The document discusses lying and how it is detected. It covers: 1. When someone lies, the frontal lobe is activated to suppress the truth and the limbic system is activated due to increased anxiety from deception. Fewer brain areas are active when telling the truth. 2. Studies show compulsive liars have more white matter in the prefrontal cortex, allowing them to make connections between unrelated thoughts. Lie detectors measure limbic system activity but can be fooled if a subject is unusually calm or anxious. 3. Eye movements can indicate if someone is constructing or remembering information, but reliability depends on the individual. Up and left usually indicates visual construction while right usually indicates remembering.

1. THE
PSYCHOLOGY
LYING
OF
What happens when
YOU TELL A LIE?

2. Setting aside any ethical concerns, whether we realize it or not,
Lying on some scale is something that we do on a daily basis.
But what goes on in your brain when you
Willfully deceive someone?
And how can you spot when someone is
LYING TO YOUR FACE?

3. What happens
in your brain?
1 THE FRONTAL LOBE
IS ACTIVATED
2
THE LIMBIC SYSTEM
IS ACTIVATED
3
THE TEMPORAL LOBE
4
WHEN SOMEONE TELLS
THE TRUTH, AN
ANALTERNATE COGNITIVE
PROCESS OCCURS
This involves in
suppressing or
inhibiting the truth
This involves in the increased
anxiety from the deception
This is associated with memory
encoding and retrieval, it is
involved in checking whether
the mental imagery is correct
Fewer brain areas are active in the frontal and limbic
system as they are not inhibiting truth or becoming
anxious

4. STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT
26%
Compulsive
liars have
up to
more white matter in their prefrontal cortex,
so they are better at making connections
between thoughts not connected in reality.
Example: “me” and “a fighter pilot”
A lie detector
(polygraph)
measures the activity in the limbic system – the
anxiety felt by the subject.
A lie detector can therefore be fooled if a subject is
unusually calm or anxious during the test.
A lie detector accuracy has be quoted between 50% and
90%, due to this their use is restricted in court
proceedings.

5. Eye Movement
and lying
THE MOVEMENT OF
SOMEONE’S EYES
Can tell you what part of the brain they are
accessing
You can try and tell if someone is
constructing made up of information or
genuinely recalling what happened by
which way they look.
UP AND LEFT
Indicates visually
constructed images
TO THE LEFT
Indicates auditory
constructed sounds
DOWN AND LEFT
Indicates feelings, smell
or taste

6. UP AND RIGHT
Indicates visually
remembered images
TO THE RIGHT
Indicates auditory
remembered sounds
DOWN AND RIGHT
Indicates internal
dialogues
This is the most common model that is not the same with everyone. Before relying on it,
do some groundwork to see which way people look when creating or remembering
information.

7. Daily Dose
of lying
Most People lie once or twice a day – almost as often as they snack from the
refrigerator or brush their teeth.
BOTH MEN & WOMEN LIE EQUALLY
A fifth of social exchange lasting 10 or more minutes
invlove at least 1 lie
Over a week, people
deceive about 30% of
those with whom they
interact one – on – one.
COLLEGE STUDENTS
lie to their mothers in one out
of two conversations

8. Who is Lying?
65%
of people think we have become less honest
in the last decade, compared with 2% that
think more honest.
15%
of people admitted to
telling a lie at work in the
last month – of that
59% DID NOT FEEL GUILTY
79% of people think that most regard Personal Gain
over Integrity & Honesty
94%
of people think that Politicians are likely to lie
in their job, compared with…..

9. Next time
Find the Liar!