• Question: Is there a part of the brain that creates lies?

    Asked by issymaple to Aled, Ellie, Fiona, Kev, Willem on 10 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Eleanor Parker

      Eleanor Parker answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      Hi issymaple
      That’s a really interesting question. Most scientists think there are actually several areas of the brain that are used to create lies. The most important one is called the prefrontal cortex which is just behind your forehead and used for many things including planning and problem solving. Some scientists are working on using equipment called MRI to look at how active these bits of your brain are so they can tell when you are lying!

    • Photo: Willem Heijltjes

      Willem Heijltjes answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      Hi Issymaple!

      Eleanor already gave a good answer, but I’d like to add something more.

      I would say, the part of the brain that creates lies, is the part that makes us human – so, most of it! This is because of the following.

      If you ask scientists, “why do we have such big brains”, the answer you are most likely to get is: “to deal with complex social interactions”. In other words, they think we got big brains because we had to live and work together. If you watch any soap series, you see that lying happens a lot – and an important social skill is to find out when people are lying!

Comments

  • Photo: issymaple

    issymaple commented on :

    Thankyou Willem and Ellie, I think these parts of the brain are developed instead of being born with the ability. Research has shown that you learn to lie when you become four years old. I am not sure this is true though, any thoughts?