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Lie, truth, lie: the role of task switching in a deception context

Psychological Research volume 79, pages 478–488 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

A cornerstone of the task switching literature is the finding that task performance is typically slower and more error-prone when the task switches than when it repeats. So far, deception research has largely ignored that such cognitive switch costs should also emerge when switching between truth telling and lying, and may affect the cognitive cost of lying as reflected in higher prefrontal brain activity and slower and less accurate responding compared to truth telling. To get a grasp on the relative size of the switch costs associated with lying and truth telling, the current study had participants perform a reaction time-based deception task, in which they alternated between lying and telling the truth to yes/no questions that were related to activities performed in the lab (Experiment 1) or neutral autobiographical facts (Experiment 2). In both experiments, the error and reaction time switch costs were found to be equally large for switching from truth telling to lying and from lying to truth telling. This symmetry in switch costs can be explained from the hypothesis that lying requires a first step of truth telling, and demonstrates that task switching does not contribute to the cognitive cost of lying when the repetition/switch ratio is balanced. Theoretical and methodological implications are considered.

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Notes

  1. As we used a different outlier technique in the study of Debey, Ridderinkhof, De Houwer, & Verschuere (2014b), the results slightly differ between the studies.

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Acknowledgments

Evelyne Debey is supported by Ghent University Grant BOF01D01010. Baptist Liefooghe and Jan De Houwer are supported by Ghent University Grant BOF09/01M00209.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Evelyne Debey, Baptist Liefooghe, Jan De Houwer & Bruno Verschuere

  2. Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Bruno Verschuere

  3. Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Bruno Verschuere

Authors
  1. Evelyne Debey
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  2. Baptist Liefooghe
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  3. Jan De Houwer
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  4. Bruno Verschuere
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Evelyne Debey.

Appendices

Appendix 1

See Table 5.

Table 5 Questions used in Experiment 1
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Appendix 2

See Table 6.

Table 6 Questions used in Experiment 2
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Debey, E., Liefooghe, B., De Houwer, J. et al. Lie, truth, lie: the role of task switching in a deception context. Psychological Research 79, 478–488 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-014-0582-4

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Keywords

  • Switch Cost
  • Task Switching
  • Repetition Trial
  • Switch Trial
  • Cognitive Cost