demanding accomplishments of the human brain. Children have to learn how to lie; people with certain types of frontal lobe injuries may not be able to do it.
Electrical stimulation of the prefrontal cortex appears to improve our ability to deceive. This region of the brain may, among other things, be responsible for the decision to lie or tell the truth.
Most people have trouble recognizing false statements. Some polygraph tests are better at it yet are far from perfect. Researchers are trying to use imaging methods to distinguish truth from lies. Intensified activity in the prefrontal cortex may be an indicator of the process by which we decide to lie or not—but it tells us nothing about the lie itself.
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