Brain activation and adaptation of deception processing during dyadic face-to-face interaction.

Though deception is consistently characterized by the slippery-slope effect, i.e., the escalation of small lies over time, differing interactive situations and interacting processes may influence the trajectories of deception. To explore this influence, we investigated naturalistic face-to-face (FF) and computer-mediated face-blocked (FB) interactions using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Pairs of participants acted as deceivers and receivers in an adapted ultimatum game while brain activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC) and temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) was recorded. Comparison of deception in the two types of interactions showed that the FF interactions resulted in more successful deception, as well as acceptance of deception, and prompted more neural activation in the rDLPFC than the FB interactions. We found that the deception magnitude escalated in both FF and FB interactions, but rDLPFC activity during deception diminished over time only in the FF interactions but not in FB interactions, suggesting that the deceivers behaviourally adapted to deception over time in both types of interactions, but the neural adaptation occurred only in the FF interactions. Furthermore, neural adaptation in FF interactions was associated with behavioural switching after deception, indicating that the rDLPFC contributes to deception adaptation and the control of switching between deception and honesty. The FF interactions were also characterized by activity in the rTPJ, which showed an adaptation to deception. These findings highlight the importance of interactive situations in dyadic naturalistic settings for deception and the role of the rDLPFC and rTPJ in the slippery-slope effect in deception.

Tang H ，Zhang S ，Jin T ，Wu H ，Su S ，Liu C ... -  《-》

Interpersonal brain synchronization in the right temporo-parietal junction during face-to-face economic exchange.

In daily life, interpersonal interactions are influenced by uncertainty about other people's intentions. Face-to-face (FF) interaction reduces such uncertainty by providing external visible cues such as facial expression or body gestures and facilitates shared intentionality to promote belief of cooperative decisions and actual cooperative behaviors in interaction. However, so far little is known about interpersonal brain synchronization between two people engaged in naturally occurring FF interactions. In this study, we combined an adapted ultimatum game with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning to investigate how FF interaction impacts interpersonal brain synchronization during economic exchange. Pairs of strangers interacted repeatedly either FF or face-blocked (FB), while their activation was simultaneously measured in the right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ) and the control region, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC). Behaviorally, FF interactions increased shared intentionality between strangers, leading more positive belief of cooperative decisions and more actual gains in the game. FNIRS results indicated increased interpersonal brain synchronizations during FF interactions in rTPJ (but not in rDLPFC) with greater shared intentionality between partners. These results highlighted the importance of rTPJ in collaborative social interactions during FF economic exchange and warrant future research that combines FF interactions with fNIRS hyperscanning to study social brain disorders such as autism.

Tang H ，Mai X ，Wang S ，Zhu C ，Krueger F ，Liu C ... -  《-》

The role of anterior prefrontal cortex (area 10) in face-to-face deception measured with fNIRS.

Anterior prefrontal cortex (PFC, Brodmann area 10) activations are often, but not always, found in neuroimaging studies investigating deception, and the precise role of this area remains unclear. To explore the role of the PFC in face-to-face deception, we invited pairs of participants to play a card game involving lying and lie detection while we used functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to record brain activity in the PFC. Participants could win points for successfully lying about the value of their cards or for detecting lies. We contrasted patterns of brain activation when the participants either told the truth or lied, when they were either forced into this or did so voluntarily and when they either succeeded or failed to detect a lie. Activation in the anterior PFC was found in both lie production and detection, unrelated to reward. Analysis of cross-brain activation patterns between participants identified areas of the PFC where the lead player's brain activity synchronized their partner's later brain activity. These results suggest that during situations that involve close interpersonal interaction, the anterior PFC supports processing widely involved in deception, possibly relating to the demands of monitoring one's own and other people's behaviour.

Pinti P ，Devoto A ，Greenhalgh I ，Tachtsidis I ，Burgess PW ，de C Hamilton AF ... -  《-》

Neural alignment during face-to-face spontaneous deception: Does gender make a difference?

This study investigated the gender differences in deception and their neural basis in the perspective of two-person neuroscience. Both male and female dyads were asked to perform a face-to-face spontaneous sender-receiver deception task, while their neural activities in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and right temporal parietal junction (rTPJ) were recorded simultaneously using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning. Male and female dyads displayed similar deception rate, successful deception rate, and eye contact in deception trials. Moreover, eye contact in deception trials was positively correlated with the success rate of deception in both genders. The fNIRS data showed that the interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) in PFC was significantly enhanced only in female dyads when performed the deception task, while INS in rTPJ was increased only in male dyads. Such INS was correlated with the success rate of deception in both dyads. Granger causality analysis showed that no significant directionality between time series of PFC (or rTPJ) in each dyad, which could indicate that sender and receiver played equally important role during deception task. Finally, enhanced INS in PFC in female dyads mediated the contribution of eye contact to the success rate of deception. All findings in this study suggest that differential patterns of INS are recruited when male and female dyads perform the face-to-face deception task. To our knowledge, this is the first interbrain evidence for gender difference of successful deception, which could make us a deeper understanding of spontaneous face-to-face deception.

Chen M ，Zhang T ，Zhang R ，Wang N ，Yin Q ，Li Y ，Liu J ，Liu T ，Li X ... -  《-》

Neural correlates of second-order verbal deception: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study.

The present study focused on neural correlates underlying second-order deception. In first-order deception, the recipient of deception is unaware of the deceiver's deceptive intention. However, during second-order deception, the recipient is fully aware of the deceiver's deceptive intention and thus the deceiver needs to use both lies and truths to deceive the recipient. Using the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) methodology and a naturalistic interactive game, we found that second-order deception elicited significantly greater [oxy-Hb] changes in the prefrontal cortex (the right superior frontal gyrus (SFG), BA6) than the non-deceptive control condition. This finding suggests that second-order deception, like first-order deception, engages specifically the cortical regions associated with the planning of complex actions and goal processing. We also found that lying to deceive produced greater neural activities in the right middle frontal gyrus than truth-telling to deceive. This suggests that although both actions serve deceptive purposes, making a false statement contradicting the true state of affairs still requires more executive control and thus greater neural responses in the cortical regions associated with this function. In addition, we found that the successful deception produced greater neural activities in a broad area of the prefrontal frontal cortex than failure to deceive, indicating the involvement of the cortical reward system during second-order deception. Further, failure of truth-telling to deceive produced greater neural responses in the right SFG than failure of lying to deceive. The present findings taken together suggest that second-order deception engages both the cortical executive and reward systems.

Ding XP ，Sai L ，Fu G ，Liu J ，Lee K ... -  《-》