The role of cognition in children's lying

欺骗是一种复杂的人类行为，它涉及更高层次的认知功能，包括注意力、记忆、执行功能和心理理论。研究言语欺骗可以加深我们对这些过程之间的相互作用以及记忆、决策和解决问题以满足人际目标的作用的理解(Gombos，2006)。然而，言语欺骗背后的认知框架却鲜为人知。现有的言语欺骗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在很大程度上仍未得到实证检验，相关研究一直集中在成人欺骗上。然而，对认知能力正在发展的儿童言语欺骗的考察可以帮助识别和阐明不同认知过程在这一复杂人类行为中的作用。目前的研究计划由三个相互关联的项目组成，这些项目是更广泛的长期目标的一部分，目的是开发和测试一个全面的欺骗认知理论模型，该模型描绘了言语欺骗从初级到复杂和复杂的发展过程。这些项目考察了人类欺骗的发展如何与不同的复杂认知过程有关，包括心理理论、执行功能(即抑制控制、工作记忆、定势转移)，这些功能在决策和在线问题解决中相互作用，产生可信和令人信服的谎言。项目1将考察2至5岁学龄前儿童出现的言语欺骗，这是由于他们的心理状态理解(即心理理论的前驱)和他们正在发展的执行功能能力的作用。项目2将考察工作记忆在儿童和成人给出虚假报告的能力中所起的作用(与真实报告相比)，这些虚假报告基于过去的记忆/经历，而那些基于以前没有经历过的新经验的报告。在项目3中，这些研究将系统地调查儿童和成年人在决定撒谎(或说实话)时的成本-收益计算，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。总体而言，这项研究计划将增加我们对言语欺骗所涉及的潜在机制的理解，以及更广泛地说，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.