In that study, honest behavior correlated with brain activity in a network comprising areas of the right
All this deciding and self-control implies that lying is managed by the prefrontal cortex—the region at the front of the brain responsible for executive control, which includes such processes as planning and regulating emotions and behavior.
The research shows that the brain of an honest person has stronger connectivity between networks within the brain associated with cognitive control, self-referential thinking and reward processing.
Lying Changes the Brain
Nature Neuroscience reported a study of the amygdala, the part of the brain dealing with emotional responses. The researchers said the amygdala shows up less and less, as we lie more and more. Essentially, our guilt feelings tend to weaken and shrink.
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) intelligently regulates our thoughts, actions and emotions through extensive connections with other brain regions (BOX 1).
The part of the brain that is key to reasoning, problem solving, comprehension, impulse-control, creativity and perseverance is the prefrontal cortex.
The frontal lobes are important for voluntary movement, expressive language and for managing higher level executive functions. Executive functions refer to a collection of cognitive skills including the capacity to plan, organise, initiate, self-monitor and control one's responses in order to achieve a goal.
Although several brain areas appear to play a role in deception, the most consistent finding across multiple fMRI studies is that activity in the prefrontal cortex increases when people lie.
"When we lie for personal gain, our amygdala produces a negative feeling that limits the extent to which we are prepared to lie," explains senior author Dr Tali Sharot (UCL Experimental Psychology). "However, this response fades as we continue to lie, and the more it falls the bigger our lies become.
Sometimes telling the truth is difficult, because it can mean sacrificing something one genuinely wants or needs. It's easy to convince oneself that a small lie is harmless, but cheating is a slippery slope.
Here are a few behaviors that show integrity: Being dependable and following through on commitments. Being open and honest when communicating with others. Holding yourself accountable and owning up to your shortcomings.
It means three things: Not lying. Telling the whole truth, not omitting key details. Sharing critical information, even when not directly asked.
The main reason people lie is low self-esteem. They want to impress, please, and tell someone what they think they want to hear. For example, insecure teenagers often lie to gain social acceptance. Here, parents should emphasize to their children the consequences of lying.
Damage to the brain can sometimes cause confabulation, an unusual neurologic phenomenon in which people talk, often with great flourishes, about events or experiences in their lives—unaware that their stories are false.
They alter our reality, reframing it through the agenda of the person who doesn't want the truth to come out. Being lied to makes you feel insecure – your version of the truth is discredited. It also makes you feel unimportant – the person lying to you didn't value you enough to tell the truth.
Brain imaging experiments conducted by Tali Sharot at University College London show that the brain adapts to dishonest behavior. Participants showed reduced activity in their limbic system as they told more lies, supporting the idea that each lie makes lying easier.
During amygdala hijack, the person may not be able to develop a rational response. Signs and symptoms of amygdala hijack include a racing heartbeat, sweaty palms, and the inability to think clearly. People can try to prevent amygdala hijack by becoming more aware of how they respond to stress.
Acquired amygdala damage reliably impairs fear conditioning, and behavioural, physiological and (in humans and perhaps other species, subjective) responses to threats [6–9].
In addition to DL PFC, superior parietal cortex is consistently implicated in tasks involving manipulation (18, 20).
However, of the most common motives for telling lies, avoiding punishment is the primary motivator for both children and adults. Other typical reasons include protecting ourselves or others from harm, maintaining privacy, and avoiding embarrassment, to name a few.
The parieto-frontal integration theory, or P-FIT, proposes that intelligence arises from a network mostly located in the frontal and parietal lobes. Image depicting regions of the parieto-frontal network. The numbers refer to specific Brodmann's areas, or regions of the brain defined by their cellular structure.
Frontal Lobes
The prefrontal cortex plays an important part in memory, intelligence, concentration, temper and personality.
Language functions, in the majority of the people, are lateralized to the left hemisphere, whereas emotion, especially negative emotion, attention and arousal seem to be lateralized to the right hemisphere.