In a 2009 PNAS study by Joshua Greene and Joseph Paxton, activity in brain regions associated with cognitive control was associated with how often participants behaved dishonestly when given the opportunity.
Notes on verification
Confirmed directly from the original PNAS paper (Greene & Paxton, 2009) and PMC full text, which report a model built from the 9 identified control-network regions reduced to 5 regions/7 variables explaining 79% of variance in cheating-opportunity win predictions.
Sources
- Will vs. Grace – are people honest because they resist temptation or ... (nationalgeographic.com)
- https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0900152106 (pnas.org)
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2718383/ (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/will-vs-grace-are-people-honest-because-they-resist-temptation-or-because-they-dont-feel-it (discovermagazine.com)