The researchers had Canadian English speakers listen to different versions of people saying neutral statements like “she has access to the building” while they were getting a brain scan in an MRI machine. Subjects heard someone say it with a confident neutral tone with a Canadian English accent, an Australian accent or a French accent. Participants also heard the sentence with the three accents spoken in a doubtful or neutral tone. The MRI scans showed that the participants had to use more brain power to decide if they could trust the statements said with the non-native accents. When the study participants heard the Australian or French accents, blood flow increased to their temporal lobe, part of the brain that we use to process sound. MP: “They seem to have to analyze that perhaps more intensively or, or for a longer period of time to make this decision about whether they they truly believed the speaker.” The work is in the journal NeuroImage. When asked, the participants reported not trusting either the Australian or French accents except for when the statements were said confidently. Seems that confidence speaks for itself.