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42 Deception at Work

BRAIN HARDWARE

The basics

The human brain, at its present state of evolution, is a complex, modular system (rather than
a homogeneous lump of stodge), around three pounds in weight and consisting of the useful
parts not atrophied from reptilian and mammalian eras, plus a newly added (i.e. 60 million
years ago) cerebrum, or outer brain (Figure 3.2).

We can summarize the components of the human brain, as in Table 3.1.
The amygdala plays an important role in lots of things, including deception. It is one of the
basal ganglia, small islands of grey matter in the limbic system, and consists of two almond-
shaped, fingernail structures that are reciprocally connected to most brain areas. Its main
task is to filter and interpret incoming sensory information in the context of survival and
emotional needs and to trigger appropriate responses. It also encodes or lays down emotional
memories.3
Sensory receptors (such as eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands) detect something and then
direct signals to the appropriate part of the brain, which fires up neurons and sends them on.
Senses and movements on the right side of the body are processed by the left hemisphere and
vice versa (except for smell which is handled simultaneously by both hemispheres). Funny
that!

Cerebral cortex Thalamus
Corpus callosum Hypothalamus
Cerebellum Pons
Medulla
Figure 3.2 The human brain Spinal cord
3 Definition based on www.ascd.org/pdi/brain/amygdala/html