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Exploring the movement dynamics of deception

Duran, ND; Dale, R; Kello, CT; Street, CNH; Richardson, DC; (2013) Exploring the movement dynamics of deception. Frontiers in Cognitive Science , 4 , Article 140. 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00140. Green open access

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Abstract

Both the science and the everyday practice of detecting a lie rest on the same assumption: hidden cognitive states that the liar would like to remain hidden nevertheless influence observable behavior. This assumption has good evidence. The insights of professional interrogators, anecdotal evidence, and body language textbooks have all built up a sizeable catalog of non-verbal cues that have been claimed to distinguish deceptive and truthful behavior. Typically, these cues are discrete, individual behaviors—a hand touching a mouth, the rise of a brow—that distinguish lies from truths solely in terms of their frequency or duration. Research to date has failed to establish any of these non-verbal cues as a reliable marker of deception. Here we argue that perhaps this is because simple tallies of behavior can miss out on the rich but subtle organization of behavior as it unfolds over time. Research in cognitive science from a dynamical systems perspective has shown that behavior is structured across multiple timescales, with more or less regularity and structure. Using tools that are sensitive to these dynamics, we analyzed body motion data from an experiment that put participants in a realistic situation of choosing, or not, to lie to an experimenter. Our analyses indicate that when being deceptive, continuous fluctuations of movement in the upper face, and somewhat in the arms, are characterized by dynamical properties of less stability, but greater complexity. For the upper face, these distinctions are present despite no apparent differences in the overall amount of movement between deception and truth. We suggest that these unique dynamical signatures of motion are indicative of both the cognitive demands inherent to deception and the need to respond adaptively in a social context. - See more at: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00140/abstract#sthash.hvDiQ3Bb.dpuf

Type: Article
Title: Exploring the movement dynamics of deception
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00140
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00140
Language: English
Additional information: © 2013 Duran, Dale, Kello, Street and Richardson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited and subject to any copyright notices concerning any third-party graphics etc. - See more at: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00140/abstract#sthash.hvDiQ3Bb.dpuf PubMed ID: 23543852
Keywords: Deception, Non-linear measures, Dynamical systems theory, Embodiment, Recurrence quantification analysis, Multiscale entropy analysis, Body and facial movements, Time series analysis
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Experimental Psychology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1414941
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