Nov. 29, 2004, 8:58PM

Brain scan can catch a lie
Reuters News Service

WASHINGTON - Brain scans show that the brains of people who are lying look different from those of people who are telling the truth, researchers said Monday.

A study, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, may provide new technology for lie-detecting.

"There may be unique areas in the brain involved in deception that can be measured with fMRI," said Dr. Scott Faro, director of the Functional Brain Imaging Center at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia.

Faro and colleagues tested 10 volunteers. Six of them were asked to shoot a toy gun and then lie and say they didn't do it. Three others who watched told the truth about what happened. One volunteer dropped out of the study.

While giving their "testimony," the volunteers were hooked up to a conventional polygraph and also had their brain activity imaged using fMRI.

There were clear differences between the liars and the truth-tellers, Faro said. Overall, it seemed to take more brain effort to tell a lie than the truth.

There's also the physical effort it takes to cross your fingers.