Skip to content
2000
Volume 1, Issue 3
  • ISSN: 1573-4005
  • E-ISSN: 1875-6441

Abstract

Lying and deception are common human activities and may occur in a wide variety of clinical contexts. These behaviours implicate higher neural systems within the brains of humans and other primates. Recent functional neuroimaging studies suggest that prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices are particularly engaged during certain forms of deception, hence, that executive processes support deceit. Congruent with the latter position is the finding that lies take longer to execute than truthful responses. To date, no functional neuroimaging study has demonstrated brain regions exhibiting greater activation during truth telling (compared with lying). Although the latter may reflect a Type II error, it also supports the hypothesis that truthfulness comprises a relative baseline in human cognition and communication. Those psychiatric disorders particularly associated with the practice of deception are varied both in aetiology and the degree to which deceit is central to their conceptualisation. Nevertheless, the deceiving human is likely to be engaging components of their cognitive executive system, a proposal with implications for societal notions of responsibility and mitigation. A successful lie denotes a functioning executive.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/cpsr/10.2174/157340005774575118
2005-11-01
2025-06-07
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/content/journals/cpsr/10.2174/157340005774575118
Loading
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test