Language Production and Deception: Explorative experimental studies on deception as a constraint during spoken and written narratives
Gullberg, Kajsa LU
(2026)
- Abstract
- Research on deception cues in writing has focused on the products of writing rather than the
process, ignoring the rich data that lies behind the finished texts. Written process data offer
a unique window into the cognitive processes involved in language production alongside
spoken process data. The aim of this dissertation is to examine the the effect of deception
on real-time language production processes of narratives in speaking and writing from a psycholinguistic
perspective. The dissertation takes these research questions as its starting point:
How can altered processing demands be operationalised in both speaking and writing?; How
does deception affect language production processes?; Does deception affect... (More) - Research on deception cues in writing has focused on the products of writing rather than the
process, ignoring the rich data that lies behind the finished texts. Written process data offer
a unique window into the cognitive processes involved in language production alongside
spoken process data. The aim of this dissertation is to examine the the effect of deception
on real-time language production processes of narratives in speaking and writing from a psycholinguistic
perspective. The dissertation takes these research questions as its starting point:
How can altered processing demands be operationalised in both speaking and writing?; How
does deception affect language production processes?; Does deception affect language production
processes differently in speaking and writing? If so, how?; and How are the speaking and
writing production processes involved in truthful and deceptive narration affected by repeated
retellings over time?
The results revealed that deception does have an observable effect on these processes, but
the effect is not uniform across modalities and repeated retellings. On a global level, speakers
tend to suppress presumed cues of deception, such as verbal and non-verbal disfluencies, but on
a local level during the production of the altered part of a narrative, the cues seem to increase.
In writing, on a global level, indications of altered processing demands in deception decrease
with repeated recall, but again, when examining the production of the actual events that are
altered, signs of altered processing persists over time. This shows that speakers and writers
are able to allocate their processing resources on a global level when producing a narrative,
but on the local level, altered processing demands may become evident in process data. In
conclusion, this dissertation shows promise for the use of process data in both speaking and
writing to understand how communicative intent and repetition shapes language production
processes over time. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1d364905-99eb-4a74-b171-53a0076bbba9
- author
- Gullberg, Kajsa
LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- professor Guido Nottbusch, Universität Potsdam
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- lie detection, keystroke logging, lies, forensic linguistics, eye tracking, deception, language processes
- pages
- 265 pages
- publisher
- Lund University
- defense location
- LUX C121
- defense date
- 2026-02-09 13:15:00
- ISBN
- 978-91-90055-42-7
- 978-91-90055-43-4
- project
- Based on a true story? How to differentiate between invented and self-experienced narratives through comparing linguistic processes in speaking and writing.
- Spoken and written processes in invented and experienced narratives
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 1d364905-99eb-4a74-b171-53a0076bbba9
- date added to LUP
- 2025-12-19 08:13:16
- date last changed
- 2025-12-20 03:39:08
@phdthesis{1d364905-99eb-4a74-b171-53a0076bbba9,
abstract = {{Research on deception cues in writing has focused on the products of writing rather than the<br/>process, ignoring the rich data that lies behind the finished texts. Written process data offer<br/>a unique window into the cognitive processes involved in language production alongside<br/>spoken process data. The aim of this dissertation is to examine the the effect of deception<br/>on real-time language production processes of narratives in speaking and writing from a psycholinguistic<br/>perspective. The dissertation takes these research questions as its starting point:<br/>How can altered processing demands be operationalised in both speaking and writing?; How<br/>does deception affect language production processes?; Does deception affect language production<br/>processes differently in speaking and writing? If so, how?; and How are the speaking and<br/>writing production processes involved in truthful and deceptive narration affected by repeated<br/>retellings over time?<br/><br/>The results revealed that deception does have an observable effect on these processes, but<br/>the effect is not uniform across modalities and repeated retellings. On a global level, speakers<br/>tend to suppress presumed cues of deception, such as verbal and non-verbal disfluencies, but on<br/>a local level during the production of the altered part of a narrative, the cues seem to increase.<br/>In writing, on a global level, indications of altered processing demands in deception decrease<br/>with repeated recall, but again, when examining the production of the actual events that are<br/>altered, signs of altered processing persists over time. This shows that speakers and writers<br/>are able to allocate their processing resources on a global level when producing a narrative,<br/>but on the local level, altered processing demands may become evident in process data. In<br/>conclusion, this dissertation shows promise for the use of process data in both speaking and<br/>writing to understand how communicative intent and repetition shapes language production<br/>processes over time.}},
author = {{Gullberg, Kajsa}},
isbn = {{978-91-90055-42-7}},
keywords = {{lie detection; keystroke logging; lies; forensic linguistics; eye tracking; deception; language processes}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Lund University}},
school = {{Lund University}},
title = {{Language Production and Deception: Explorative experimental studies on deception as a constraint during spoken and written narratives}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/236316482/Kajsa_Gullberg_-_WEBB.pdf}},
year = {{2026}},
}