A new study in the journal Frontiers in Cognitive Science found that after only  20 minutes of practicing their cover story, liars could respond just as quickly and easily to lies as to the truth. Moreover, they were no more likely to slip-up on falsehoods than on the truth.

Xiaoqing Hu,  co-author of the study and psychology doctoral candidate at Northwestern University said, ” After a short time of training, people can be very efficient at lying.  The difference between lying and being honest has been eliminated after the training.”

LiveScience reports that lying takes a lot of brainpower!!  It requires holding contradictory information in mind (the truth and the lie), while inhibiting the urge to tell the truth. “Lying is a difficult, because honesty is the default communication mode,” Hu told LiveScience.

Past studies have shown that lying without any practice is much more difficult to hide.  This study, however, takes into account that many criminals practice their lies a lot before they begin telling them.

Researchers had volunteers answer various ‘Is this true of you?’ questions for several different facts.  The researchers measured their response time and accuracy.  Then participants were asked to practice lying by pressing yes when it should be no and vice versa.

After over 200 trials, which is approximately 20 minutes of practice,  the liars were indistinguishable from the truth -tellers on accuracy and response time.

 ”But in the real world, after a crime, there is usually a delay between the crime and the interrogation,” giving the criminal a chance to practice their falsehood, Hu said.

What do you think about practicing lies ?
Do you think that practice helps you lie better ?

Did you know?  Michael Trimble, a British professor at the Institute of Neurology in London suggests that crying tears, for emotional reasons, is a trait unique to humans.

In an interview with Scientific American, Timble answers various questions regarding his new book Why Humans Like to Cry.

He states that

“Tears are necessary to keep the eyeball moist, and contain proteins and other substances which maintain the eye healthy and to combat infection. Tearing occurs in many animals in response to irritants which get in the eye, and in some settings tears fall for simple anatomical facts. When an elephant is standing, tears run down the trunk, but when lying down, the flow is impeded and tears may be seen coming from the eyes. It may be that animals that are abused shed tears, from pain, although observations of this are rare.“

But why do humans cry?

Humans cry for many reasons, but crying for emotional reasons and crying in response to aesthetic experiences are unique to us. The former is most associated with loss and bereavement, and the art forms that are most associated with tears are music, literature and poetry. There are very few people who cry looking at paintings, sculptures or lovely buildings. But we also have tears of joy the associated feelings of which last a shorter time than crying in the other circumstances.

If it is the case that only humans cry emotionally, then there must have been a time in human evolution when tears took on an additional meaning to their hitherto biological functions, namely as a signal of distress, and a cipher for suffering.

In his book Trimble suggests that this is connected with the dawning of self-consciousness, with the development of theory of mind.  So, what can we take from knowing all this ?

According to Trimble, tears are a natural response to not only suffering, but also to feeling compassion for someone who is shedding tears. We should not be afraid of our emotions, especially those related to compassion, since our ability to feel empathy and with that to cry tears, is the foundation of a morality and culture which is exclusively human.

 What are your thoughts on the human evolution of crying ? Do you know something we don’t?  Share it with the Humintell Community!

For more information on how shedding tears of emotion was vital for human evolution and the rise of cultures, read this NY Times Op Ed Piece by Trimble

Ever had the hairs on the back of your neck “stand up” while watching a scary movie or when you walk into a freezing cold room in only a t-shirt?

Almost everyone has gotten goose bumps at one point in their life or another, but what exactly are they and why do we get them?

Goose bumps are caused by your body’s nervous system and are part of the body’s “fight or flight” system meaning that, like microexpressions, they are completely involuntary.  They are caused by tightening muscles, which pull body hair into an erect position.

They occur mainly for two reasons: 1. when it’s cold and 2. when someone experiences the emotion of fear.

In animals that have fur, individual hairs on end (“standing up”) in cold weather is a sensible course of action, since the erect hairs can trap air, adding a layer of insulation to protect the animal from the cold.

In the case of fear, goose bumps in an animal with fur causes the animal to look larger, potentially intimidating the predator which is threatening it, giving the animal a chance to run or fight.

In humans, these bumps are a vestigial reflex, left over from a time when humans had more hair; a wide variety of animals demonstrate this interesting reflex in response to certain stimuli.

Remember that emotions are transient, bio-psycho-social reactions to events that have consequences for our welfare and potentially require immediate action (Matsumoto, Frank and Hwang: Nonverbal Communication: Science and Applications).

So next time you get goose bumps, just remember they are a biological, involuntary reaction that is elicited by your body.