Let’s be honest. We are all great liars … to ourselves, and others. The big blatant lies (I swear I never had sex with Monica Lewinsky) and the little well-meaning lies (No honey, that dress does not make your butt look big) and especially the lies that contain just enough truth as to seem believable on a global scale (Lowering taxes on the rich will spur economic growth) … are what make our lives, and daytime TV, so interesting.
Pity the poor human brain … for some people think that IT cannot tell a lie. Scientists in collaboration with law enforcement have been measuring the P300 brain wave as a sort of lie detector (here, here, here) more specifically “an accurate, and countermeasure (CM)-resistant P300-based Guilty Knowledge Test.”
Interestingly, the properties of the P300 neural biomarker are highly heritable and associated with a variety of genetic polymorphisms – including rs521674 located in the noradrenergic receptor ADRA2A gene (functions in the alerting and stress response elicited when lying/trying not to lie).
I’m an AT heterozygote at rs521674 and proud of my pro-deceitful suppressed P300 … because sometimes all you have to cling to are the lies you tell yourself.
Genes 2 Brains 2 Mind 2 Me 