Sunday, June 22, 2008

Fear and loathing in lying

Synopsis and article suggest that an expression of fear enhances peripheral vision and that an expression of disgust reduces airflow, both of which are adaptive responses to predators (to be afraid of) and toxic fumes (to be disgusted by).

Perhaps then the social functions of such expressions is useful for higher-order knowledge (knowledge of what another knows), which Andreas Witzel and Jonathan Zvesper have been discussing the design of for computer games. The exploitation of that meta-knowledge (pretending to be afraid or disgusted) might be closely coupled to the awareness of higher-order knowledge (that someone is afraid or disgusted). Rob Bass informed me that at the same age Theory of Mind is detected, by the Sally-Ann test, so is lying. It puts an eerie twist on the Jewish myth: When the fruit of the tree of knowledge is eaten, deception is available.

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