The Art Of Lying: How Lies Impact the Brain

In 1993, a 51-year-old man, when he tried to tell a lie, often passed out and had convulsions. In essence, he became a kind of Pinocchio. This ailment was a rare form of epilepsy. Doctors soon discovered these symptoms were caused by a brain tumor. They believed the tumor-induced excess activity in the prefrontal cortex. The activity most likely caused the amygdala to trigger seizures every time the brain became overstimulated ( i.e. every time the patient lied). This anomaly is now commonly known in the medical world as the “Pinocchio syndrome.” It is a tribute to how engrained lying is within our behavioral repertoire. Every day we tell little white lies, if only out of politeness. It is a universal coping mechanism, used to smooth out relationships with little no consequences.

Yet how much do researchers know about lying in our daily existence? How ubiquitous is it? When do children usually start engaging in it? Does it take more brainpower to lie or to tell the truth? Are most people good at detecting untruths? And are we better at it than tools designed for the purpose? Scientists exploring such questions have made good progress

According to a 2003 social study conducted at UCSB, on average people make up three lies a day. In this study, participants, from ages 5 to 77 filled out "lie diaries". Scientists analyzed how skilled each generation was at lying. Results show that the skill of lying evolves with age. Young adults between 18 and 29 do it best. After about the age of 45, we begin to lose this ability. Moreover, the study revealed that people between ages 18 and 29 also lie the most, lying up to 8 times a day on average.

Current hypotheses about lying claim that lying is more mentally taxing than telling the truth. When we lie we must uphold that lie in every conversation. We must speak suppress the truth, tell a lie, and we must monitor our body language to seem genuine and relaxed. It is a mental workout. What is more, we must be able to assess accurately the reactions of the listener so that, if necessary, we can deftly produce adaptations to our original storyline, crafting even more lies. Additionally lying is emotionally straining. It defies our moral compass and transgresses social norms. Guilt consumes our thoughts and actions as we deceive those around us.

Brain-imaging studies have contributed to the view that lying generally requires more effort than telling the truth. In a 2001 study, scientists used fMRI techniques on patients to explore this question. Patients laying under an fMRI machine were asked to answer 10 questions as truths and 10 as lies. The results showed that participants needed a lot more time to craft a fib than tell the truth. Furthermore, the fMRI results show that lying required excess brain activity and the anterior prefrontal cortex - brain area that earlier studies had associated with moral and ethical decision making - became profused with blood. Their brains responded to lying in the same the brain would respond to an injury. These results show that lying is mentally straining and furthermore raise questions as to whether, biologically, our bodies can recognize and respond to ethical quandaries. Do our bodies physically reject lying? Do we have a biological moral compass?

Citations:

Cues to Deception. B. M. DePaulo et al. in Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 129, No. 1, pages 74–118; January 2003.

Patterns of Neural Activity Associated with Honest and Dishonest Moral Decisions. Joshua D. Greene and Joseph M. Paxton in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, Vol. 106, No. 30, pages 12,506–12,511; July 28, 2009.

From Junior to Senior Pinocchio: A Cross-Sectional Lifespan Investigation of Deception. Evelyne Debey et al. in Acta Psychologica, Vol. 160, pages 58–68; September 2015.

Lying Takes Time: A Meta-analysis on Reaction Time Measures of Deception. Kristina Suchotzki et al. in Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 143, No. 4, pages 428–453; April 2017.