Trust or doubt? Neural resonance based on facial expressions in a deception game reflected by frontal EEG activities

Abstract

AbstractThe frontal cortex plays a critical role in the deception. While previous neuroimaging studies have examined the functions of various subregions within the frontal cortex, particularly in relation to truth inhibition and lie production, there is a limited understanding of frontal activities during deception in the context of social interaction. To bridge this gap, we investigated an EEG dataset collected during a deception game involving two participants (one player and one observer) who engaged in social interaction. In the game, the player was instructed or chose spontaneously whether to lie or tell the truth, while the observer decided whether to doubt or trust the player based on the player’s facial expressions. Our analyses on the behavioral and EEG data revealed two major findings: (1) The observers’ responses were directly impacted by the players’ facial expressions. Without being informed about the trial conditions, the observer was more likely to doubt the player in instructed conditions compared to the spontaneous ones, a tendency that was evident in both the behavioral data and the observer’s vlPFC activities. (2) Despite a performance at the chance level, the observer’s responses seemed to depend on the player’s neural activities. As evidence, both the observer’s vlPFC and the player’s dmPFC-vlPFC activities reflected the observer’s responses (trust versus doubt). According to these results and previous research, we propose a neural resonance model driven by facial expressions from the player’s emotional regulation system (dmPFC-vlPFC) to the observer’s emotion perception system (vlPFC) during the deception game.