Neural alignment during face-to-face spontaneous deception: Does gender make a difference?

Abstract

This study investigated the gender differences in deception and their neural basis in the perspective of two-person neuroscience. Both male and female dyads were asked to perform a face-to-face spontaneous sender-receiver deception task, while their neural activities in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and right temporal parietal junction (rTPJ) were recorded simultaneously using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning. Male and female dyads displayed similar deception rate, successful deception rate, and eye contact in deception trials. Moreover, eye contact in deception trials was positively correlated with the success rate of deception in both genders. The fNIRS data showed that the interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) in PFC was significantly enhanced only in female dyads when performed the deception task, while INS in rTPJ was increased only in male dyads. Such INS was correlated with the success rate of deception in both dyads. Granger causality analysis showed that no significant directionality between time series of PFC (or rTPJ) in each dyad, which could indicate that sender and receiver played equally important role during deception task. Finally, enhanced INS in PFC in female dyads mediated the contribution of eye contact to the success rate of deception. All findings in this study suggest that differential patterns of INS are recruited when male and female dyads perform the face-to-face deception task. To our knowledge, this is the first interbrain evidence for gender difference of successful deception, which could make us a deeper understanding of spontaneous face-to-face deception.

Keywords: deception; eye contact; gender difference; interpersonal neural synchronization.

FIGURE 1

Experimental design. (a) Experimental procedures. Three blocks of spontaneous sender–receiver deception task were included in the experiment. Each block consisted of 16 trials. The analyses were focused on the Rest2 (the 30 s before the Block1, red dotted line frame) and the oral statement stage and Watch and listen stage (red dotted line frame). (b) Experimental scene. Each participant of a pair sat face to face. (c,d) Optode probe set. The optode probes were placed on the prefrontal cortex and the right temporal parietal junction. The Fpz (midpoint between the second and third probes in the lowest row of (c) and C4 (yellow circles of (d)) in the International 10–20 system were used as reference sites

FIGURE 2

Behavioral results. (a) Behavior‐type between genders. (b) The success rate of deception between genders. Error bars indicate SE. ***p < .001

FIGURE 3

Correlations between eye contact and deceptive behavior. (a) Pearson's correlations between average number of eye contact in deception trials and the success rate of deception under different genders. (b) Pearson's correlations between average duration of eye contact in deception trials and the success rate of deception under different genders. *p < .05, **p < .01

FIGURE 4

Interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) during deception trials. (a) One‐sample t test map of deception‐related INS for female dyads (false discovery rate [FDR] corrected). (b) One‐sample t test map of deception‐related INS for male dyads (FDR corrected). (c) Comparisons of INS at CH10 in prefrontal cortex (PFC) between genders. (d) Comparisons of INS at CH7, CH9, CH14 in right temporal parietal junction (rTPJ) between genders. Error bars indicate SE. *p < .05

FIGURE 5

Correlations between behavioral results and interpersonal neural synchronization (INS). (a) Pearson's correlation between INS at CH10 in prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the success rate of deception for both genders. (b) Pearson's correlation between INS at CH7 in right temporal parietal junction (rTPJ) and the success rate of deception for both genders. (c) Pearson's correlation between INS at CH10 in PFC and average number of eye contact for female dyads. (d) Pearson's correlation between INS at CH10 in PFC and average duration of eye contact for female dyads. *p < .05, **p < .01

FIGURE 6

The mediation effects of interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) at CH10 in prefrontal cortex (PFC) between the average number of eye contact and the success rate of deception in both genders. (a) The mediation effect for female dyads. The effect of average number of eye contact on the success rate of deception was mediated by INS at CH10 in PFC. (b) The mediation effects for male dyads. The mediation effect was not significant. The estimates presented here were standardized coefficients. The solid and dashed lines represented significant and nonsignificant effects, respectively. (a): the effect of the average number of eye contact on the INS at CH10 in PFC; (b): the effect of the INS at CH10 in PFC on the success rate of deception when the average number of eye contact was statistically controlled; (c): the total effect of the average number of eye contact on the success rate of deception; (c′): the direct effect of the average number of eye contact on the success rate of deception when the INS at CH10 in PFC was statistically controlled. *p < .05, **p < .01