The guilty brain: the utility of neuroimaging and neurostimulation studies in forensic field

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Several studies have aimed to address the natural inability of humankind to detect deception and accurately discriminate lying from truth in the legal context. To date, it has been well established that telling a lie is a complex mental activity. During deception, many functions of higher cognition are involved: the decision to lie, withholding the truth, fabricating the lie, monitoring whether the receiver believes the lie, and, if necessary, adjusting the fabricated story and maintaining a consistent lie. In the previous 15 years, increasing interest in the neuroscience of deception has resulted in new possibilities to investigate and interfere with the ability to lie directly from the brain. Cognitive psychology, as well as neuroimaging and neurostimulation studies, are increasing the possibility that neuroscience will be useful for lie detection. This paper discusses the scientific validity of the literature on neuroimaging and neurostimulation regarding lie detection to understand whether scientific findings in this field have a role in the forensic setting. We considered how lie detection technology may contribute to addressing the detection of deception in the courtroom and discussed the conditions and limits in which these techniques reliably distinguish whether an individual is lying.</jats:p>

Why Behavioral Indicators May Fail to Reveal Mental States: Individual Differences in Arousal-Movement Pattern Relationships

“…Altogether, available evidence points to a possibility that behavioral indicators often used as signs of certain mental states might be either missing or misleading in a subset of people. This hypothesis is further supported by studies showing that even the most advanced lie-detection technologies are not sufficiently accurate in detecting deception at an individual level (Mameli et al, 2017).…”

Deceptive but Not Honest Manipulative Actions Are Associated with Increased Interaction between Middle and Inferior Frontal gyri

“…Although it is generally assumed that transcranial brain stimulation influences deception-related behavior by modulating the function of these aPFC structures (Ganis, 2014 ; Mameli et al, 2017 ), the inconsistencies in behavioral effects, location of stimulated areas and used experimental tasks precludes clear understanding of exact neurophysiological mechanism underling the execution of deceptive behavior. Considering the ambiguity regarding functional role of the aPFC in the deception execution, the present study is designed to reveal changes in the functional coupling between structures of the aPFC and other brain areas involved in the execution of freely chosen deceptive and honest actions, which can shed lights on brain mechanisms and psychological operations involved in the execution of deception.…”

功能性近红外光谱技术在说谎研究中的应用

“…frontal gyrus)、 额下回(inferior frontal gyrus)以前运 动区皮层(the premotor cortex)和额眶回(orbitofrontal area)等大脑前额叶皮层相关的脑区在说谎行为中 所起的作用(胡志善, 2015;刘佩龙, 2015;赛李阳, 2012; 李放等, 2016;Ding et al, 2013Ding et al, , 2014Li et al, 2015Li et al, , 2018 Niioka et al, 2018;Tian et al, 2009; Zhang et al, 2016)。还有研究发现, 人际互动情景 中 的 自 发 说 谎 会 显 著 激 活 颞 上 沟 (superior temporal sulcus, STS) 和 颞 顶 联 合 区 (temporoparietal junction, TPJ)(Tang et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2017)。这些结果与已有 fMRI 元分析的研究结 果基本一致(Christ et al, 2008;Lisofsky et al, 2014) 。 同时再次证明, 诚实反应是"基线式反应", 而说谎反应则是需要消耗更多认知资源的"任务 反应"(Mameli et al, 2017;Spence et al, 2004),…”