What lies beneath lies? Integrating cognitive and emotional experimental approaches to deception

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Kristina Suchotzki
• Subject Area: Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 459740908

Whereas much research has focused on the applied aspect of how deception can be detected, basic research on the psychological mechanisms underlying deception is scarce. The few available studies on fundamental aspects of deception often focused either on cognitive functions that are necessary for generating deceit or on emotional responses accompanying it. The main goal of the current project is to integrate these two separated experimental approaches. More specifically, by combining measures that are more sensitive to emotional or cognitive processes, the relative contribution of those to deceptive responding will be dissected. The project also aims to critically evaluate the popular “cognitive load account” in deception research which states that imposing additional cognitive load will selectively impair lying, yet not truth telling. This account has recently been challenged and the experimental strategies proposed in this project will enable to estimate the differential contribution of cognitive and emotional processes to deception and truth telling under increased cognitive load and thereby provide a potential explanation for diverging findings. In a second line of research, a novel social deception paradigm will be introduced that allows for going beyond the typical assessment of isolated deception and will enable to gain more insights into its social components. Finally, the previously established paradigms will be employed in a large sample of participants from the general population that varies with regard to different personality characteristics, especially psychopathic traits, and the frequency with which people employ deception in everyday life. This will deliver important information to what degree previous findings are also valid in more diverse and representative samples and thus are applicable to more applied e.g., forensic contexts. In total, this research project will take a comprehensive view on deception by integrating different factors that were so far only studied in isolation and by highlighting relevant aspects of deceptive behavior that were largely neglected in previous research. Therefore, this project will crucially advance currently underdeveloped theoretical models of deception.

• DFG Programme: Independent Junior Research Groups