Kristina Suchotzki

Hyporeactivity of ventral striatum towards incentive stimuli in unmedicated depressed patients normalizes after treatment with escitalopram

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) involves deficits in the reward system. While neuroimaging studies have focused on affective stimulus processing, few investigations have directly addressed deficits in the anticipation of incentives. We examined neural responses during gain and loss anticipation in patients with MDD before and after treatment with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). Fifteen adults with MDD and 15 healthy participants, matched for age, verbal IQ and smoking habits, were investigated in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study using a monetary incentive delay task. Patients were scanned drug-free and after 6 weeks of open-label treatment with escitalopram; controls were scanned twice at corresponding time points. We compared the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response during the anticipation of gain and loss with a neutral condition. A repeated measures ANOVA was calculated to identify effects of group (MDD vs. controls), time (first vs. second scan) and group-by-time interaction. Severity of depression was measured with the Hamilton Rating Scale of Depression and the Beck Depression Inventory. MDD patients showed significantly less ventral striatal activation during anticipation of gain and loss compared with controls before, but not after, treatment. There was a significant group-by-time interaction during anticipation of loss in the left ventral striatum due to a signal increase in patients after treatment. Ventral striatal hyporesponsiveness was associated with the severity of depression and in particular anhedonic symptoms. These findings suggest that MDD patients show ventral striatal hyporesponsiveness during incentive cue processing, which normalizes after successful treatment.

Learning to lie: effects of practice on the cognitive cost of lying

Cognitive theories on deception posit that lying requires more cognitive resources than telling the truth. In line with this idea, it has been demonstrated that deceptive responses are typically associated with increased response times and higher error rates compared to truthful responses. Although the cognitive cost of lying has been assumed to be resistant to practice, it has recently been shown that people who are trained to lie can reduce this cost. In the present study (n = 42), we further explored the effects of practice on one’s ability to lie by manipulating the proportions of lie and truth-trials in a Sheffield lie test across three phases: Baseline (50% lie, 50% truth), Training (frequent-lie group: 75% lie, 25% truth; control group: 50% lie, 50% truth; and frequent-truth group: 25% lie, 75% truth), and Test (50% lie, 50% truth). The results showed that lying became easier while participants were trained to lie more often and that lying became more difficult while participants were trained to tell the truth more often. Furthermore, these effects did carry over to the test phase, but only for the specific items that were used for the training manipulation. Hence, our study confirms that relatively little practice is enough to alter the cognitive cost of lying, although this effect does not persist over time for non-practiced items.

Lying Takes Time: A Meta-Analysis on Reaction Time Measures of Deception

Lie detection techniques are frequently used, but most of them have been criticized for the lack of empirical support for their predictive validity and presumed underlying mechanisms. This situation has led to increased efforts to unravel the cognitive mechanisms underlying deception and to develop a comprehensive theory of deception. A cognitive approach to deception has reinvigorated interest in reaction time (RT) measures to differentiate lies from truths and to investigate whether lying is more cognitively demanding than truth telling. Here, we provide the results of a meta-analysis of 114 studies (n = 3307) using computerized RT paradigms to assess the cognitive cost of lying. Results revealed a large standardized RT difference, even after correction for publication bias (d = 1.049; 95% CI [0.930; 1.169]), with a large heterogeneity amongst effect sizes. Moderator analyses revealed that the RT deception effect was smaller, yet still large, in studies in which participants received instructions to avoid detection. The autobiographical Implicit Association Test produced smaller effects than the Concealed Information Test, the Sheffield Lie Test, and the Differentiation of Deception paradigm. An additional meta-analysis (17 studies, n = 348) showed that, like other deception measures, RT deception measures are susceptible to countermeasures. Whereas our meta-analysis corroborates current cognitive approaches to deception, the observed heterogeneity calls for further research on the boundary conditions of the cognitive cost of deception. RT-based measures of deception may have potential in applied settings, but countermeasures remain an important challenge.

Reaction time measures in deception research: comparing the effects of irrelevant and relevant stimulus-response compatibility.

