"Help me become a lie detector!"

From the word choices that give liars away to the telltale body language clues, our pros share study-backed ways to spot deception in seconds

- BY KRISTINA MASTROCOLA

Verbal cues

ID red flags fast

Start with open-ended questions, urges Pamela Meyer, an expert on lying. “Rather than ask, ‘Where were you at 9 PM,’ for example, ask, ‘How did it go after dinner?’” she says. Liars might make a protesting statement, such as, “That's a crazy question,” or use qualifiers like, “To tell you the truth.” “They may also make religious references, like, ‘I swear to God I did not eat your ice cream at 4 AM.’ This also includes a non-contracted denial—‘did not’ rather than ‘didn’t’—as liars tend to formalize their language.”

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