Can we get better at spotting when someone is lying?

Distinguishing fact from fiction is one of the great tests of human communication. Little wonder that some people agonise over their capacity to sniff out a fishy story. “My friends say I’m a real mug,” one reader tells me. “What can I do to be less gullible?”

I can’t help but wonder if our reader’s friends are being a little too harsh. Countless studies have shown that most of us are pretty abysmal at lie detection. When asked to discern whether people are telling truths or falsehoods, the …