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The Cognitive Load of Narrative Lies
Citation
Bird, L and Gretton, M and Cockerell, R and Heathcote, A, The Cognitive Load of Narrative Lies, Applied Cognitive Psychology, 33, (5) pp. 936-942. ISSN 0888-4080 (2019) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Bird, L, Gretton, M, Cockerell, R, Heathcote, A. The cognitive load of narrative lies. Appl Cognit Psychol. 2019; 33: 936– 942., which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3567 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.
DOI: doi:10.1002/acp.3567
Abstract
Lying is assumed to increase cognitive load, and it has been shown to slow response times to simple questions. We employed a dual‐task methodology, the detection response task (DRT), to assess cognitive load in telling narrative lies in a live, open‐question interview. The DRT requires participants to press a button in response to a tactile stimulus every 3–5 s while performing a primary task, in this case, recounting either truthful or deceitful narratives. We found weak support for slowing in the time to initiate a narrative response when lying. In contrast, we found strong support for an increase in cognitive load when producing a narrative lie, as measured by both slowed DRT responses and increased response omissions, although this effect decreased with time on task. We advocate dual‐task methodologies such as the DRT for increasing understanding of the assumptions made by theories of deception and for refining lie detection techniques.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | deception, cognitive load, detection response task |
Research Division: | Psychology |
Research Group: | Cognitive and computational psychology |
Research Field: | Decision making |
Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in psychology |
UTAS Author: | Gretton, M (Mr Matthew Gretton) |
UTAS Author: | Heathcote, A (Professor Andrew Heathcote) |
ID Code: | 134877 |
Year Published: | 2019 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 3 |
Deposited By: | Psychology |
Deposited On: | 2019-09-11 |
Last Modified: | 2020-03-11 |
Downloads: | 9 View Download Statistics |
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