Ever suspected that someone is telling you a lie, right to your face?
Well, experts have explained that the way someone blinks might just indicate whether or not they’re telling you a porky.
The average adult blinks around 15 to 20 times per minute – but disruptions to this pattern could indicate a range of personal feelings that people just can’t hide, from who they fancy to whether or not they’re lying.
And that’s because liars don’t blink.
That’s right. Telling a lie takes a lot of concentration, which means your brain pays less attention to closing your eyelids and refreshing your eyeballs to focus on spinning the fib.
Liars then usually blink a lot after they’ve completed their yarn, to refresh their eyes after that intense period – and studies have backed this up.
According to VisionDirect, the best way to spot a liar is first to make sure you know their normal blinking patterns when they are definitely not lying. Now, compare that to when you suspect something might be awry.
A sudden prolonged period of unflinching eye contact followed by a lot of sudden fluttering could indicate a porky is in the air.
Body language expert Traci Brown explained that there is “significant evidence” that the speed at which you blink and the heaviness of each moment you close your eyes (also known as blink weight) is linked to detective deception.
“Typically, if their blinking changes it will get less rapid during the lie and then increase dramatically right after the lie is told,” she said.
“However, it is important to note that blinking is just a piece of the puzzle.
“It is vital to pay attention to other factors in their body language and tone to aid the detection of deception.”
On the VisionDirect website, she also explained: “People that try to manipulate their body language to appear a certain way almost always fail.
“This is because we are largely unaware of our blinking in everyday situations and efforts to change that appears off which, in the end, can backfire as it causes the manipulator to appear incongruent in their communication.”
Blinking also provides an indication of whether or not love is in the air.
So if someone is blinking a lot around you, they might be nervous but excited to be with you. This is usually accompanied by sweating, fidgeting or tapping.
But, sadly, it seems you can’t make someone like you more by fluttering your eyelids (and eyelashes) at them.
VisionDirect goes so far as to say that intentional changes to your natural blinking habits “can make you seem untrustworthy”.
Blinking excessively quickly can also reveal how stressed you are. Feel like you’re about to buckle? You might be blinking up to 100 times a minute! No wonder you’re so exhausted.