Lying through the eyes: detecting lies through eye movements

In this pilot study, we investigated if it is possible to detect lies through eye gaze behavior. Earlier research suggests that lying increases the cognitive load, resulting in less eye -movements and shorter saccade amplitudes. To investigate these findings further, a structured interview was conducted with three subjects. During the interview, subjects were supposed to lie in half of their answers. The subjects' eye gazes were tracked during the interview session. We hypothesized that people show shorter saccade amplitudes and tend to engage in less eye movements when lying. A significant difference could be observed for saccade amplitudes between the truth telling and lie telling situations. The overall results support the theory that cognitive load decreases the number of eye movements, but our analysis also revealed significant individual differences. This raised the question whether different individuals have different ways of handling deception and whether different viewing behavior patterns could be found for different groups of individuals.