Detecting deception in a bluffing body: The role of expertise

Natalie Sebanz, Maggie Shiffrar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

Studies of deception detection traditionally have focused on verbal communication. Nevertheless, people commonly deceive others through nonverbal cues. Previous research has shown that intentions can be inferred from the ways in which people move their bodies. Furthermore, motor expertise within a given domain has been shown to increase visual sensitivity to other people's movements within that domain. Does expertise also enhance deception detection from bodily movement? In two psychophysical studies, experienced basketball players and novices attempted to distinguish deceptive intentions (fake passes) and veridical intentions (true passes) from an observed individual's actions. Whereas experts and novices performed similarly with postural cues, only experts could detect deception from kinematics alone. These results demonstrate a link between action expertise and the detection of nonverbal deception.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)170-175
Number of pages6
JournalPsychonomic Bulletin and Review
Volume16
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2009
Externally publishedYes

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