Key insights

• 👦🤥 Children start lying at a young age, and common beliefs about their lying behaviors are often wrong. Research shows that children can lie effectively.
• 🃏🧠 Children tend to lie when left alone and their ability to lie develops with age. Lying is a typical part of development and requires theory of mind and self-control.
• 👧🎭 Children with advanced mind-reading and self-control abilities tend to lie earlier and more sophisticatedly. Deficits in these abilities are associated with developmental problems like ADHD and autism. Detecting children's lies is not as easy as it seems, and many adults also struggle with it.
• 👩‍🏫😶 Adults, including those with experience working with children, struggle to detect children's lies due to the neutral facial expressions of lying children hiding underlying emotions.
• 📸🔍 A new imaging technology called 'transdermal optical imaging' can reveal hidden emotions through facial blood flow changes. It can detect lies with 85% accuracy and has identified a Pinocchio effect.
• 🎓🏥🗳️ The technology can be used in education, healthcare, politics, marketing research, and dating to detect emotions, stress levels, and possible lies.

Q&A

• In what areas can the 'transdermal optical imaging' technology be used?

  The technology can be used in education to identify students with high anxiety, in healthcare to monitor health parameters like heart rate and stress levels, in politics to reveal politicians' emotions and detect lying during debates, in marketing research to assess consumer preferences, and in dating scenarios to determine genuine emotions.

• What is 'transdermal optical imaging' and how accurate is it in detecting lies?

  Transdermal optical imaging technology uses a regular video camera and can reveal hidden emotions through facial blood flow changes. It can detect lies noninvasively, remotely, and inexpensively with 85% accuracy. It has also identified a Pinocchio effect - facial blood flow changes associated with lying.

• Why do adults struggle to detect children's lies?

  Adults, including those with experience working with children, struggle to detect children's lies due to the neutral facial expressions of lying children, which hide underlying emotions.

• What developmental problems are associated with deficits in mind-reading and self-control abilities?

  Deficits in these abilities are associated with developmental problems like ADHD and autism.

• What abilities do children need to effectively lie?

  Good lying requires theory of mind and self-control, and children with advanced mind-reading and self-control abilities tend to lie earlier and more sophisticatedly.

• At what age do children start lying?

  Children start lying at a young age, with most of them lying after four years of age.

• 00:13 Children start lying at a young age, and common beliefs about their lying behaviors are often wrong. Research shows that children can lie effectively.
• 02:09 Children tend to lie when left alone and their ability to lie develops with age. Lying is a typical part of development and requires theory of mind and self-control.
• 04:33 Children with advanced mind-reading and self-control abilities tend to lie earlier and more sophisticatedly. Deficits in these abilities are associated with developmental problems like ADHD and autism. Detecting children's lies is not as easy as it seems, and many adults also struggle with it.
• 06:48 Adults, including those with experience working with children, struggle to detect children's lies due to the neutral facial expressions of lying children hiding underlying emotions.
• 08:55 A new imaging technology called 'transdermal optical imaging' can reveal hidden emotions through facial blood flow changes. It can detect lies with 85% accuracy and has identified a Pinocchio effect.
• 11:17 The technology can be used in education, healthcare, politics, marketing research, and dating to detect emotions, stress levels, and possible lies.