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You've probably heard of all kinds of tricks you can use to tell if someone's lying.
你可能听说过判断某人是否撒谎的各种技巧。
Like from me. Six years ago.
比如我，六年前...
Liars often use more formal language to deny something that they've actually done. Oh my god!
撒谎者经常使用更正式的语言来否认他们已经做过的事情，哦，天啊
But separating lies from the truth isn't as simple as learning all those techniques,
但辨别谎言并不仅仅是学习所有这些技巧那么简单，
because most of them are based on the assumption
因为大多数都是基于这个假设：
that there's an inherent psychological difference between lying and telling the truth.
讲真话和说假话各自的内在心理差异。
And that is not always the case.
但情况并非总是如此。
Which means a foolproof lie detector is unlikely, if not impossible.
我的意思是测谎仪不可能实现。
Let's say someone is letting their dog poop on your lawn,
假设某人让狗狗在你的草坪上大便，
but none of your neighbors are copping to it.
邻居们却没有一个人去处理。
If you're the type of person who faithfully watches every episode of Lie to Me or Law and Order,
如果你看过《别对我说谎》或《法律与秩序》，
you might think you know a thing or two about detecting deception.
你可能会认为自己对谎言识别略知一二，
But even if you tried those techniques,
但即使你试过这些技巧，
you might not be able to catch the liar — or worse, you might end up accusing the wrong person.
你可能也找不出说谎的人——或者更糟糕的是，可能你最后指错了人。
Most of these things involve looking for signals of stronger emotions, especially the fear of being caught.
其中，大部分都涉及到寻找更强烈的情绪信号——尤其是害怕被抓住。
Polygraph machines, for example,
比如测谎仪，
are designed to detect lies based on changes to things associated with anxiety,
根据人对焦虑事物的情绪变化，
like an increased heart rate or sweating.
比如心跳加速或出汗来检测谎言。
And they're notoriously unreliable.
众所周知，这些方法并不可靠。
There's also the idea that minute facial movements, also known as microexpressions,
还有一种观点认为，微小的面部运动，也就是我们熟知的微表情，
can reveal someone's innermost thoughts.
可以揭示某人内心深处的想法。
But microexpressions actually have very little empirical basis,
但实际上，微表情在这方面的实证依据较少，
especially if you're talking about reading people in real time.
尤其是当你说道实时读取人内心想法的时候。
While there is some potential for developing computerized methods of lie detection based on it,
尽管计算机测谎方法还是有一些发展潜力，
it's not really a skill you can pick up and then use when you go confront your neighbor about that new mystery lawn turd.
但当你和邻居谈论那个神秘草坪上的粪便时，计算机测谎方式并不适用。
In fact, microexpression training can make you worse at detecting certain kinds of lies,
事实上，微表情训练会让你在判断某些谎言方面更糟糕，
for the same reason polygraphs don't work:
出于同样的原因，测谎仪也不起作用：
emotions just aren't a good way to tell if someone is lying.
情绪并不是判断一个人是否撒谎的好方法。
Like, it's not that weird to think
想想也不奇怪
that you might be super anxious if you're in a tiny windowless room being intensely interviewed while hooked up to a weird machine
如果你在一间没有窗户的小房间里，与一台奇怪的机器相连，紧张地接受测试
—whether or not you're telling the truth.
——你是否在说实话，你可能会非常焦虑
On the flip side, a super confident liar might not feel anxious at all.
另一方面，一个超级自信的说谎者可能根本不会焦虑。
And even if you do feel stronger emotions when you lie,
即使当你撒谎时，你的情绪比较强烈，
they can vary based on your motivation for lying and what's at stake if you're found out.
这些情绪也会根据你说谎的动机以及撒谎被发现存在的危险而有所变化。
So more recent research into lie detection has stepped away from looking at emotional signals
因此，对测谎的新近研究关注的不再是情绪信号
and focused more on the idea that lying increases what psychologists call cognitive load.
而是撒谎会增加心理学家所说的认知负荷。
If you think of your brain like a computer—
如果你把你的大脑想象成一台电脑
which you mostly shouldn't—then cognitive load is, like, how much of your RAM is in use.
这是你最不应该做的——认知负荷就是，比如你的内存使用了多少。
The idea is that when you lie, you're inventing things, juggling the real and the fake,
当你撒谎的时候，你在捏造事实，玩弄真假，
carefully watching for hints that you've been found out,
仔细观察你暴露出来的蛛丝马迹
and generally using more working memory than you would be if you just told the truth.
而且一般情况下，你调用的记忆内存会比你说实话还要多
And that's supported by brain scanning studies.
这是通过扫描大脑得出的结果
Since you only have so much RAM to work with,
因为大脑的记忆内存是固定的，
cognitive lie detection relies on challenging the suspected liar's brain and gauging how well they handle the additional work.
认知测谎挑战说谎者的大脑，并衡量他们处理额外工作的能力。
They use tactics like having people tell their stories in reverse,
他们使用的策略是让人们对故事进行倒叙，
draw diagrams of the scene, or perform some other physical task while they're talking.
