Neuroscientists have now identified different patterns of brain organization between normal people and people who cheat or lie constantly. Liars have been found to have less gray matter and more white matter in their prefrontal cortex and certain abnormalities have been revealed in area that controls higher thinking.
Gray matter consists of the cells that do the thinking (is also held to determine moral behavior), while white matter consists of the cells that connect them. Scientists argue that cheating and lying come naturally to these people because their verbal skills. This has been attributed to more networking in the prefrontal cortex of such individuals.This study has been conducted on 49 subjects who were classified into different categories related to the lying habit and were further analyzed using psychological tests and interviews. The study has been the first to highlight the structural brain abnormalities in pathological liars. Differences in brain structure were recorded using images obtained through a technique called magnetic resonance imaging. The liars were found to have a 25.7 % more white matter and a 14.2 % decrease in gray matter when compared to the controls. The reduction in gray matter could predispose them to lying while the excess of white matter supports them to do so easily due to the reduced moral binding.
The above findings could have valuable implications regarding the diagnosis of behavioral problems and could perhaps even revolutionize the current criminal justice system in the future.
