We’re terrible at spotting liars. Instinctively, we think we know when someone is lying to us, and sometimes we’re right, but just as often we misread the cues.
Take, forholding someone’s gaze hogs the mental energy needed to communicate them clearly. In fact, one study by the University of Michigan analysed real court case data to discover that liars tended to look directly at the questioner for longer than truthful interviewees.