Detecting lies in the brain
MRI's may eventually identify deception more accurately than polygraph testing. Study finds significant activation in several brain areas during lying compared with truth-telling
July 30, 2004
HONOLULU — A new study involving people telling lies while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) provides early indications that understanding the brain basis of deception may lead to a better lie detection method than polygraph tests. Researchers have found that for lying, compared with telling the truth, there is more activation in five brain regions. Results of the study will be presented at the 112th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association (APA) in Honolulu and also published in the August issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, a journal published by the APA.
Despite widespread use, there is mounting evidence that polygraph tests are not an accurate lie detection tool. The National Science Foundation recently highlighted the need for new methods to identify deception after concluding in a report that the polygraph lacked evidence to support its use in detecting deception. Researchers say the problem with the polygraph is that it measures peripheral arousal, not deception itself.
Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI, however, may be able to measure
brain activity associated with deception. In a study designed to replicate their
previous pilot study, Frank Andrew Kozel, M.D., and colleagues at the
Medical University of South Carolina and the Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs
Medical Center in Charleston, South Carolina, studied 10 healthy adults who were
told to tell the truth or to lie while being imaged in a magnetic resonance
imaging scanner. Before the scanning began, the participants visited a room in
which they were told to locate and leave in place fifty-dollar bills that were
placed under two of six objects in the room. During the scanning procedure, the
subjects viewed pictures of the six objects from the room just visited and had
to indicate by pushing a “yes” or “no” button whether money was hidden
below the object. Participants were instructed to give truthful and deceptive
answers. Subjects were given an incentive of an additional fifty dollars if one
of the researchers could not detect when they were lying.
Results – which were consistent with the pilot study – revealed significant activation of five brain regions during lying compared with truth telling. These areas included the right inferior frontal, right orbitofrontal, right middle frontal, left middle temporal and right anterior cingulated areas. Several of these regions have been identified in other neuroimaging studies as being important in cognitive tasks that could be related to deception. These regions could inhibit an overlearned response (the truth), especially in order to gain a reward, according to the researchers. More research is needed to determine what each of these regions does during lying, such as arousal or response inhibition.
While significant group effects were found, the results do not currently
support the use of fMRI to detect deception in real world individual cases,
according to the researchers. “The study was designed to identify brain
regions associated with deceptive answers versus truthful answers, not to
formally test the method as a means of lie detection,” Dr. Kozel cautions.
“Subsequent work will be needed to determine whether this technology can be
used to distinguish deceptive responses from truthful responses with
individuals.”
Presentation: “Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
to Detect Deception," Frank Andrew Kozel, M.D., Medical University of South
Carolina; Session 5140, 8:00 - 8:50 AM, Wednesday, July 28,
Hawaii Convention Center, Level 3 – Meeting Rooms, Meeting Room 316B.
Journal Article: “A Replication Study of the Neural Correlates of Deception,” Frank Andrew Kozel, Medical University of South Carolina and Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Charleston, South Carolina, Tamara M. Padgett, Medical University of South Carolina and Mark S. George, Medical University of South Carolina and Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical center, Charleston, South Carolina, Behavioral Neuroscience, Vol. 118, No. 4.
Full text of this article is available from the APA Public Affairs Office or at: http://www.apa.org/releases/deception_article.pdf
Reporters: Dr. Frank Andrew Kozel can be reached before and after the
convention at (843) 876-5142 or by
Email.
The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world’s largest association of psychologists. APA’s membership includes more than 150,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 53 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting health, education and human welfare.
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