Children who benefit from a good memory are much better at covering up lies, researchers from the University of Sheffield have discovered. Experts found a link between verbal memory and covering up lies following a study which investigated the role of working memory in verbal deception amongst children.
The study saw six to seven-year-old children presented with the opportunity to do something they were instructed not to — peek at the final answers on the back of a card during a trivia game.
Good at covering up
A hidden camera and correct answers to the question, which was based on the name of a fictitious cartoon character, enabled the researchers to identify who had peeked, despite denials. Further questioning, including about the colour of the answer on the cards, allowed researchers to identify who was a good liar, by lying to both entrapment questions; or a bad liar, by lying about one or none of the entrapment questions.
Verbal memory and lying
During the experiment, researchers measured two elements: verbal and visuo-spatial working memory in the children.
Verbal working memory is the number of words a person can remember all at the same time. Visuo-spatial working memory is the number of images a person can remember all at the same time. Results showed that the good liars performed better in the verbal working memory test. The link between lying and verbal memory is thought to stem from the fact that covering lies involves keeping track of lots of verbal information. In contrast, there was no difference in visuo-spatial working scores between good and bad liars. The researchers suspect this is because lying usually doesn't involve keeping track of images, so visuo-spatial information is less important.
(Source: www.eurekaalert.com)
