Figure 1.

A schematic example of the stimulus display. At the beginning of each block participants were told that the lie-detector (represented by the acronym GSR, for galvanic skin response) was either on or off. During the interrogation, pre-recorded auditory questions were read out over earphones, accompanied by appropriate visual presentations (question presentation took 2–4 s). After the question was completed, a response cue appeared on the screen for 2 s, during which participants had to provide a response. The response cue (0–2 s) was randomly assigned on each trial (Y/N or N/Y) to prevent participants from pressing only one button as a default response. Participants' response (which could be either “yes,” “no,” “no response” if no response was given within the allotted time or “wrong button” if a button without an assigned meaning was pressed) was displayed on the screen for the duration of the 5–8 s inter-trial interval (ITI).