The eyes have it... especially when it comes to telling lies

IT is a well known adage that the eyes never lie.

But scientists have developed a lie detector test that determines if someone is telling the truth by tracking their eye movement.

Experts at the University of Stirling said the ‘concealed information test’ (CIT) could be used by police in cracking criminal gangs who lie under questioning, and for exposing witnesses who do not tell the truth.

Research found that those subjected to tests found it difficult to hide ‘signs of recognition’ in their face when asked to lie about recognising a public figure or celebrity.

Project leader Dr Ailsa Millen, research fellow in psychology at the university, is now in talks with Police Scotland about the potential use in criminal investigations.

She said: ‘Officers routinely use photographs of faces to establish key identities in crimes. Witnesses are mostly honest, but sometimes they lie. Many are hostile and intentionally conceal knowledge of known identities.

‘For example, criminal networks such as terrorist groups might deny knowledge to protect one another, or a victim might be too afraid to identify their attacker.’

As part of the experiments, participants were asked to trace their eyes across eight markers on a screen. At the same time they were shown pictures of regular people unknown to them, and images of celebrities such as Tom Cruise, and asked to push a button saying if they knew the person or not.

Exact details of how the software works has remained unpublished due to ‘commercial sensitivity’.

Dr Millen said during experiments researchers found that when participants lied about recognising a face, their eye movements became disrupted and they were unable to trace the pattern as accurately.

She added: ‘It’s very promising but we have to do lots more research before we know if it can be used in practice.’