BRAIN ADAPTS TO LYING, MAKING DECEIT EASIER: STUDY

Telling little fibs leads down a slippery slope to bigger lies — and our brains adapt to escalating dishonesty, which makes deceit easier, a new study shows.

Neuroscientists at the University College London’s Affective Brain Lab put 80 people in scenarios where they could repeatedly lie and get paid more based on the magnitude of their lies. The researchers then used brain scans to show that our mind’s emotional hot spot — the amygdala — becomes desensitized to the growing dishonesty.

“It highlights the potential dangers of engaging in small acts of dishonesty on a regular basis because these can escalate to much larger ones further down the line,” said study lead author Neil Garrett.