Are the responses to behavior-evoking questions similar between deceptive and truthful subjects?

• A. True
• B. False
• C. Sometimes
• D. Never

Answer: (B)

Behavior-evoking questions are designed to stress memory and truth-telling, so how people respond tends to reveal the difference between lying and telling the truth. When someone fabricates a story, they must create details, check for consistency, and suppress the real information, which increases cognitive load and arousal. This often shows up as longer thinking times, more hesitations, less fluent speech, and potential inconsistencies in the account. In contrast, truthful responders rely on actual memories, usually delivering more fluent, steady narratives with fewer contradictions, even if they’re anxious. Because of these systematic differences, the responses are not similar across deceptive and truthful subjects. There can be exceptions if a liar is unusually skilled, but the general pattern supports the conclusion that they differ.