SPOTTING a liar has always been a tough business. There are so many things people say you should look for - but apparently, now, spotting a liar could be all about the number of blinks someone does while telling the porky pie.
A study by two British academics has revealed when someone is telling a lie, they blink less, than when they do after they have actually told it.
26 human guinea pigs were used in the study, where half of them were told to steal an exam paper from a University Professor's office - while the other half, the truth tellers went about their daily routine.
Electrodes were then placed around their eyes to monitor their blinks - and the results, published in the Journal of non-verbal behaviour revealed the liars blinked less during telling the fib.
Dr Sharon Leal of the University of Portsmouth's International Centre for Research in Forensic Psychology, said: "The blink rate of the liars slows down because lying is more mentally demanding than telling the truth."
She added: "Liars have a number of things to think about when they formulate their lie. They have to ask themselves is the lie plausible? Will it adhere to what people may find out? Is it consistent? Will I remember what I said when I re-tell the lie? Does the person I am lying to believe me?"
Hollywood has often explored the art of lying.
Here is one.
In the film The Negotiator, starring Samuel L Jackson, he interrogates an Internal Affairs cop and tells him: "You're lying. And I know you're lying. You see, here's what 'us' real cops do when we spot a liar.
It's all in the eyes. If your eyes go up and to the left, neuro-physiology tells us that you are accessing the creative centres of the brain, and you are telling the truth. If your eyes go up and to the right, we all know you are full of...."
Head of the Department of Psychology, Dr Vasu Reddy, said: "This exciting research from the International Centre for Research in Forensic Psychology has significant possibilities for the complex area of lie-detection."
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