Aug 19, 2010

Can one see the shape of a lie?

Is this your card? Don't lie or neuroscientist Dan Langleben may catch you. In our recent show Deception, Radio Lab explores how Paul Ekman can see the truth 'leak out' through microexpressions in the face, but Langleben wants to go deeper.

What if we could watch the brain as it's telling a lie? Would we see something different? This is the first topic in our new series of explorations in neuroscience, 'Mouse in amaze'. Jad asks Langleben how he uses fMRI and the 'Guilty Knowledge Test' to see what's happening in the brain when we tell a lie. $20 to fool a brain scanner? Sign me up!

Listen to Jad's interview with Dan Langleben above.

See what Jad is being shown (if you're currently listening it's best to open it in a new window):
Langleben pic1

The concept behind this test is actually taken from an old paradigm previously used to determine the accuracy of the polygraph. The polygraph has been found to be largely inaccurate probably because it measures perspiration, heart rate and breathing, which are all indirectly related to the act of telling a lie.

Dr. Langleben comments on the polygraph:

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