You might expect a liar¹ to struggle with eye contact, when lying through his teeth. But a study by University of Michigan researchers suggests that liars² may look their questioners in the eye more often than people telling the truth. People who are lying also wave both hands around far more than those who are being honest.

你可能会认为，骗子撒谎时眼神会乱瞟。但是密歇根大学的一项研究调查显示：与讲实话的人相比，骗子看质问者眼睛的次数更多。正在撒谎的人挥手次数也远比诚实的人多。

Those who were lying were found more likely to have animated³ hand movements, make strong eye contact, nod their heads, and scowl⁴. Researchers also found that liars were more likely to say “um” and to use pronouns that distanced themselves from the action, such as “he”or “she”rather than “I”or “we.”

研究人员还发现，骗子的手部活动可能更多、眼神交流频繁，并且会频频点头和皱眉。此外，撒谎的人更喜欢用“嗯”以及一些撇清关系的代词，比如“她”和“他”，而不是“我”或者“我们”。

The same gestures were also used by some people telling the truth, but to a lesser⁵ extent: 25% of truthful⁶ people gestured with both hands, compared to 40% of liars. Sixty percent of truthful people looked directly at the questioner, compared to 70% of liars.

当然，讲真话的人也会做类似的手势，但人数较少，只占25%左右；与之相比，撒谎者中做这种手势的占到40%。诚实的人中有60%的人会直视质问者，而骗子中，该比例则占到70%。

The researchers believe their work could be useful for security agents and juries, but of course it’s far from foolproof. It’s also impossible to know for sure whether the courtroom verdicts are right, and if the “liars” being examined are definitely being dishonest. This is a problem for all lie detection; Polygraph tests, which measure stress in response to questions, have similarly variable results. Though they have roughly 85% accuracy when testing guilty people, some polygraph tests have just 56% accuracy for innocent people.

研究者们认为，这项成果可以帮助保安和法官，但依旧做不到高度准确。当然，想要彻底弄明白法庭审判是否公正，或者正在受审的撒谎者是否真的在说谎，这根本不可能。对所有的谎言测试来说，这都是个问题。测谎仪（通过测试受审者的压力）的结果也是多变的。即使测谎仪在测试犯罪人员时的准确率有85%，但对于无辜的人，测谎仪的准确率只有56%。

The truth is, we all behave slightly differently when we’re dishonest, and there’s no definitive⁷ telltale sign that unmasks all liars. But the University of Michigan research can help build a picture of dishonesty.

事实是，撒谎时，我们表现的都会略有不同，并没有绝对的迹象能够使我们揭露骗子。但密歇根大学的这项研究依旧可以帮我们构建一幅撒谎者的画像。