The Cognition of Deception: The Role of Executive Processes in Producing Lies

The cognitive processes used in deception have been largely overlooked in the literature on deception. The author's position in this review is that effortful executive processes (inhibition, working memory, and other mental management mechanisms) are central cognitive components for lie production. The author provides evidence from 3 bodies of literature: studies on lie detection, developmental research on cognition related to children's deception, and imaging research describing neural correlates of deception. In addition, the author reviews the available theories that implicate executive functions as core processes in deception. The author also discusses implications of this research as they relate to future research and applications on the psychology of deception.

[1]  A. Vrij,et al.  Telling and detecting lies in a high-stake situation: the case of a convicted murderer , 2001 .

[2]  J. Peskin.  Ruse and Representations: On Children's Ability to Conceal Information. , 1992 .

[3]  Josef Perner,et al.  Theory of mind and self-control: more than a common problem of inhibition. , 2002, Child development.

[4]  P. Ekman,et al.  Nonverbal Leakage and Clues to Deception †. , 1969, Psychiatry.

[5]  H. Wellman,et al.  Meta-analysis of theory-of-mind development: the truth about false belief. , 2001, Child development.

[6]  Judee K. Burgoon,et al.  The Role of Conversational Involvement in Deceptive Interpersonal Interactions , 1999 .

[7]  R. Barkley.  Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: constructing a unifying theory of ADHD. , 1997, Psychological bulletin.

[8]  Lynn Hasher,et al.  Working Memory, Comprehension, and Aging: A Review and a New View , 1988 .

[9]  S. Platek,et al.  Brain mapping of deception and truth telling about an ecologically valid situation: functional MR imaging and polygraph investigation--initial experience. , 2006, Radiology.

[10]  M. Botvinick,et al.  Parsing executive processes: strategic vs. evaluative functions of the anterior cingulate cortex. , 2000, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[11]  J. Pennebaker,et al.  Behavioral inhibition and electrodermal activity during deception. , 1985, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[12]  J. Burgoon,et al.  Interpersonal Deception Theory , 1996 .

[13]  Daniel M. Wegner,et al.  The cognitive consequences of secrecy. , 1995 .

[14]  P. Ekman.  Telling lies: clues to deceit in the marketplace , 1985 .

[15]  Christina T. Fong,et al.  “I'm Innocent!”: Effects of Training on Judgments of Truth and Deception in the Interrogation Room , 1999 .

[16]  J. Horn.  The Theory of Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence in Relation to Concepts of Cognitive Psychology and Aging in Adulthood , 1982 .

[17]  C M Seifert,et al.  Using response time measures to assess "guilty knowledge". , 2000, The Journal of applied psychology.

[18]  Chetwyn C. H. Chan,et al.  Lie detection by functional magnetic resonance imaging , 2002, Human brain mapping.

[19]  J. Russell,et al.  Executive control within strategic deception: a window on early cognitive development? , 2001, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[20]  H. Wimmer,et al.  Beliefs about beliefs: Representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young children's understanding of deception , 1983, Cognition.

[21]  Jodie A. Baird,et al.  Executive Attention and Metacognitive Regulation , 2000, Consciousness and Cognition.

[22]  T. Salthouse.  The processing-speed theory of adult age differences in cognition. , 1996, Psychological review.

[23]  A. Baddeley.  The episodic buffer: a new component of working memory? , 2000, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[24]  Eric Seemann,et al.  Cognitive mechanisms underlying lying to questions: response time as a cue to deception , 2003 .

[25]  E Donchin,et al.  The truth will out: interrogative polygraphy ("lie detection") with event-related brain potentials. , 1991, Psychophysiology.

[26]  Ronald E. Riggio,et al.  Social Skills and Deception Ability , 1987 .

[27]  J. Flavell,et al.  Inferring false beliefs from actions and reactions. , 1990, Child development.

[28]  Aldert Vrij,et al.  Detecting deception by manipulating cognitive load , 2006, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[29]  J. Stroop.  Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. , 1992 .

[30]  M. George,et al.  A replication study of the neural correlates of deception. , 2004, Behavioral neuroscience.

[31]  Fred E. Inbau,et al.  Criminal Interrogation and Confessions , 1967 .

[32]  James J. Lindsay,et al.  Cues to deception. , 2003, Psychological bulletin.

[33]  Ray Johnson,et al.  The contribution of executive processes to deceptive responding , 2004, Neuropsychologia.

[34]  R. C. Gur,et al.  Brain Activity during Simulated Deception: An Event-Related Functional Magnetic Resonance Study , 2002, NeuroImage.

[35]  Reaction Times and the Consciousness of Deception , 1923 .

[36]  M. Zuckerman.  Verbal and nonverbal communication of deception , 1981 .

[37]  S. L. Sporer,et al.  The less travelled road to truth: verbal cues in deception detection in accounts of fabricated and self‐experienced events , 1997 .

[38]  D. Lykken.  The GSR in the detection of guilt. , 1959 .

[39]  Colin M. Macleod.  Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: an integrative review. , 1991, Psychological bulletin.

[40]  L. Moses,et al.  The role of inhibitory processes in young children's difficulties with deception and false belief. , 1998, Child development.

[41]  B. Kleinmuntz,et al.  On the fallibility of lie detection. , 1982 .

[42]  Theodore R. Bashore,et al.  Are there alternatives to traditional polygraph procedures , 1993 .