Spot a Liar by Their Eye Movements
Using this tutorial you can ask a person specific questions and see whether they are telling you the truth or not!
Steps
- Have before you the image of a person in front of you when you start this tutorial. Pretend that you are there talking to them.
- Imagine If that person moves their eyes to THEIR left; this would be to your right. But you will be doing these directions from the other person’s perspective. So when you read that the person’s eyes are to the left and up, this would mean they would be looking right and up, from your perspective.
- Try to think about this from the other person’s eyes.
- Bear in mind that the eye signals you will read about are not 100% accurate. Only use the person’s eye signals to how they react to what you say or ask them.
- Know that basic questions are unlikely to elicit eye signals. When speaking with someone and you ask them about how their day has been, they usually will reply “Oh, it was fine. How was yours?” You won’t see a lot of eye signals from this; these are almost programmed responses.
- Take notice of the eye signals when the topic is important to the other person. When engrossed in a conversation with someone and the topic you are talking about has some impact on them, or they are fully giving you their attention, you will generally be able to receive unconscious eye signals that will allow you to get a deeper insight into what is going on in the other person’s head.
- Consider first the eye signals that look to the left hand side. The left hand side is predominantly to do with accessing material from your past, like images and sounds:
- Imagine for a moment that you are speaking to a friend of yours. You are discussing the plans for the weekend and what you want to do.
- You mention to your friend about a new disco that opened recently, downtown.
- Your friend looks up and to the left and says to you that he has been there already and that he had a great time.
- You ask your friend what the music was like the night he went to the disco.
- He looks left, towards his left ear, then says the music was great and he really enjoyed the night out.
- So what has popular psychology told us about the responses from the friend?
- Well firstly he looked up to the top left. This reaction tells us he is looking up to access images in his memory. This means he is “looking” at images of his time at the disco, a strong suggestion that he is telling the truth. Up and to the left signifies accessing images, therefore it has happened in the past.
- Be careful though, as he could be accessing images for “downtown” so make sure you pick your questions carefully. He may say he hasn’t been there and still look left, thinking of “downtown”.
- You asked your friend about the music at the disco. He looked left towards his ear. This tells us he is accessing the audio part of his brain and is trying to recall the music.
- Try out this good tester. Ask your friend to describe to you what their doorbell sounds like. Watch as their eyes move level with their left ear as they access the audio part of their brain. Even if they don’t have a doorbell they will still look left, looking for a sound that they may have had.
- Consider now the eye signals the right hand side has to offer:
- Imagine for a moment you are talking to your friend about your car that you lent to him for the weekend.
- He hands you the keys and doesn’t mention anything about the smashed headlight.
- You ask him about it and he looks to the top left. This suggests he is looking for images to associate with the smashed headlight. He then immediately looks to the top right. Now you await his response.
- He tells you someone must have reversed into him at the supermarket and driven off.
- Looking to the top right suggests the creation of images. This is a strong indication that he is lying to you.
- Bear in mind that your friend may not react in this way, as he may have had a lot of time over the weekend to conjure up an excuse. In this case, always try to ask something that they may not necessarily be unaware of, like were they smoking in your car, as there is a cigarette hole in the seat. See how the eyes move!
- Next take a look at creating sounds; yes, you guessed it. Looking to the right ear is a strong indication your test subject is creating a sound.
- There aren’t any strong examples that can be used in this context, only that you should be aware of it happening.
- You could try asking your friend to imagine a really loud noise, the loudest noise they could ever imagine, and watch their eyes move.
- Please note that what you have read may not be 100% accurate and that people vary immensely. This can be used as a guide only, to help you with your investigations.
- Remember that just because someone looks to a certain side, this does not automatically mean they are lying or making something up. They may be a nervous person, easily distracted, have seen something to their right or whatever the case may be. So be careful if you are going to accuse anyone of telling fibs!
Tips
- You'll find a compiled a list of questions to ask in the external links below.
Related Articles
- Cheat a Polygraph Test (Lie Detector)
- Lie
- Stop Lying
- Tell a Guy You Know He's Lying to You
- Stop Lying About Your Interests to Impress a Boy
Sources and Citations
- Eye movements - a link to the article including pictures
