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Source: Photos.com
Young people find it easier to lie according to a new survey.
University of Otago researchers have revealed that older people cannot lie as convincingly as younger people and are worse at detecting when others are lying.
Department of Psychology researchers Ted Ruffman, Janice Murray and Jamin Halberstadt compared young and older adults' skills at deception as judged by listeners within and outside their age group.
The study involved participants being shown video clips of 20 people expressing their actual or false views on topical issues such as factory farming and stem cell use in humans.
They were then asked to report whether they thought the person was lying or telling the truth.
Associate Professor Halberstadt says the results show that young and old people found it easier to differentiate between truth and lies, when the speaker was an older adult.
"It could be that older people are less convincing liars because the kinds of cognitive abilities required for successful deceit are also those that tend to deteriorate with age," he said.
Further analysis showed that older people were less likely to recognise social gaffes, and that older men talk for too long and go off topic when talking.
The research team also examined an idea that recognising brief flashes of negative facial emotions such as guilt, fear or disgust, known as "micro-expressions", plays a key role in detecting lies.
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