title: Telling lies: the irrepressible truth?
abstract: Telling a lie takes longer than telling the truth but precisely why remains uncertain. We investigated two processes suggested to increase response times, namely the decision to lie and the construction of a lie response. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants were directed or chose whether to lie or tell the truth. A colored square was presented and participants had to name either the true color of the square or lie about it by claiming it was a different color. In both experiments we found that there was a greater difference between lying and telling the truth when participants were directed to lie compared to when they chose to lie. In Experiments 3 and 4, we compared response times when participants had only one possible lie option to a choice of two or three possible options. There was a greater lying latency effect when questions involved more than one possible lie response. Experiment 5 examined response choice mechanisms through the manipulation of lie plausibility. Overall, results demonstrate several distinct mechanisms that contribute to additional processing requirements when individuals tell a lie.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Emma J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Lewis A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Bott
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Patrick
authors.forename: Michael B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Lewis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002755:Choice Behavior; D008192:Deception; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D055815:Young Adult