Thaindian News

London, July 27 (IANS) Some people are very good at spotting deception… liars themselves.

In a speaking test, liars were able to spot other liars far more accurately than people who told the truth - which might explain why poker players are good at both, the Daily Mail reported Friday.

Oddly, the ability isn’t related to IQ or emotional intelligence - the ability to lie is a separate thing.

Researchers at University College, London, graded 51 volunteers simultaneously on their abilities to tell lies - and spot other liars.

Graphing the results, it’s clear that people who are good at telling lies can also spot them far more easily than “normal” people.

There are clear “tells” that people are lying - such as the fact that they tend to take longer to start talking, which the research confirmed, but liars pick up on these more easily, the Mail said.

“It is not uncommon to hear of “poachers turned gamekeepers”, such as infamous confidence-trickster, Frank Abagnale Jr., who is now an FBI financial fraud consultant,” say the researchers.

What is more mystifying is that the liars and non-liars are of similar intelligence level - meaning thereby that it’s not a simple difference in intellectual ability.

The ability to deceive seems to be separate - although it’s not clear whether people are born with it, or learn it, the newspaper added.