The Hour

Deception recognition is the ability to tell when someone is lying to you. It takes years to become good at spotting the signs and even then it is possible to get it wrong due to the skill involving such a large amount of knowledge.

There are telltale signs to look out for to determine whether a person is lying or not, such as blinking rapidly and furrowing their brow. Children often cover their mouths when being untruthful to try and stop the bad words from coming out:

“There isn’t one general rule. It’s very difficult to tell if someone is lying,” said human lie detector Drew McAdam. “It’s easy to tell if they are under stress and if they’re under stress then why are they under stress?”

Only 27 per cent of all communication is verbal, while the rest comes from non verbal cues. When a person is under stress they will unknowingly use specific non-verbal cues which give the game away:

“There are certain non verbal cues that people will do when they are lying, but what you’re looking for is a cluster of them and not just one. Just because they touch their nose doesn’t mean they are lying, they could just have an itchy nose.”

Drew became a household name after appearing on Five’s Trisha chat show as ‘The Interrogator’. His stage performances have stunned audiences and he was sent away from jury service as it was thought he might ruin the trial.

The army trained mentalist, from West Calder in West Lothian, gained his abilities through a lifetime of studying human behaviour. He honed his skills while working as an intelligence officer:

“If someone lies to me I know that they are lying, though I don’t know specifically why they are lying,” he said. “I try to switch it off in everyday life but I use it all the time in performances.”

MENTALIST MADNESS

• For more information on Drew McAdam and his abilities see the website
• Unleash the power of your mind
• Interview techniques: Drew McAdam says let your body do the talking