Evidence regarding the validity of reaction time (RT) measures in deception research is mixed. One possible reason for this inconsistency is that structurally different RT paradigms have been used. The aim of this study was to experimentally investigate whether structural differences between RT tasks are related to how effective those tasks are for capturing deception. We achieved this aim by comparing the effectiveness of relevant and irrelevant stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) tasks. We also investigated whether an intended but not yet completed mock crime could be assessed with both tasks. Results showed (1) a larger compatibility effect in the relevant SRC task compared to the irrelevant SRC task, (2) for both the completed and the intended crime. These results were replicated in a second experiment in which a semantic feature (instead of color) was used as critical response feature in the irrelevant SRC task. The findings support the idea that a structural analysis of deception tasks helps to identify RT measures that produce robust group effects, and that strong compatibility effects for both enacted crimes as well as merely intended crimes can be found with RT measures that are based on the manipulation of relevant SRC.

The cognitive mechanisms underlying deception: An event-related potential study

The cognitive view on deception proposes that lying comes with a cognitive cost. This view is supported by the finding that lying typically takes longer than truth telling. Event-related potentials (ERPs) provide a means to unravel the cognitive processes underlying this cost. Using a mock-crime design, the current study (n=20) investigated the effects of deception on the Contingent Negative Variation (CNV), the Lateralized Readiness Potential (LRP), the Correct Response Negativity (CRN), and the stimulus-locked N200 and P300 components. In line with previous research, lying resulted in more errors, longer reaction times (RTs) and longer RT standard deviations compared to truthful responses. A marginally significant effect suggested a stronger CNV for the anticipation of lying compared to the anticipation of truth telling. There were no significant deception effects on the stimulus- and the response-locked LRPs. Unexpectedly, we found a significantly larger CRN for truth telling compared to lying. Additional analyses revealed an enhanced N200 and a decreased P300 for lying compared to truth telling. Our results support the cognitive load hypothesis for lying, yet are mixed regarding the response conflict hypothesis. Results are discussed with regard to the specific characteristics of our design and their theoretical and applied implications.

Manipulating item proportion and deception reveals crucial dissociation between behavioral, autonomic, and neural indices of concealed information.

Developed as an alternative to traditional deception detection methods, the concealed information test (CIT) assesses recognition of critical (e.g., crime‐relevant) “probes.” Most often, recognition has been measured as enhanced skin conductance responses (SCRs) to probes compared to irrelevant foils (CIT effect). More recently, also differentially enlarged reaction times (RTs) and increased neural activity in the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, the right middle frontal gyrus, and the right temporo‐parietal junction have been observed. The aims of the current functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study were to (1) investigate the boundary conditions of the CIT effects in all three measures and thereby (2) gain more insight into the relative contribution of two mechanisms underlying enhanced responding to concealed information (i.e., orienting versus response inhibition). Therefore, we manipulated the proportion of probe versus irrelevant items, and whether suspects were instructed to actively deny recognition of probe knowledge (i.e., deceive) during the test. Results revealed that whereas overt deception was not necessary for the SCR CIT effect, it was crucial for the RT and the fMRI‐based CIT effects. The proportion manipulation enhanced the CIT effect in all three measures. The results indicate that different mental processes might underlie the response pattern in the CIT. While skin conductance responding to concealed information may best be explained by orienting theory, it seems that response inhibition drives RT and blood oxygen level dependent responding to concealed information. Hum Brain Mapp 36:427–439, 2015.

From junior to senior Pinocchio: A cross-sectional lifespan investigation of deception

We present the first study to map deception across the entire lifespan. Specifically, we investigated age-related difference in lying proficiency and lying frequency. A large community sample (n = 1005) aged between 6 and 77 were surveyed on their lying frequency, and performed a reaction-time (RT) based deception task to assess their lying proficiency. Consistent with the inverted U-shaped pattern of age-related changes in inhibitory control that we observed in a stop signal task, we found that lying proficiency improved during childhood (in accuracy, not RTs), excelled in young adulthood (in accuracy and RTs), and worsened throughout adulthood (in accuracy and RTs). Likewise, lying frequency increased in childhood, peaked in adolescence, and decreased during adulthood. In sum, we observed important age-related difference in deception that generally fit with the U-shaped pattern of age-related changes observed in inhibitory control. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed from a cognitive view of deception.

