⚕️ An Explanation for Pathological Lying in Adolescents

A research team has discovered that adolescents who are pathological liars are often struggling with deficits in executive functions, such as poor memory or impulse control issues.

Therefore, practitioners might consider using treatments focused on executive functions (cognitive-behavioral therapy, habit reversal training) with these patients, says Victoria Talwar, a professor in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology at McGill University. Professor Talwar led this study in collaboration with colleagues from two institutions in Texas.

Interaction Between Executive Functions and Lying

Pathological lying is a persistent, and often compulsive, tendency towards deception.

Although, in theory, executive functions could contribute to the ability to deceive - so people with better executive functions would be better liars -, a person with executive dysfunction, such as low self-control or poor self-regulation, may have difficulty inhibiting lying, explains Victoria Talwar.

"Working memory, that is, the ability to hold information in short-term memory and keep track of consequences, is part of the process, so people with poor working memory may have trouble anticipating consequences," she says. "This may be part of the reason why they tend to lie."

Different Samples, Different Results

Studies on pathological lying in adults have shown that the problem often begins in adolescence. That's why the team wanted to examine a younger segment of the population.

More than 500 female and male participants aged 10 to 18, as well as their parents, took part in the study. There was a large general sample of children and adolescents as well as a more targeted sample of children and adolescents suspected by their parents of being pathological liars.

The research team questioned the young participants about their lies, assessed their executive functions, and conducted tests to detect any potential psychopathology. Parents, for their part, were asked to estimate the number of times their child had lied in the previous 24 hours.

The team identified manifestations of pathological lying in 63 of the young participants, and also observed a link between lying and the presence of deficits in executive functions.

"Pathological liars reported telling an average of 9.6 lies per day," noted Victoria Talwar. "In the sample of pathological liars, executive function scores were notably high, which indicates executive dysfunction. More specifically, we found in these individuals clinically significant impairments in attention, working memory, activity level, and impulse control."

The professor adds that the profile of pathological lying is distinct from that of other psychopathologies, particularly conduct disorder and antisocial personality traits, so pathological liars do not necessarily have these other psychopathologies.

The Truth About Lying

How can a research team studying lying know if participants are telling the truth about their lies?

"Studies have shown that there is a correlation between self-reported lying or cheating and actual lying or cheating behavior," says Victoria Talwar. "A number of studies over the past ten years show that, across the population, most people are relatively honest and only lie occasionally, while a small proportion lie frequently—a behavior associated with other difficulties or mental health problems."

Next Steps

Professor Talwar clarifies that this study does not indicate the prevalence of pathological lying in adolescents, since the team deliberately sought out adolescents who lied frequently and therefore did not work with a representative population sample.

A large-scale study is now needed to examine the prevalence of pathological lying within the general population of children and adolescents, she says.

She adds that further research focused on better understanding lying behaviors in children and adolescents could lead to early interventions.

The Study

The article "Executive Functioning and Pathological Lying in Adolescence: Examining Prevalence and Etiology," by Drew A. Curtis, Christian L. Hart, and Victoria Talwar, was published in the Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment.