"There may be unique areas in the brain involved in deception that can be measured with fMRI," said lead author Scott H. Faro, M.D. "We were able to create consistent and robust brain activation related to a real-life deception process." Dr. Faro is professor and vice-chairman of radiology and director of the Functional Brain Imaging Center and Clinical MRI at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia.
The researchers created a relevant situation for 11 normal volunteers. Six of the volunteers were asked to shoot a toy gun with blank bullets and then to lie about their participation. The non-shooters were asked to tell the truth about the situation. The researchers examined the individuals with fMRI, while simultaneously administering a polygraph exam. The polygraph measured three physiologic responses: respiration, blood pressure and galvanic skin conductance, or the skin's ability to conduct electricity, which increases when an individual perspires.
The volunteers were asked questions that pertained to the situation, along with unrelated control questions. In all cases, the polygraph and fMRI accurately distinguished truthful responses from deceptive ones. fMRI showed activation in several areas of the brain during the deception process. These areas were located in the frontal (medial inferior and pre-central), temporal (hippocampus and middle temporal), and limbic (anterior and posterior cingulate) lobes. During a truthful response, the fMRI showed activation in the frontal lobe (inferior and medial), temporal lobe (inferior) and cingulate gy
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Contact: Maureen Morley
mmorley@rsna.org
630-590-7762
Radiological Society of North America
29-Nov-2004