Sunday, January 16, 2011

Built In Lie Detector

Back in college, I did research in psychneuroimaging and have always found brain studies fascinating. A recent study at Oxford University, looked at areas of activation in the brain when participants thought they were being lied to. Interestingly, there was a consistent area which lit up only during potential lies. This ability to read others, and to predict when someone is not telling the true is one part of theory of mind.

Individuals with autism often have a certain innocence about them. Parents are often worried about peer pressure, following the crowd, not understanding when someone is trying to trick them. Theory of mind, or lack there of, is a popular theory behind autism, and the built in lie detector study may help unlock one more clue of autism.

If the study was done with individuals with autism, would the results still be the same? Or would they not be able to predict when someone is lying. What if blatant lies were used? i.e. The square is red, when a blue square is shown. At what point would the ability to distinguish a lie disappear? Could this skill be taught? If so, how would that change how the brain responds?

Thoughts?
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1 comments:

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