The Department of Psychological Science will host a colloquium given by Giorgio Ganis of the University of Plymouth, United Kingdom, titled "Lying brains: Neuroimaging and deception research."

The colloquium will take place at 4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 30, in Memorial Hall 242. The colloquium is free and opent ot the public.

The first part of the talk will be an overview of cognitive neuroscience research on deception, defined as the attempt to convince someone of something the liar believes is untrue, typically with the goal of gaining something.

Although there are many ways to deceive, deception often is associated with several classes of cognitive processes, including: (a) deciding to deceive, (b) generating plausible deceptive scenarios based on information in memory and details of the situation, such as what one believes the target may know, and producing the deceptive behavior (including the choice of withholding information) and inhibiting all potential overt signs that could betray the truth. The neural basis of some of these processes will be examined, focusing on fMRI research.

The second part of the talk will summarize how fMRI methods have been used to attempt to detect deception, discussing some of their potential and limitations. Finally, thoughts about future directions will be discussed.