How do you tell if a person is lying to you? One of the ways to find out is best well illustrated in this short clip from the 1998 movie "The Negotiator" starring Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey.
The writers in this film only lightly mentioned the study and mechanics of visual accessing clues. A very notable source for this is in the book "Frogs into Princes: Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. They discuss many interesting ways of detecting lies via eye movement and direction. For example: A "Normally Organized" person that is right handed and from your viewpoint, so when "looking at them" when asked to "... Imagine a rainbow colored dinosaur ..." will look up and to the left because they are creating the image in their mind. Alternatively, the same person when asked to "... Remember the color of their first car, etc ..." will look up and to the right because a memory is being visually accessed.
Looking straight ahead or with the eyes unfocused and unmoving is also considered a sign of visual accessing and a typical left-handed person would have the opposite effect for their eye-directions.
Do note the scientific community somewhat disregards this method as there is little empirical evidence to support it. Yet, I have used this technique with children and it works 70% of the time. It also works with others of different ages, but it is a very delicate form of interrogation as the person must not feel threatened or fearful of any severe consequences as their emotional and mental state may affect their responses.
Fair Use Notice:
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material I submit is distributed without profit to those whom have expressed an interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
