The matter with white matter

“Pathological liars have on average more white matter in … the area of the brain that is active during lying, and less grey matter than people who are not serial fibbers.”
                                           - Adrian Raine, psychologist

News blues…

Lies and white matter?

The brains of pathological liars have structural abnormalities that could make fibbing come naturally.
“Some people have an edge up on others in their ability to tell lies,” says Adrian Raine, a psychologist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. “They are better wired for the complex computations involved in sophisticated lies.”
Raine says the combination of extra white matter and less grey matter could be giving people exactly the right mix of traits to make them into good liars. These are the first biological differences to be discovered between pathological liars and the general population.
Other researchers have used brain imaging to show that the prefrontal cortex is more active when ordinary people tell lies. …
But pathological liars are a distinct group who systematically manipulate others, lie or use aliases for financial gain or personal pleasure, such as to get sickness benefits or to skip work. “It’s almost like a livelihood,” says Raine.
Until now no one has looked at the structure of the brains of this particular group, says psychologist Maureen O’Sullivan of the University of San Francisco in California, who specialises in lying and truthfulness.

How fares The Donald’s white matter?

President Trump's lies over time
by topic.  (c) DAVID MARKOWITZ
Click to enlarge

Rates of interpersonal deception — the lies I tell you and you tell me — have been remarkably stable in deception research over time. But…something is unusual about President Trump. His rate of deception has increased since taking office.

President Trump's lies over time
by location.  (c) DAVID MARKOWITZ
Click to enlarge

As of early April, Trump has told 23.3 lies per day in 2020, a 0.5-lie increase since 2019. What’s more, Trump has averaged 23.8 lies per day since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in the US — another 0.5-lie increase. Even during a pandemic, when the public needs to trust and rely on him the most, deception remains a core part of the president’s playbook.
What’s unusual about Trump is not just how often he lies, but what he lies about and where he communicates his lies most often.  Read “Trump Is Lying More Than Ever: Just Look At The Data”

***

Interview with Steve Schmidt, “We, the American people, are a worldwide laughing stock…”

***

Stand with your man  - a Parody | The Freedom Toast (2:24 mins)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Pondering the pond produces a wonderful surprise. After many attempts to photograph the perennially shy malachite kingfisher – success!