The Eyes Don’t Have It: Lie Detection and Neuro-Linguistic Programming

Richard Wiseman; Caroline Watt; Leanne ten Brinke; Stephen Porter; Sara-Louise Couper; Calum Rankin

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0040259

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

The Eyes Don’t Have It: Lie Detection and Neuro-Linguistic Programming

Richard Wiseman,

Affiliation School of Psychology, University of Hertfordshire, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
⨯
Caroline Watt ,

* E-mail: caroline.watt@ed.ac.uk

Affiliation Psychology Department, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
⨯
Leanne ten Brinke,

Affiliation Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada
⨯
Stephen Porter,

Affiliation Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada
⨯
Sara-Louise Couper,

Affiliation Psychology Department, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
⨯
Calum Rankin

Affiliation Psychology Department, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
⨯

The Eyes Don’t Have It: Lie Detection and Neuro-Linguistic Programming

Richard Wiseman,
Caroline Watt,
Leanne ten Brinke,
Stephen Porter,
Sara-Louise Couper,
Calum Rankin

Published: July 11, 2012
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040259

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NLP practitioners make no such claim

Posted by JamesLawson on 01 Nov 2012 at 13:54 GMT

"Proponents of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) claim that certain eye-movements are reliable indicators of lying. According to this notion, a person looking up to their right suggests a lie whereas looking up to their left is indicative of truth telling. "

This is not true.

A person looking up to their right often suggests that someone is creating pictures.

A person looking up to their left often suggests that someone is recalling pictures.

Big difference.

This research has therefore been useful in as much as the outcome has corrected the misunderstanding about eye patterns and lying that were in certain people's minds.

May I respectfully propose that a quicker way to getting to this answer would have been to ask an NLP practitioner.

with thanks

James

No competing interests declared.

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The Eyes Don’t Have It: Lie Detection and Neuro-Linguistic Programming

The Eyes Don’t Have It: Lie Detection and Neuro-Linguistic Programming

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NLP practitioners make no such claim

Posted by JamesLawson on 01 Nov 2012 at 13:54 GMT