How to Detect Lies with Eye Movements

Eye movements can indicate when a person is lying.

Lots of people claim to know when they are being lied to. While there are techniques for identifying whether an individual is lying or not, they aren't entirely reliable. Even lie-detector tests haven't proved to be infallible. However, you can train yourself to look for nonverbal cues in someone's body language, facial expressions and speech patterns to get an idea if he or she is lying to you.

Instructions

1. Pose questions to a test subject. First ask something the person is likely to answer honestly. Then select a question to which you assume your test subject will lie or be evasive. You can ask a friend to be your test subject, but your results will be more reliable if the test subject is not in on your experiment.

2. Observe typical behavior. Note your subject's status quo in terms of body language, eye movement, voice consistency and volume. The best way to find out when someone is lying is to first observe him when he is telling the truth.

3. Check for evasive gestures. Is your subject fidgeting? Is she looking you in the eye? Does she smile? Is she relaxed in her seat? Certain individuals are more active than others, so a fidgety or hyperactive countenance does not automatically signify deception. Compare irregular behavior against the demeanor of the person's status quo.

4. Evaluate the directness of your subject's responses. When you ask a question, check to see whether he provides you with a direct answer, or makes some effort to misdirect you or change the subject altogether. A liar will be eager to move away from any line of inquiry that makes him uncomfortable.

5. Look for delayed -- or hasty -- responses. Does your subject take a long time to answer? Does he interrupt your query? If someone takes a long time to answer, or asks you to repeat the question, he might be buying time to come up with a plausible answer. Or, he may answer too quickly, to move the line of questioning along.

6. Make note of apologetic behavior. An individual perpetrating deceptive behavior will typically reveal herself by unnecessarily apologizing repeatedly. Her subconscious essentially encourages her to apologize for behavior which it identifies as "wrong."

7. Watch for long silences. If your subject is unusually silent, he may be avoiding telling further lies. He may also behave aggressively in an attempt to discourage you from asking further questions to which he will also have to lie.

8. Focus on the face. When you ask a question, if your subject looks to the right, above the top, left-hand corner of your face and into the distance, she may be lying. This is reversed if the subject is left-handed.

9. Focus on body language. A deceptive individual will often look away from you; his body may be pointed away from your body, as if to shield his deception from your gaze. Keep an eye out for movements such as rubbing temples, swallowing excessively, licking the lips and wringing hands.

References

• Life Training Online: How to Read People, Detecting Lies