<p>The popular belief that looking towards the right indicates you are lying, and the reverse eye movement suggests telling the truth doesn’t hold ground, a new study suggests.<br /><br />Experts have been convinced that eye movements can reveal when someone is lying, but according to the study “Lying eyes” are a myth and the idea of detectives who can spot a fibber instantly from his eye movements is pure fiction.<br /><br />Even the Video tests have shown that the movements don’t reveal anything about whether someone is telling the truth. Many psychologists have believed for long that when a person looks up to their right they are likely to be telling a lie.<br /><br />“A large percentage of the public believes that certain eye movements are a sign of lying, and this idea is even taught in organisational training courses, “ Dr Caroline Watt, from the University of Edinburgh, said. “Our research provides no support for the idea and so suggests that it is time to abandon this approach to detecting deceit.”<br /><br />The claimed link between lying and eye movements is a key element of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), a method of enhancing people’s lives using psychological techniques, the Daily Mail reported. The importance of NLP involves teaching people about the relationship between eye movements and thought.<br /><br />According to the theory, when right-handed people look up to their right they are likely to be visualising a ‘constructed’ or imagined event. In contrast when they look to their left they are likely to be visualising a ‘remembered’ memory.<br /><br />For this reason, when liars are constructing their own version of the truth, they tend to look to the right. The idea was tested by filming volunteers and recording their eye movements to find whether they were lying or telling the truth.</p>.<p><br />A second group of volunteers was then asked to watch the films and try to detect the lies by watching the eye movements. “The results of the first study revealed no relationship between lying and eye movements, and the second showed that telling people about the claims made by NLP practitioners did not improve their lie detection skills.” Psychologist Prof Wiseman, from the University of Hertfordshire, said.<br /></p>
<p>The popular belief that looking towards the right indicates you are lying, and the reverse eye movement suggests telling the truth doesn’t hold ground, a new study suggests.<br /><br />Experts have been convinced that eye movements can reveal when someone is lying, but according to the study “Lying eyes” are a myth and the idea of detectives who can spot a fibber instantly from his eye movements is pure fiction.<br /><br />Even the Video tests have shown that the movements don’t reveal anything about whether someone is telling the truth. Many psychologists have believed for long that when a person looks up to their right they are likely to be telling a lie.<br /><br />“A large percentage of the public believes that certain eye movements are a sign of lying, and this idea is even taught in organisational training courses, “ Dr Caroline Watt, from the University of Edinburgh, said. “Our research provides no support for the idea and so suggests that it is time to abandon this approach to detecting deceit.”<br /><br />The claimed link between lying and eye movements is a key element of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), a method of enhancing people’s lives using psychological techniques, the Daily Mail reported. The importance of NLP involves teaching people about the relationship between eye movements and thought.<br /><br />According to the theory, when right-handed people look up to their right they are likely to be visualising a ‘constructed’ or imagined event. In contrast when they look to their left they are likely to be visualising a ‘remembered’ memory.<br /><br />For this reason, when liars are constructing their own version of the truth, they tend to look to the right. The idea was tested by filming volunteers and recording their eye movements to find whether they were lying or telling the truth.</p>.<p><br />A second group of volunteers was then asked to watch the films and try to detect the lies by watching the eye movements. “The results of the first study revealed no relationship between lying and eye movements, and the second showed that telling people about the claims made by NLP practitioners did not improve their lie detection skills.” Psychologist Prof Wiseman, from the University of Hertfordshire, said.<br /></p>