绘制场景图，或在谈话时执行其他一些体能任务。
Then they look for inconsistencies between accounts or changes to verbal and nonverbal cues,
然后，他们会查找各个理由间的矛盾或者口头和非口头线索的变化，
like pauses or body language.
比如停顿或肢体语言。
This method works somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4 of the time,
此方法成功的概率在2/3和3/4之间，
which is better than flipping a coin, but still not great.
这比抛硬币的效果好，但仍然不是很理想。
And like stronger emotions, having a high cognitive load isn't unique to liars.
和强烈的情绪一样，拥有高认知负荷并不为撒谎者独有。
Someone can have a lot going on in their head for completely unrelated reasons.
有些人脑子里会闪现各种无关的想法
There's some newer research using brain scanners and other high-tech machines
有些新研究通过采用大脑扫描仪和其他高科技机器
to look for specific brain pathways or activation patterns that are unique to lying.
来寻找特定的大脑通路或说谎所特有的激活模式。
But so far, they have not found any magic bullets, and it's unclear if they ever will.
但到目前为止，他们还没有找到任何灵丹妙药，也不清楚是否会找到。
So there's not as much distinguishing a lie and the truth as you might think.
所以你可能会认为，谎言和事实的区别并没有那么明显。
Part of the reason might be that when people lie, they don't usually make everything up
部分原因可能是，当人们撒谎时，他们通常不会编造一切
—they often tell embedded lies, where most of what they're saying is true.
——他们会在说的事实里面加入部分谎言
Like, if you asked that person about that dog's last walk,
比如，如果你问那人关于狗的最后一次散步，
they might tell you about another day where they didn't stroll past your house, and be like,
他们可能会告诉你某一天他们没有在你家附近散步，又比如，
"I never walk past your house! That day I was in a completely different neighborhood."
“我从来没有去过你家！那天我在另一个社区。”
So, they are lying, but they're also giving a totally true account of a walk they really took.
所以，他们在撒谎，但他们也完全真实地描述了自己的行踪。
And lying is an essential part of our psychology—we lie for all kinds of reasons,
撒谎是我们心理的重要部分——撒谎的原因各种各样，
and we don't just lie to others, we lie to ourselves,
我们不只是对别人撒谎，我们对自己也撒了很多谎，
so much so that what we see as the truth is constantly shifting.
以致于我们所看到的真理不断地变化。
While all of these studies are super important for things like our justice system and how we train law enforcement,
尽管所有这些研究对于我们的司法系统以及我们如何培训执法人员都非常重要，
they aren't really things that you can use to figure out if your neighbor is hiding the truth
但这些并不是你找出邻居是否隐瞒真相——
about their dog pooping on your lawn.
他们的狗在你的草坪上大便的证据
Which they are. They definitely are.
是谁家狗狗的大便，当然是他们的。
Like, good luck getting them to sit down for some extensive, taped one-on-one interviews
比如，好好坐下来进行一些大量的、一对一采访
so you can try to analyze their speech patterns
你可以试着分析他们的说话模式
or check details while you're getting them to retell the story of their dog walk for the sixteenth time.
或者当他们在复述第16次遛狗的故事时，检查他们说话的细节。
Besides, trying to become a better lie detector often backfires.
此外，想要更好地侦测谎言结果往往适得其反。
Simply trying to detect a lie or thinking you have the skills to do so
仅仅是侦测一个谎言或认为自己在这方面有能力
can make you more likely to think that a lie is being told—a phenomenon known as lie bias,
会更容易让你认为有人在说谎——我们称之为谎言偏见，
which we're all familiar with if we play the game "Werewolf."
如果我们玩过“狼人”这个游戏，那么我们会很熟悉这种现象。
When put to the test, professionals who detect lies as a part of their jobs
在接受测试时，将侦测谎言视为工作一部分的专业人士
—like cops—don't generally do a better job of telling fact from fiction,
比如警察，通常情况下，他们分不清虚实，
even though they're more confident in their assessments.
即使他们对自己的评估更有信心。
Studies have also found
研究还发现
that people who undergo lie detection training can actually be worse at sniffing out liars than those who don't.
那些接受过测谎训练的人可能比那些没有接触过测谎训练的人实际上更难找出撒谎者。
Either way, I'd hazard a guess that your neighbors aren't so keen on being interrogated.
不管怎样，我猜你的邻居都不喜欢被审问。
So setting up a camera to catch that dog in the act might be a safer bet.
所以设置一个摄像头来捕捉狗的行为可能是一个更安全的做法。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych!
感谢收看本期心理科学秀节目！
If you want to learn more about how the truth can change over time,
如果你想了解真相如何随时间改变，
you might like our episode on how your memory can be tricked.
你可能会喜欢我们的节目——记忆是如何被欺骗的。
And if you want to keep learning more about your brain and how it works,
如果你想继续了解你的大脑以及工作原理，
be sure to click on that subscribe button!
一定要点击订阅我们的节目哦！
