American scientists have found that the brain gives liars away.
The "treacherous" activity of certain brain areas eloquently indicates that a person is lying. Therefore, magnetic resonance imaging could become an alternative to traditional lie detectors, believes Scott Faro of Temple University in Pennsylvania.
A lie detector measures the body's physiological response to stress, which is what lying is. Proponents of the polygraph assure that an experienced operator detects peaks in respiratory activity, blood pressure, and sweating practically without error.
The American Academy of Sciences, on the contrary, concluded that this is a very unreliable method of detecting liars, since with proper training one can learn to keep oneself under control and not give anything away.
However, this trick will not work with magnetic resonance, Faro believes. He conducted an experiment in which eleven volunteers took part. Six of them were given a toy gun to fire, and then told to recount how it happened. At the same time, their brains were closely monitored using functional magnetic resonance imaging, and then each underwent a polygraph. Five of the shooters were not subjected to the same procedures.
Both tests identified the liars and determined those who were telling the truth. It turned out that in the process of lying, the activity of the frontal, temporal, and limbic lobes of the brain and some other areas increases significantly. According to the author of the study, no amount of training will help hide this activity. Therefore, this method is significantly more reliable than the polygraph.
Similar data were obtained by Daniel Langleben of the University of Pennsylvania; card players served as the subjects of his research.
However, further research is needed to compare the results of the lie detector and magnetic resonance imaging. In addition, magnetic resonance equipment costs a lot, and therefore widespread use of it is out of the question for now — reports the "Inform Nauka" agency.