Dr Xand van Tulleken explains 'hidden secret to spotting a liar'

Dr Xand van Tulleken explains 'hidden secret to spotting a liar' It is a simple trick which anyone can do that significantly enhances your chances of spotting a fib A TV doctor has listed an invaluable trick to help detect if someone is lying or not. Dr Xand van Tulleken was talking with his brother, Chris, on the BBC's What's Up Docs? podcast. He cited an article by Sophie Scott, a cognitive neuroscientist, which said a special trick could help uncover whether someone was failing to tell the truth. "Chris, while I've still got you, I saw an article that advertised a clever trick. The headline is, 'The hidden secret to spotting a liar'," he said. "There is not some universal way," Chris responded. "I'll give you a clue. The only people who shouldn't do it are if they're driving or operating heavy machinery," Xand said. "Do you close your eyes?" Chris said. "Exactly! So, if you think someone is lying to you and you close your eyes, according to the article, you are much better at detecting the range of emotions in a human voice. "They quote Sophie Scott, friend of the podcast, cognitive neuroscientist, and she says, 'Look, if you close your eyes and get used to listening to people's voices, you can tell all kinds of things about their emotional state that you can tune into'. "But it goes on to focus about some research where participants had watched a video with audio of someone being interviewed and lying, or they just listened to the audio alone. If you listened to the audio, you could detect the lies with a sort of over 60 per cent accuracy, whereas if you watched the video as well as the sound, you actually only had a 35 per cent accuracy of detecting the lies. "There's a lovely wellness point to the idea that maybe less information allows you to interpret things a bit better. If you actually really listen to the tone of a person's voice, you'll learn all kinds of things about them that could just enrich a conversation." What do the experts say? Prof Scott says: “Voices are an instrument and they reflect our physical nature,” says Prof Sophie Scott, the director of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London. “If you think about a ukulele, a guitar and a violin, their sound is defined by the material they are made out of, the number of strings and how you play them. The voice is the same. “We’re very good at telling if someone is ill from their voice, for example. The vocal folds get inflamed and vibrate differently." "We can tell where someone comes from by their accent and we often assess their socioeconomic status,” Prof Scott continued. “We had a charismatic senior person working here and everyone suddenly started talking like her. You change your voice depending on who you’re talking to.” Holly Watt, author of The Good Listener, says: "Our voices change in an instant. When you’re hit by a surge of adrenaline, your fight-or-flight response triggers muscles around your larynx, making your voice high-pitched and wobbly. When you answer the phone to someone you love, your voice softens and deepens. When someone lies, the rhythm and intonation of their speech change. And, weirdly, you are almost twice as good at spotting that distortion if you only hear – not see – them speak."