“Our brains are naturally better at telling the truth than lying, but repeated lying can overcome our tendency for veracity, making subsequent lying easier – and possibly undetectable.
Neuroimaging studies have shown that people’s brains show considerably more activity when they are lying than when they are not, particularly in the prefrontal cortex, suggesting that lying requires extra cognitive control and inhibition of truth-telling. Lying also takes measurably longer than telling the truth.
To test whether the brain’s so-called “dominant truth response” can be changed, Bruno Verschuere of Ghent University in Ghent, Belgium, and colleagues studied three groups of students.
True or false?
The students were first asked to provide a written report about their daily activities. Each student was then questioned about these activities, and asked to either lie or tell the truth in their answers.
Interspersed with these questions were “filler” questions on a new topic. One group was always asked to tell the truth to the filler questions, a second group had to lie, and a third group was asked to lie or tell the truth in equal measure.
The researchers found that the frequent liars became more adept at lying. The normal difference in reaction times between telling the truth and lying disappeared.”
Read more at New Scientist
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