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Brain Scan Reveals Truth and Lies

A recent small study revealed that the brain actively uses different parts when a person tells the truth or a lie. The primary technology in this research was functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI.

Dr. Scott Faro, director of the Functional Brain Imaging Center at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and his colleagues gathered 9 volunteers. In the test, six of them shot a toy gun and were asked to lie about it. The remaining three told the truth about what happened after they watched.

The volunteers’ brains were scanned with fMRI as they reiterated the gun scenario. Faro’s Team discovered that the brain seems to be more active when telling a lie than the truth.

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"We found a total of seven areas of activation in the deception [group]," Faro said. "We found four areas of activity in the truth-telling arm."

During a lie, the fMRI showed brain activity in the front part of the brain, specifically the medial inferior and pre-central areas. Also, the hippocampus, middle temporal regions, and the limbic areas showed activity. Some of these are involved in emotional responses.

The brain was active in the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and cingulate gyrus when telling the truth.

Faro said that using fMRI as a lie detector is costly. But there is potential application in some extreme cases, such as a high-profile corporate crime case or the questioning of a terrorist suspect.

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