The role of cognition in children's lying

欺骗是一种复杂的人类行为，涉及到包括注意、记忆、执行功能和心理理论在内的高级认知功能。研究言语欺骗可以进一步了解这些过程之间的相互作用以及记忆，决策和解决问题以实现人际目标的作用（Gombos，2006）。然而，言语欺骗背后的认知框架却知之甚少。当前言语欺骗的认知理论强调不同认知过程在言语欺骗中的作用和相互作用。然而，这些理论的许多细节仍然在很大程度上未经实证检验，相关研究一直集中在成人欺骗。然而，检查儿童的言语欺骗的认知能力的发展，可以帮助确定和阐明不同的认知过程中的作用，这一复杂的人类行为。目前的研究计划由3个相互关联的项目组成，这些项目是一个更广泛的长期目标的一部分，该目标是开发和测试欺骗认知的综合理论模型，该模型描述了言语欺骗从初级到复杂和复杂的言语欺骗的发展。这些项目研究了人类欺骗的发展如何与不同的复杂认知过程相关，包括心理理论，执行功能（即，抑制控制，工作记忆，设置转换），在决策和在线解决问题的互动，以产生似是而非的和令人信服的谎言。项目1将研究2至5岁学龄前儿童的语言欺骗，作为他们的心理状态理解（即心理理论的前身）和他们发展中的执行功能能力的函数。项目2将研究工作记忆在儿童和成人提供基于过去记忆/经验的虚假报告（与真实报告相比）的能力中的作用，以及基于以前没有经历过的新经验的报告。在项目3中，研究将系统地调查儿童和成人在决定撒谎（或说实话）时的成本效益计算，以及这些关系如何随着谎言类型和认知能力的变化而变化。总的来说，这项研究计划将增加我们对言语欺骗的潜在机制的理解，更普遍的是人类目标导向行为中认知过程之间的相互作用。

Deception is a complex human behaviour that involves higher order cognitive functioning including attention, memory, executive functioning and theory-of-mind. Studying verbal deception can further our understanding of the interactions between these processes and the role of memory, decision-making, and problem-solving to meet interpersonal goals (Gombos, 2006). However, the cognitive framework behind verbal deception is poorly understood. Current cognitive theories of verbal deception have emphasized the role and interactions of different cognitive processes in verbal deception. However, many of the details of these theories remain largely untested empirically, and the related research has been focused on adult deception. Yet, the examination of children's verbal deception whose cognitive abilities are developing can help identify and elucidate the role of different cognitive processes in this complex human behavior. The current program of research is comprised of 3 inter-related projects that are part of a broader long-term goal to develop and test a comprehensive theoretical model of the cognition of deception that delineates the development of verbal deception from rudimentary to complex and sophisticated verbal deceits. These projects examine how the development of human deception is related to different complex cognitive processes including theory-of-mind, executive functioning (i.e., inhibitory control, working memory, set shifting) that interact in the decision making and on-line problem-solving to produce plausible and convincing lies. Project 1 will examine children's emerging verbal deception in preschool children between 2 and 5 years of age as a function of their mental-state understanding (i.e. precursors to theory-of-mind) and their developing executive functioning abilities. Project 2 will examine the role of working memory in children's and adults' ability to give false reports (in comparison to true reports) that are based on past memories/experiences versus those that are based on novel experiences not previously experienced. In Project 3, the studies will investigate systematically children and adults' cost-benefit calculations when deciding to lie (or tell truth) and how these relationships change as a function of the type of lie and cognitive abilities. Overall, this research program will increase our understanding of the underlying mechanisms involved in verbal deception and more generally the interplay between cognitive processes in human goal-directed behaviours.