The Existence of Feedback Modulates the Neural Mechanism Underlying Deception

Abstract

Deception will result in some consequences(deception consequence),which will in turn affect the mechanism underlying deception process. Previous studies have demonstrated that the deception consequence modulates the corresponding deception process; however,the neural mechanism underlying this modulation effect remains unclear. The present study investigated how the neural signals elicited by deceptive response would be modulated by whether response would be judged by the lie-detector about its facticity. After a mock murder situation,BOLD responses in the brains of 31 healthy volunteers were recorded while they underwent two versions of guilt knowledge test(GKT) paradigm. In the GKT paradigm for the feedback group,a feedback indicating whether the response was judged honest or deceptive was given by the lie-detector after each response of the participant,while in the GKT paradigm for the no-feedback group,there was no feedback after their responses. The results showed that the feedback group showed stronger acitivities in the left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex,insula,parietal lobe,the bilateral occipital lobe,and the right cerebellum than the no-feedback group,irrespective of whether the participants did deceptive responses or honest responses. While deceptive responses elicited stronger activities in the right ventral lateral prefrontal cortex,posterior medial frontal cortex,middle temporal gyrus,the bilateral supramarginal gyrus,and the left insua,relative to honest responses,regardless of which group the participants belonged to. Most importantly,the left insula and the bilateral striatum were selectively more responsive for the deceptive response versus honest response in the feedback group than in the no-feedback group. These results initially demonstrate the important influence of deception consequence on the neural mechanism of producing deception,suggesting that deception would arouse stronger risk evaluation and reward predication processes when the deceiver had to face some consequences after telling lies than when there were no consequences following their lies.