We’ve heard the telltale signs before. Lack of eye contact and nose scratching have been long believed to be strong indicators that someone is lying.
And it makes sense; ethically if someone is lying they must feel so guilty about doing so that they are unable to meet your gaze. Well, sadly it appears the reality is that the best liars will, in fact, hold eye contact and lie straight to your face.
The Telegraph reports that research led by The University of Michigan proves that the most untruthful of people will look you square in the eye and lie with thoughtful, considered responses.
They, however, are more likely to use excessive hand gestures, grimace and use “er” and “um” more in their speech.
The researchers have developed lie-detecting software, based on video footage from 120 court cases where someone has been found to be lying. The software is accurate 75% of the time, compares to human judgement, which proved to be accurate only 50% of the time.
“In laboratory experiments, it’s difficult to create a setting that motivates people to truly lie. The stakes are not high enough,” said Dr Rada Mihalcea, professor of computer science and engineering who leads the project
“We can offer a reward if people can lie well–pay them to convince another person that something false is true. But in the real world, there is true motivation to deceive.”
The team are hoping to make the software more accurate by added physical telltale signs like breathing rate, heart rate and perspiration.
