“Lying Is Tough Work for the Brain”

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have found that the brain has to work much harder to tell a lie than it does to tell the truth. Dr. Daniel Langleben has been studying this phenomenon using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine to pinpoint which parts of the brain are activated when a person lies. When faced with a question, our brain first needs to process it. Then, “almost by instinct, a liar will first think of the true answer before devising or speaking [a] false answer,” reports The News of Mexico City. “In the brain, you never get something for nothing,” says Langleben. “The process for telling a lie is more complicated than telling the truth, resulting in more neuron activity.” This increased neuron activity shows up on an fMRI like a light bulb. “Even for the smoothest-talker, lying is tough work for the brain,” says the paper.