In fact, researchers say, the most adept deceivers often don’t present any of those signs and, further, the average observer’s tendency to rely on such visual cues impedes their ability to tell when someone is lying. But those detection skills can be improved markedly with as little as one hour of training.

 

That is among the primary findings of new research from Norah Dunbar, a UC Santa Barbara professor of communication who has been studying deception and credibility for 20 years, now online in the journal Computers in Human Behavior. The publication culminates a National Science Foundation-funded project to develop a video game that trains participants in deception detection.

 

That game, VERITAS (Veracity Education and Reactance Instruction through Technology and Applied Skills), has now been built and tested repeatedly with college students and with law enforcement officers.

 

And it works.