• News
    • Tech News
    • AI
  • Gadgets
    • Apple
    • iPhone
  • Gaming
    • Playstation
    • Xbox
  • Science
    • News
    • Space
  • Streaming
    • Netflix
  • Vehicles
    • Car News
  • Social Media
    • WhatsApp
    • YouTube
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
TikTok
Snapchat
WhatsApp
Submit Your Content
The surprisingly simple method for spotting a liar discovered by scientists

Home> Science

Published 12:59 18 Apr 2024 GMT+1

The surprisingly simple method for spotting a liar discovered by scientists

Can you lie and multitask?

Rebekah Jordan

Rebekah Jordan

Whether you've tried to get yourself out of a sticky situation or didn't want to share your true feelings about someone, we've all lied at one time or another.

Though, some are better at it than others.

However, new research has now shared an easy way to catch a liar in the act.

Advert

Scientists at the University of Portsmouth suggest that by simply asking a suspect to perform an additional task while being questioned, it's easier to spot dishonesty.

How does this work?

Jan Scherders / Getty
Jan Scherders / Getty

Well, being deceitful puts more strain on the brain and requires more mental energy to do it successfully.

Advert

Throwing a second task in the mix like giving them random characters to remember makes it more difficult to continue a lie, making it easier to spot the lie.

To test the theory, 164 people were asked their views on controversial news topics such as Covid passports, immigration, Brexit and Boris Johnson.

Then, they were asked to either lie or tell the truth again about the same issues. Some participants were also given the task of memorising a car registration that they were told was 'extremely important.'

It was found that the stories of the liars were deemed less believable compared to the truth-tellers. This was particularly the case when the liars were also distracted by an additional task.

Advert

Peter Cade / Getty
Peter Cade / Getty

Professor Aldert Vrij, one of the study’s authors, explained: “The pattern of results suggests that the introduction of secondary tasks in an interview could facilitate lie detection but such tasks need to be introduced carefully.”

According to Vrij, secondary tasks are only effective in catching a liar if they can not be easily ignored or 'neglected.'

"This can be achieved by either telling interviewees that the secondary task is important, as demonstrated in this experiment, or by introducing a secondary task that cannot be neglected (such as gripping an object, holding an object into the air, or driving a car simulator).

Advert

"Secondary tasks that do not fulfil these criteria are unlikely to facilitate lie detection."

The study was published in the International Journal of Psychology & Behavior Analysis.

So, there you have it. Try it out for yourself next time if you're trying to suss out someone's true feelings. If they struggle to handle both tasks, chances are they're lying.

Featured Image Credit: Jan Scherders / Peter Cade / Getty
Science

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • Scientists release first x-ray images of UFO they say could not have been made by humans
  • Scientists reveal they’ve discovered a way to potentially slow down the human ageing process
  • Scientists issue warning after Elon Musk's Starship failure 'broke the sky'
  • Scientists reveal people really can die from a broken heart but one gender is more like to suffer from it

Choose your content:

3 hours ago
4 hours ago
6 hours ago
7 hours ago
  • 3 hours ago

    World's biggest lithium reservoir with $1,500,000,000,000,000 worth of the precious metal hiding in supervolcano

    This could turn the US into a leading global supplier of the valuable metal

    Science
  • 4 hours ago

    Earth could be hit today by insane 600,000 mile-wide solar eruption that triggers extreme geomagnetic storm

    Scientists are warning that this could cause disruptions on Earth

    Science
  • 6 hours ago

    Scientists reveal people really can die from a broken heart but one gender is more like to suffer from it

    Heartbreak is now considered an actual health condition, and it can actually kill you

    Science
  • 7 hours ago

    Scientists build dystopian 32ft ‘black box’ solely designed to record the end of civilization

    It's the end of the world as we know it

    Science