When the paperwork at your doctor’s office asks you how much alcohol you drink, do you write down the truth? Would you be more likely to tell the truth if an animated head interviewed you instead? One team of U.S. military psychologists is betting you would.

In a new study, researchers from the U.S. National Center for Credibility Assessment have determined folks are more likely to say more about their alcohol use and mental health history to an avatar on a computer screen than on a questionnaire, Vice’s Motherboard reports. People’s responses to questions about drug use and criminal history were about the same on questionnaires as to the avatar. (1)

We do not trust someone we do not see.
Another person is easier to talk to.
Externally this does not make any difference.
Or at least it SHOULD NOT make any difference.

We are matter just looking at another set of… lifeless matter.
Does a rock feel better when looking at another rock?

Or is there something more in us?