Substantial correlational evidence suggests that prefrontal regions are critical to honest and dishonest behavior, but causal evidence specifying the nature of this involvement remains absent. In this study, Zhu and colleagues found that lesions of the human dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) decreased the effect of honesty concerns on behavior in economic games that pit honesty motives against self-interest, but did not affect decisions when honesty concerns were absent. The authors suggest that their results point to a role for the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in honest behavior. The role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in psychopathy may deserve further investigation as well.
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Zhu L, Jenkins AC, Set E, Scabini D, Knight RT, Chiu PH, King-Casas B and Hsu M: Damage to dorsolateral prefrontal cortex affects tradeoffs between honesty and self-interest. Nature Neuroscience [Epub ahead of print 31 August 2014; doi:10.1038/nn.3798 ]
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25174003