Your brain actually syncs up more strongly with the voices of people you don't trust. Weird, right?
bioRxiv · March 13, 2026 · 10.64898/2026.03.11.711118
Why it matters
While we usually assume the brain 'tunes in' more to people we like or trust, this study found that the auditory cortex actually works harder to track the speech of known liars. This suggests that the brain might use increased neural entrainment as a heightened monitoring tool to better process information from unreliable sources.
From the abstract
Trust is a critical component of human communication, providing a foundation for understanding, information exchange, and social coordination. Much of the research on trust in speech communication has focused on how vocal characteristics impact perceived trustworthiness. However, little is known about how trust in a speaker affects the neural processing of speech. Here, we demonstrate a two-stage experimental framework to study that question using non-invasive EEG. First, participants engage in