Vrij, a professor of applied social psychology, has written over 350 articles and book chapters mainly on the topics of nonverbal and verbal cues to deception and lie detection.

The article, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology in 2004 investigated ninety-nine police officers and their ability to detect lies.

The study was unique in that it tested officers’ ability detect lies in a realistic setting during real police interviews with suspects, rather than in a laboratory where participants are brought in and instructed to lie.

Unlike other previous studies, Mann and her team found that the police officer’s “accuracy rates were higher than typically found in deception research and reached levels similar to those obtained by specialized lie detectors in previous research”.

In addition, their accuracy rates were “positively correlated with perceived experience in interviewing suspects and with mentioning cues to detecting deceit that relate to a suspect’s story”. In addition, as with many other studies, accuracy rates were negatively correlated with nonverbal cues such as gaze aversion and fidgeting.

The complete article can be found here

The injury left Hardy paralyzed and unable to move any part of his body, including the muscles in his face. Dr. Lightman is brought in by Agent Reynolds (Mekhi Pheifer) to read Hardy’s expressions, challenging him by asking if he could read a man “who can barely move his eyes”.

In short, the answer was yes.

Dr. Lightman observed Hardy’s pupillary responses to examine whether he was responding positively or negatively to a certain question.

While pupillary responses alone cannot be a sign of deceit, according to a article entitled “Cues to Deception” by Bella DePaulo, et al. it “could be regarded as supportive of the hypothesized importance of generalized arousal”. DePaulo also states that “we believe that it (pupillary response) is theoretically and empirically more precise and defensible to interpret these cues as indicative of particular attentional or information-processing activities or of specific affective experiences (e.g., Cacioppo,Petty, & Tassinary, 1989; Ekman et al., 1983; Neiss, 1988; Sparks & Greene, 1992)”.

DePaulo’s journal article which was published in the Psychological Bulletin in 2003, also lays out some interesting facts about liars vs truth tellers. Do people behave differently when they are lying compared with when they are telling the truth? The abstract of the study that investigated 1,338 estimates of 158 cues to deception states that “Results show that in some ways, liars are less forthcoming than truth tellers, and they tell less compelling tales. They also make a more negative impression and are more tense. Their stories include fewer ordinary imperfections and unusual contents. However, many behaviors showed no discernible links, or only weak links, to deceit”. A complete look at the article can be found here.

Given that Lie to Me is a drama and that many facts are either exaggerated or misrepresented, we feel the need to debunk information that may be falsely portrayed in the show. We hope that most viewers do not take what they may “learn” from one or several episodes and immediately start to apply it to real life situations. As with any other subject, its important and crucial to get factual information from credible sources before jumping to any conclusions.

But why exactly do people cover their face in emotional and stressful times?

Some individuals believe that the face cover is only a part of social communication, but Dr. Matsumoto believes that it is not. He believes that individuals often cover their face to conceal their emotions and that it is an immediate reaction that most people cannot control.

Dr. Matsumoto also suggests that covering one’s face could also have some evolutionary basis, rooted in not letting enemies see your emotions because it could potentially be a danger to your well-being. Nonetheless, this gesture is immediate and unconscious.

Keep your eye out for this behavior and you’ll surprisingly see it fairly frequently (you may even catch yourself doing it!)

Dr. Matsumoto discussed emotions in sports at the Happiness Conference in Sydney, Australia:

Click here to view the embedded video.

For his doctoral thesis at Umea University in Sweden, Shafiq ur Rehman developed a new tool that converts facial emotions into special tactile sensations for the visually impaired.

Rehman’s study is based on the idea that much of communication (up to 90%) is communicated non-verbally and that facial expressions of emotion are one of the most complex signal systems that we have as humans. Other recent studies have suggested that people also imitate other people to interpret their emotions. Because individuals who are visually impaired are not able to see facial expressions, this can create “barriers to social interactions”.

To allow visually impaired individuals to “see” emotions, Rehman and his team have developed a new technology “based on an ordinary web camera, hardware and a tactile display”. Using the webcam to capture certain facial expressions on the face, the hardware converts the emotion into a series of vibrational patters that correspond with the expressed emotion.

The project was funded by the Swedish Research Council and its main focus has been to characterize different emotions and to “find a way to present them by means of advanced biomedical engineering and computer vision technologies”.

Rehman’s complete article, entitled “Vibrotactile Rendering of Human Emotions on the Manifold of Facial Expressions” can be found by clicking here

Back to present day, there is a bombing outside the Lightman Group office, killing a man from the Pentagon who was coming to visit Lightman, and injuring Eli Loker.  An accused terrorist, Jimmy Doyle becomes the number one suspect.

Throughout this episode we see many flashbacks of when Lightman and Foster first meet, when she began interviewing him at the Pentagon. We get a glimpse into their first encounters and see Lightman questioning Foster’s integrity throughout the show.

After finding out that Doyle did not have anything to do with the bombing outside the Lightman Group office, another bombing occurs when Lightman, Foster and Doyle visit a lawyer who allegedly helped frame two kids for the murder of Doyle’s wife and daughter in 2003. After the second bombing, the government (whom Cal suspects are responsible for the cover up of the 2003 murders) responds with a press conference where Lightman calls out Agent Prosser for lying. He invites Prosser back to his lab to interrogate him.

