[Functional MRI analysis of deception among people with antisocial personality disorders]

To investigate the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data of deception in antisocial personality disorders (ASPD).

A total of 32 criminals meeting the criteria for ASPD underwent fMRI at 1.5T while responding truthfully questions or lying. We compared the brain activities between truth-telling and lie-telling, and then computed the correlation coefficient between the contrast brain activities and the inclination to deception.

The left anterior cingulate gyrus, the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and left inferior parietal lobule were associated with the executive aspects of deception among people with ASPD. But with the greater inclination to deception, the blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) activities in those regions decreased.

Evaluations of truthful and untruthful communications pertaining to ASPD subjects may be differentiated in terms of brain BOLD activities, though those activities may decrease in habitual liars, which remains a challenge to the diagnostic accuracy in lie detection.