The Effect of Cognitive Load on Liars and Truth Tellers: Exploring the Moderating Impact of Working Memory Capacity

THE EFFECT OF COGNITIVE LOAD ON LIARS AND TRUTH TELLERS: EXPLORING THE MODERATING IMPACT OF WORKING MEMORY CAPACITY by Sarah Jordan Adviser: Maria Hartwig Two studies are presented. The purpose of the first study is to examine the moderating impact of working memory capacity (WMC) on the cognitive load produced by both the type of statement a person is making and the manner in which the person is interviewed in a mock crime scenario. The moderating impact of suspects’ WMC (measured using the automated operation span task) on this process was also assessed. Suspects were instructed to tell the truth, a relatively easy lie, or a more difficult lie. Suspects were then interviewed in a relatively easy manner, a moderately more difficult manner, or a very difficult manner. The purpose of the second study is to examine how the factors of the first study affected observers’ judgments of the suspects. Observers were asked to either directly assess the veracity of the suspects, or indirectly assess it by observing the suspects’ experienced cognitive load. The results overall did not support the hypotheses and demonstrated that deception was not cognitively more difficult from telling the truth and that the use of cognitive load was not helpful in the process of accurately determining the guilt or innocence of the suspects.