Influence of countermeasures on the validity of the Concealed Information Test

The Concealed Information Test (CIT) is a psychophysiological technique that allows for detecting crime-related knowledge. Usually, autonomic response measures are used for this purpose, but ocular measures have also been proposed recently. Prior studies reported heterogeneous results for the usage of countermeasures (CM) to corrupt the CITs validity, depending on the CM technique and the dependent measure. The current study systematically compared the application of physical and mental CM on autonomic and ocular measures during the CIT. Sixty participants committed a mock crime and were assigned to one of three guilty conditions: standard guilty (without CM), physical CM, or mental CM. An additional group of 20 innocents was investigated with the same CIT to calculate validity estimates. Electrodermal responses were more vulnerable for CM usage compared to heart rate and respiration, and physical CM were more effective than mental CM. Independent of CM usage, a combined score of autonomic responses enabled a valid differentiation between guilty and innocent examinees. Fixations and blinks also allowed for detecting crime-related knowledge, but these measures were more affected by CM application than autonomic responses. The current study delivered further evidence that CM differentially impact physiological and ocular responses in the CIT. Whereas individual data channels were strongly affected by CM usage, a combination of different response measures yielded a relatively stable differentiation of guilty and innocent examinees when mental CM were used. These findings are especially relevant for field applications and might inspire future studies to detect or prevent CM usage in CIT examinations.

In Vino Veritas? Alcohol, Response Inhibition and Lying

AIMS Despite the widespread belief that alcohol makes the truth come out more easily, we know very little on how alcohol impacts deception. Given that alcohol impairs response inhibition, and that response inhibition may be critically involved in deception, we expected that alcohol intake would hamper lying. METHODS In total, 104 volunteers were tested at a science festival, where they had the opportunity to drink alcohol. Stop-Signal Reaction Times (SSRTs) served as operationalization of response inhibition. Differences in error rates and reaction times (RTs) between lying and truth telling served as indicators of the cognitive cost of lying. RESULTS Higher blood alcohol concentration was related to longer SSRTs, but unrelated to the cognitive costs of lying. CONCLUSION This study validates previous laboratory research on alcohol and response inhibition in a realistic drinking environment, yet failed to find an effect of alcohol on lying. Implications of these findings and for the role of response inhibition in lying are discussed.

The language of lies: Behavioral and autonomic costs of lying in a native compared to a foreign language

Research on trustworthiness indicates that non-native speakers are perceived as less trustworthy than native speakers. Research investigating whether people do indeed lie less well in a non-native language is, however, scarce and yielded inconsistent results. Two opposing predictions are possible. Based on the idea that lying is more demanding than truth telling, the cognitive load account predicts that speaking a foreign language imposes additional cognitive load and thereby hampers lying. Based on the idea that lying is emotionally arousing and that communication in a non-native language is perceived as less emotional, the emotional distance account predicts that speaking a foreign language facilitates lying. In three experiments, participants were asked neutral and emotional questions both in their mother tongue (German) and in a foreign language (English). Depending on a color cue, questions had to be answered sometimes truthfully and sometimes deceptively. Results across all experiments consistently revealed smaller reaction time (RT) differences between lying and truth telling in the foreign compared to the native language condition, which was mostly driven by prolonged truth responses. There were neither differences in this language modulation between emotional and neutral questions nor in autonomic responses. Results could be explained by the antagonistic effects of cognitive load and emotional distance on lying, and suggestions are made how further research may disentangle those effects. Importantly, the observation that foreign language use hampers truth telling could explain the perceived lower trustworthiness of foreign language speakers and education about this effect may help to reduce such a bias.