Event-Related Potential Components Associated with the Preparation and Execution of Self-Motivated Deception within a Morally Accountable Context

Abstract

Recent neuroimaging research has attempted to deconstruct the cognitive components of dishonest behavior, but it often confines itself within the arena of instructed deceit and thereby fails to observe deceptive activity that bears genuine moral relevance. We report on an ERP analogue of an fMRI study in which participants are not told to lie, but rather choose to lie of their own volition after realizing that our experimental structure can be exploited for dishonest monetary gain. Subjects who were willing to act deceptively in this morally accountable atmosphere showed distinctive ERP responses preceding potential lies. Specifically, stimuli about which a dishonest participant was able lie elicited more negative Feedback-related negativities and less positive P3 waveforms. The observed patterns of activity may point to the importance and detectability of affective and motivational factors that precede real-world deception.