How to Tell if Someone is Lying to You by Watching Their Eyes

The myth “looking left or right during a conversation indicates if a person is lying” has finally been wiped out by a psychological study, but the eyes are still an efficient way to find out if a person is bending the truth. Long, exhaustive and thorough studies have been conducted with a goal to identify signs of people when they speak the truth and lie and they all led to an astonishing discovery: liars are able to lie while looking you into the eyes and sit still as non-liars. But the eyes speak louder than any words of a liar.

Funny fact: everybody lies and is being lied on a daily basis. Horrible truth: there is absolutely nothing that you can do to prevent lying, except sharpen your lie-sensing skills and become an impossible-to-lie human. To do so, you need to pay attention on how they act, how they hold their body, how they speak, their tone of voice and of course, their eyes movement. They may succeed in keeping their body movements and tone of voice normal, but the eye movements are out of their control.

Use your laser focus to detect any of the following signs that the eyes of a liar do. Here are a few sneaky tips and tricks that can help you find out if someone is lying only by watching their eyes.

Look for Micro-expressions: They Reveal the Truth

A micro expression is an extremely brief facial expression that lasts about a fraction of a second and it occurs when a person (usually) unconsciously conceals a feeling. If you are able to detect that quick facial expression on a person's face, you will find out their true emotion that they're trying to hide underneath a lie. Usually, the micro expression a person who's lying shows is an emotion of distress or pain, as their eyebrows move upwards and towards the middle of the forehead, causing an appearance of few short lines across the skin of the forehead. Unlike facial expressions, people cannot fake micro-expressions. Many people are naturally talented in detecting micro expressions, but anyone can learn too.

Pay Attention on the Eyelids

People who lie have a tendency to keep their eyes closed longer than a second at a time. Their eyelids are closed longer than the usual blink and that happens when a person sees and hears something they don't agree with or of course, when they are making something up. However, this can also be normal for some people, so you should find out how does that person blink in normal conditions during a usual conversation. This is a type of human defence mechanism, which means it is accurate.

Rapid Blinking

Rapid blinking could also be a sign that you're involved in a conversation with a liar. In normal conditions, a normal human being blinks about 5-6 times per minute, or in other words, once every 10-12 seconds. But when a person is stressed or afraid of being caught lying, they may blink about 5-6 times in rapid succession.

Darting Eyes

The darting eyes are a clear sign that the person feels insecure, uncomfortable or caught off guard with a question to which they don't want to answer. Liars have darting eyes when they are looking for a way to avoid the awkward conversation with you, so if you notice someone's darting eyes go back and forth quicker than usual, it's perfectly clear that you're dealing with a liar.

Covering the Eyes

This is not a sign of a liar, but of a pro-liar. A liar who covers or shields their eyes knows that they cannot hide the truth beneath their eyes from a person who has lie-detecting skills. This happens when liars hear or see something they don't like or when they are threatened by something. Blinking, eye rubbing, eyebrows rubbing and what not, covering the eyes can be done in many different ways, but it's always the same purpose – an effort to hide their eyes which clearly say that they're lying.