This is something you got to learn to detect, and perhaps is the easiest to detect. It is so unnatural.
Video One:
Investigators were trying to locate a schoolteacher, Leah Walsh who went missing after calling her husband to say her car had broken down with a flat tire on the side of a Long Island highway, in October of 2008.
Click here to view the video
Several Things do not add up and are strange about the husband, as he pleads for her return, and she can have his car, and with the crying and a quick snap out of that emotional state.
Video Two:
At 1:10 into the video Ronald Cummings cries and pleads for his daughter, Haleigh Cummings return.
There are quite some differnces in crying styles seen in the video. With Ron there are no tears, holds facial expression too long which is a sign of a forced emotion (unless he is in a full sadness with tears and tension in other parts of the face like others in the video do show).
There are many more examples, such as Susan Smith's plea for her kids return and I have seen this in countless other spouses and parents.
If you hear this constructed "emotion" be warned something is not right about the situation, and they are acting... badly acting.◦
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Stop the Crying Already... Besides You're Not Really Crying
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
James Hataway a Person of Interest in the Missing Person Case of Tracy Ocasio
I mentioned last week, when I was on vacation, seeing a news story in Florida. At that time I saw things such as shame while the person was in court, and he was too calm given the circumstances. When I returned home I was seeing if there was any more video of the suspect. I only found this 15 second clip as he is being escorted into a police station where a reporter was asking him questions.
It really is not a great deal of time, but sometimes that is all you have to work with. Normally when I do this type of analysis for television stations I am analyzing an entire interview (which is easier because you can establish a baseline and more easily identify gestures/clusters/and roles) but I thought it might be nice for you to see the type of thing I do for news organizations.
Notice: There was too little tape to do a voice analysis.◦
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Analysis of Last Week's Lying Game
Let's take a closer look at the Liar's Game from last week. If you haven't seen it go ahead and view it by clicking here.
When I teach Television Editors and Reporters about what I do, I'm always telling them they do not need to catch every micro expression or gesture because you can always review the tape. Then I teach them how to review the tapes. One of the things I tell them to play it once at a normal speed, then once at a fast speed, then once slow speed. Why? Fast speed can show you tendency gestures, when they gesture less, and their normal gestures that becomes part of the baseline. Slower speeds can show you the leakage gestures and expressions.
What I would suggest for you to do now, is to place a piece of scotch tape right below the video timeline below, with a pen mark the starting and ending points of each statement. Watch it fast a couple of times.
Does anything stand out? It should. During the lie there is a decrease in gestures. The difference is barely noticeable when played at a normal speed, but when playing it faster it becomes obvious. Here are a couple of articles from The Journal of Nonverbal Behavior about this:
The impact of deception and suspicion on different hand movements. Caso,
Letizia; Maricchiolo, Fridanna; Bonaiuto, Marino; Vrij, Aldert; Mann, Samantha;
Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, Vol 30(1), Mar 2006. pp. 1-19. [Journal Article]
Individual differences in hand movements during deception. Vrij, Aldert;
Akehurst, Lucy; Morris, Paul; Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, Vol 21(2), Sum
1997. pp. 87-102. [Journal Article]
When you marked the timeline something else should have stood out. There is one particular statement that takes longer than the others. When people lie they tend to "explain" it more in an attempt to make it more believable. There are too many articles on this to cite just a couple- search online. I've created programs that "count" emotional words, and determine learning styles, etc. but here is the thing with computers, people are usually better and quicker than computers in this area- but more on that in another post.
Did you have trouble spotting the lie? Why this one was hard to read? Well, because it was based on a half truth.
What I want to do is put together a group of 50 really good 'The Lying Games' or statements and develop a web based application, like METT, where the barely noticeable becomes obvious because you have been trained through repetition. It is important to notice more/less gestures, and blinking, and the like. Too much I want to do, very little time.◦
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