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The Modified Temptation Resistance Task: A Paradigm to Elicit Children's Strategic Lie-telling
Published on: April 6, 2018
The action dynamics of overcoming the truth
Nicholas D Duran1, Rick Dale, Danielle S McNamara
1Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, 202 Psychology Building, Memphis, TN 38152-3230, USA. nduran@memphis.edu
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|August 13, 2010
Summary
Deceptive actions show more complex arm movements than truthful ones. This suggests that analyzing motor dynamics can reveal the cognitive competition inherent in deception.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Human Action Dynamics
Background:
- Deception requires suppressing true knowledge and generating false information.
- Resolving cognitive conflict between truth and falsehood is central to deceptive acts.
- Traditional measures like response time capture only latent conflict, not the dynamic process.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the temporal dynamics of cognitive competition during deception.
- To examine arm movement complexity as an indicator of deceptive processes.
- To explore if action dynamics can extend beyond response time to reveal deception.
Main Methods:
- Participants responded truthfully or falsely to autobiographical questions.
- Arm movement trajectories were recorded using a Nintendo Wii Remote.
- Fine-grained trajectory analyses quantified movement complexity and competition.
Main Results:
- False responding exhibited significantly increased movement complexity compared to truthful responding.
- The complexity difference was most pronounced in false 'yes' responses.
- Dynamic motor movements indicated greater competition strength during deception.
Conclusions:
- Deceptive processes are associated with distinct and more complex action dynamics.
- Analyzing motor movements offers a potential method for detecting deception.
- Action dynamics provide insights into the real-time cognitive competition during deception.
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