The Role of Working Memory Capacity and Cognitive Load in Producing Lies for Autobiographical Information

This study examined effects of working memory capacity (WMC) and cognitive load on one's ability to convincingly tell lies. Recent research suggests imposing a cognitive load improves lie detection. We hypothesized that the cognitive demands of lying, particularly under high load, would lead to poorer performance among low-WMC individuals. In our study, young adults gave truthful or deceptive responses to autobiographical questions when under either high or low cognitive load. Detectors attempted to guess speaker veracity either in person or when later watching a video recording. When under high load, low-WMC individuals’ lies were more easily detected and they also had greater difficulty remembering the truth. High-WMC individuals were unaffected by load. These results suggest that imposing cognitive load during interrogations might selectively affect low-WMC individuals, allowing greater lie detection, but also creating wrongful convictions based on changing testimony over time.

Source: Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition - July 10, 2018 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research