Research Shows Verbal Working Memory Can Aid Childhood Deception

According to a study recently published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, researchers from the University of North Florida and the University of Sheffield, U.K., found that the working memory helps children tell better lies. The higher a child’s verbal memory, said the researchers, the better their ability to process the verbal information necessary to tell a believable lie. A total of 137 children ages 6 to 7 years old participated in this study and had their verbal working memory tested. They were asked a series of trivia questions written on a card and were aware that the answers were written on the back of the card in different colors. The children were then left alone in a room, instructed by the researchers to not look at the back of the card. A hidden camera observed the children and revealed those who looked at the back of the card. When the researchers asked them the answer to a question, those who peeked gave the correct answer. However, when asked entrapment questions regarding the color the answer was written in and the picture, those with higher verbal working memory answered them wrong in order to verbally disguise that they peeked. The children with lower verbal working memory answered the entrapment questions correctly, verbally revealing that they had peeked. “We already know that adults lie in approximately a fifth of their social exchanges lasting 10 or more minutes, so it’s interesting to know why some children are able to tell better lies than others,” said a researcher from the University of Sheffield. This study highlights that verbal working memory, in particular, has strong links to lying, not just any type of working memory. To read more about this study, click here.