I've Got a Secret, and I'll Try to Lie About It

To learn what happens inside the brain when people are deceptive, one research group uses imaging, and another focuses on movement-disordered patients.

Two recent studies have examined neurobiologic correlates of lying.

Lee and colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine whether neural activity in the precuneus during a face recognition task indicates deception. Thirteen healthy Chinese men (mean age, 28) were shown faces of familiar or unfamiliar individuals and instructed to either tell the truth or lie about the familiarity. Reaction times were significantly longer under deceptive than truthful conditions. Activity in the precuneus when participants perceived familiar faces was greater than in executive-function (inferior frontal and parietal) regions. Almost all participants showed increased precuneus activity (when lying, 11 participants; when telling the truth, 12…

Reviewing Author

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience