Lie construction affects information storage under high memory load condition

PLoS One. 2017 Jul 20;12(7):e0181007. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0181007. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Previous studies indicate that lying consumes cognitive resources, especially working memory (WM) resources. Considering the dual functions that WM might play in lying: holding the truth-related information and turning the truth into lies, the present study examined the relationship between the information storage and processing in the lie construction. To achieve that goal, a deception task based on the old/new recognition paradigm was designed, which could manipulate two levels of WM load (low-load task using 4 items and high-load task using 6 items) during the deception process. The analyses based on the amplitude of the contralateral delay activity (CDA), a proved index of the number of representations being held in WM, showed that the CDA amplitude was lower in the deception process than that in the truth telling process under the high-load condition. In contrast, under the low-load condition, no CDA difference was found between the deception and truth telling processes. Therefore, we deduced that the lie construction and information storage compete for WM resources; when the available WM resources cannot meet this cognitive demand, the WM resources occupied by the information storage would be consumed by the lie construction.

MeSH terms

  • Brain / physiology
  • Deception*
  • Electroencephalography
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Memory / physiology*
  • Memory, Short-Term / physiology*
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology
  • Reaction Time / physiology
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This work has been funded by grants included: the National Natural Science Foundation of China [ No. 81401473, No. 91632109] and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [ No. 2017QNA5016] by Dr. Hongjian He who has the role in the task design and the interpretation of results; and the National 863 Program of China [ No. 2012AA011603/2012AA011602], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [ No. 31270026] by Dr. Feiyan Chen who has the role in the interpretation of results, and the following revisions of the paper. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.