title: From junior to senior Pinocchio: A cross-sectional lifespan investigation of deception.
abstract: We present the first study to map deception across the entire lifespan. Specifically, we investigated age-related difference in lying proficiency and lying frequency. A large community sample (n = 1005) aged between 6 and 77 were surveyed on their lying frequency, and performed a reaction-time (RT) based deception task to assess their lying proficiency. Consistent with the inverted U-shaped pattern of age-related changes in inhibitory control that we observed in a stop signal task, we found that lying proficiency improved during childhood (in accuracy, not RTs), excelled in young adulthood (in accuracy and RTs), and worsened throughout adulthood (in accuracy and RTs). Likewise, lying frequency increased in childhood, peaked in adolescence, and decreased during adulthood. In sum, we observed important age-related difference in deception that generally fit with the U-shaped pattern of age-related changes observed in inhibitory control. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed from a cognitive view of deception.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Evelyne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Debey
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Maarten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Schryver
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA.
authors.forename: Gordon D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Logan
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suchotzki
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium; Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: B.J.Verschuere@uva.nl.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Verschuere
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D008192:Deception; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006803:Human Development / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Deception; Development; Executive control; Lifespan; Reaction times; Response inhibition