Researchers at University of Iowa examined various people with brain damage and found that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), an oval-shaped region in the frontal lobe, controls disbelief and doubt. If the vmPFC is defective, we are more likely to believe things we ought not believe and more likely to fail to doubt what we ought to doubt. 18 patients with damage to vmPFC and 21 patients with damage elsewhere as well as a control group with no brain damage were shown advertisements akin to real ads that had been labeled "misleading" by the Federal Trade Commission. Each volunteer was asked how much he believed the advertisement and how likely he was to buy the item. The study, which was published in the July, 2012 issue of Frontiers in Neuroscience, showed that patients with damage to vmPFC were twice as likely to believe misleading advertisements and were more likely to buy the item than the two other groups—even after all groups were informed that the advertisement contained misleading information. The results indicate that vmPFC is central to doubt and disbelief as well as belief updating and revision. The brain region is supposed to question the beliefs you already do hold when something is out of wrack.

Other recent results in neuroscience show that defects in the anterior insula—a brain region that sits in a fold among the frontal, temporal and parietal lobes—may influence our ability to determine who is honest and who is deceitful. The publication, which appeared in the December issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences was based on two studies conducted by UCLA researchers. In the first study 119 older adults (mean age 68) and 24 younger adults (mean age 23) looked at 30 photographs of faces selected to look honest, dishonest or neutral. The participants were asked to assess how trustworthy or approachable the people portrayed were. There was no significant difference with respect to trustworthy and neutral faces but the older adults were more likely to rate the untrustworthy faces as trustworthy than the younger adults.

In the second study the researchers scanned participants' brains using fMRI. The anterior insula was activated during ratings of untrustworthy faces in the younger participants but not in the older volunteers. The older volunteers didn't seem to use the anterior insula at all in rating honesty. The anterior insula is supposed to be a guard waiting to give people a warning signal. It normally is a strong biological basis of disgust. But apparently it was not working in this way in older adults. Unlike the younger adults the older group did not enter the task with caution.

The most natural answer is that sly or fraudulent, yet persuasive, salespeople signal to our brains that everything is as it should be. Their smooth behavior raises our confidence, thereby boosting our serotonin levels. The well-being chemical serotonin can turn off our critical sense and increase our feeling of content—so much so that our initial beliefs never are subjected to scrutiny in the vmPFC, and the anterior insula never gives us the warning sign that would make us step back and think.


It is perfectly natural that we fall victim to the confidence tricks of scam artists. Our brains were not hardwired to look through the clever schemes and confidence-installing tricks of skilled actors and con men trained in making our disbelief go away. Our gray matter can distinguish honesty from dishonesty and alarming situations from unruffled ones but it cannot instinctively detect dishonesty and fraud cleverly disguised.

In life we seek to reduce losses and increase gains. Losses inspire fear and gains inspire greed. Fear and greed override our rationality and that is where marketers and con-artists derive power from.my 2cents.

Character traits: Pride, Ego, Anxiety, Ignorance, Ageing, Youth, Dreams Security, Insecurity, Fear, Greed, Loneliness, Popularity Assumed knowledge, Success, Failure, Illness, Self-Confidence, Desperation, Vulnerability, Ambition, Laziness, Wisdom, Hateful, Loving, any trait will do.



Scam victims: Yuppies, Volunteers, Attorneys, Wannabes, Stars, Do-gooders, Malcontents, Authority Figures, Politicians, Law Enforcement Officers, Single Moms, Students, Officials, Bankers, Sports Figures, Professors, Scientists, Psychologists, Blue Collar Workers, Unemployed, Doctors, Nurses, Physically Challenged, Elders, Children, Corporate Executives, Insurance Agents, Accountants, Real Estate Agents, ... You name it!

I'm sure you've just made a lot of people more cautious about the kind of people they are.