Back at the laboratory, Prosser breaks and admits to the cover-up. He tells Lightman where he could find the real killer. After some more tense moments, Doyle and Lightman confront the killer, Finch. Doyle comes close to killing his wife and daughter’s true killer, but in the end walks away.

In the final scene of this elaborate episode, we see Lightman and Foster back at the office. In a rather uncharacteristic emotional moment, we see Foster open up and tell Lightman that she was protecting him and his family all along.

These new episodes seem as if they are going further away from the science of microexpressions and nonverbal behavior and into the realm of a serious drama show.  Throughout the episode we receive very little reasoning as to how Lightman makes judgments on people’s credibility.

In this episode, we see only a brief, few seconds of where Agent Prosser’s face is compared to other photos of individuals such as Bill Clinton. The only problem with these is that we don’t get an explanation as to why these photos are shown or what they mean.  Hopefully in future episodes, we will get a better sense of the science and a better explanation of how Lightman is so effortlessly able to tell truths from lies. At times it seems almost too good to be true, but of course, it is drama.

To view the complete episode see below:

1. If someone isn’t looking you in the eye, they’re lying

THE FACTS: Eye gaze is the biggest misconception about liars. A study was conducted by over 90 scientists who examined over 5,000 people in 75 countries and what they believe about liars. The number one answer across all cultures was the (false) belief that liars will not look you in the eye. However, there have been over 30 studies that examined eye contact as a variable when lying and most of them have shown that there is no tell-tale sign when someone is being deceptive.

2. If someone is fidgeting they’re lying

THE FACTS: Shifty eyes of fidgety feet are not sure signs of lying. The person could simply be uncomfortable or nervous. In most high stakes situations where there are stakes are high, to be fidgety and nervous is quite normal. Its important to pay attention when a behavior deviates from that person’s normal behavior. When you find them start doing something they don’t normally do, that is when you need to start paying closer attention.

3. If someone touches their face or rubs their nose when they’re talking to you, they’re lying

THE FACTS: An extremely common misconception about liars if that they touch their face or rub their nose when lying. Just like fidgety hands or feet, this one isolated behavior can’t determine if someone is lying across all people in all situations.

In his article entitled “The Evolution of Emotions”, Dr. Matsumoto outlines the evolution of emotions, basic emotions, and their triggers and functions.

Take a look at the complete article in Spanish by clicking here

Take a look at the original article in English by clicking here

Throughout this interview, it is pretty clear that James is not happy with his, or his team’s performance.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There are so many different expressions shown and we’ve highlighted just a few, below.

0:06

Verbal: “our consistent play- we haven’t been there”

Nonverbal: Macro expression of fear- brows drawn up and together forming wavy lines in forehead

0:15

Verbal: “Its a really good team we’re going against”

Nonverbal: Macroexpression of anger- brows drawn down and together

0:30-0:38

Verbal: “I’m not going out there and doing the things I can do…not making excuses”

Nonverbal: Scratches back of his ear: possible manipulator

0:40

Verbal: “Gotta get ready for game 6″

Nonverbal: Still scratching his ear-possible discomfort?

0:49

Nonverbal: Macroexpression of fear

0:51-0:54

Verbal: “To the guys, I mean…”

Nonverbal: Macroexpression of anger

1:10

Nonverbal: Scratching his chin: manipulator?

1:14

Verbal: “I mean, we had a great flow”

Nonverbal: Shoulder shrug- “I don’t know”

1:18-1:21

Verbal: “I wasn’t able to get anything offensively going for myself”

Nonverbal:  Suddenly develops a strong itch on his nose-another possible manipulator?

*Its important to note that macroexpressions occur when an individual is not trying to conceal how they are feeling. they typically last on the face from 1/2 a second to 4 seconds.

*It is also important to note that behaviors such as scratching one’s nose or neck can be possible manipulators, but only if it deviates from that person’s baseline. We don’t really have a sense of Lebron’s baseline from this interview and therefore have a difficult time distinguishing what could be considered a sign of deceit of discomfort from just a normal behavior.

Thank you to WC who suggested this video for us!

While the examples are exaggerated and meant to be a bit comical, there are some useful tips and information given in this video.

The most important part is to understand that not one behavior (scratching of the neck, fidgeting, lack of eye contact, etc) is a tell-tale sign of lying. For each individual, you must establish a baseline and look for things that deviate from what the person normally does.

You can find out more about Phipps by visiting his website

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tiger Woods had been under constant public scrutiny for some time now.

Ever since his news of infidelity and erratic behavior, Tiger has rarely been seen until he made a public apology to his family, friends and fans in February.

When Tiger first came out with this apology, I believed he was being genuine and sincere. At this point, he really didn’t have anything to hide. Although his speech did sound a little artificial because he probably rehearsed it, I didn’t take that as a sign of him being deceptive.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tiger has also apparently made a decision to go back to competing in golf, which his recent announcement that he will compete at The Masters next month.

On March 21, 2010 Woods gave his first interview in 4 months to ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi. The complete interview can be seen here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I still don’t see Woods being insincere, although he seems much more relaxed than when he gave his public apology.

What do you think?