TELEPATHY 79
ulated when the brain encounters something novel or out of the ordinary.)
The idea of using MRI scans to detect lies was the brainchild of
Daniel Langleben of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1999 he came
upon a paper stating that children suffering from attention deficit disorder had difficulty lying, but he knew from experience that this was
wrong; such children had no problem lying. Their real problem was
that they had difficulty inhibiting the truth. "They would just blurt
things out," recalled Langleben. He conjectured that the brain, in telling a lie, first had to stop itself from telling the truth, and then create a
deception. He says, "When you tell a deliberate lie, you have to be holding in mind the truth. So it stands to reason it should mean more brain
activity." In other words, lying is hard work.
Through experimenting with college students and asking them to
lie, Langleben soon found that lying creates increased brain activity in
several areas, including the frontal lobe (where higher thinking is concentrated), the temporal lobe, and the limbic system (where emotions
are processed). In particular, he noticed unusual activity in the anterior cingulated gyrus (which is associated with conflict resolution and
response inhibition).
He claims to have attained consistent success rates of up to 99 percent when analyzing his subjects in controlled experiments to determine whether or not they were lying (e.g., he asked college students to
lie about the identity of playing cards).
The interest in this technology has been so pronounced that two
commercial ventures have been started, offering this service to the
public. In 2007 one company, No Lie MRI, took on its first case, a person who was suing his insurance company because it claimed that he
had deliberately set his deli on fire. (The fMRI scan indicated that he
was not an arsonist.)
Proponents of Langleben's technique claim that it is much more
reliable than the old-fashioned lie detector, since altering brain patterns is beyond anyone's control. While people can be trained to a degree to control their pulse rate and sweating, it is impossible for them
ulated when the brain encounters something novel or out of the ordinary.)
The idea of using MRI scans to detect lies was the brainchild of
Daniel Langleben of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1999 he came
upon a paper stating that children suffering from attention deficit disorder had difficulty lying, but he knew from experience that this was
wrong; such children had no problem lying. Their real problem was
that they had difficulty inhibiting the truth. "They would just blurt
things out," recalled Langleben. He conjectured that the brain, in telling a lie, first had to stop itself from telling the truth, and then create a
deception. He says, "When you tell a deliberate lie, you have to be holding in mind the truth. So it stands to reason it should mean more brain
activity." In other words, lying is hard work.
Through experimenting with college students and asking them to
lie, Langleben soon found that lying creates increased brain activity in
several areas, including the frontal lobe (where higher thinking is concentrated), the temporal lobe, and the limbic system (where emotions
are processed). In particular, he noticed unusual activity in the anterior cingulated gyrus (which is associated with conflict resolution and
response inhibition).
He claims to have attained consistent success rates of up to 99 percent when analyzing his subjects in controlled experiments to determine whether or not they were lying (e.g., he asked college students to
lie about the identity of playing cards).
The interest in this technology has been so pronounced that two
commercial ventures have been started, offering this service to the
public. In 2007 one company, No Lie MRI, took on its first case, a person who was suing his insurance company because it claimed that he
had deliberately set his deli on fire. (The fMRI scan indicated that he
was not an arsonist.)
Proponents of Langleben's technique claim that it is much more
reliable than the old-fashioned lie detector, since altering brain patterns is beyond anyone's control. While people can be trained to a degree to control their pulse rate and sweating, it is impossible for them