Brain Fertilizer

Lie-detecting brain scanners probably don't work.

Apparently, lying is easier for some people than others.

Isn't that always the problem, though?

But critics like Elizabeth Phelps, a cognitive neuroscientist at New York University, say the assumption that lying requires more mental exertion might hold true of the college students used in most studies so far, but not of hardened criminals or sociopaths. It also could be easy to cheat on fMRI tests, since the large regions of the brain that apparently are activated by lies also involve other activities. Mentally reciting poetry might be enough to throw off the tests, says a cognitive scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Accomplished liars are very good at the mental games that help them get away with lying. Things like saying "I did not sleep with that woman" before saying her name, leading people to believe a lie.

Conclusion: It's not likely to stymie the typical Democrat methods.