Can you really tell if a kid is lying? | Kang Lee

The same transdermal imaging applied to recorded TV footage can estimate politicians' heart rate, stress and mood—and potentially indicators of deception—because image-processing can recover facial blood-flow and autonomic signals from ordinary video.

Because the imaging extracts physiological markers like heart rate, stress and pain from facial blood-flow signals, it can remotely flag anxious students or monitor patients' vitals over video without contact.

Lying produces a measurable 'Pinocchio effect' because autonomic responses redistribute facial blood flow—decreasing flow in the cheeks while increasing flow in the nose—creating a specific physiological signature of deception.

Because it uncovers autonomic blood-flow signatures tied to concealed emotions, transdermal optical imaging can classify truthful versus deceptive responses and has achieved about 85% accuracy in tests.

Image-processing applied to ordinary video can extract transdermal facial blood-flow patterns because algorithms isolate subtle light changes caused by blood under the skin, revealing autonomic signals tied to hidden emotions.

Different emotions cause subtle shifts in facial blood flow via the autonomic nervous system, producing tiny physiological signals that reflect hidden feelings.

Adults are poor at detecting children's lies because children often display neutral facial expressions and hide fleeting emotions, so observers miss the subtle internal cues and perform at chance.

Impairments in mind-reading and inhibitory control are linked to developmental disorders like ADHD and autism because those conditions disrupt the social cognition and self-regulation needed for typical social functioning.