Draw Me a Picture of the Murder Scene

We've looked at statements from suspects, interviewed and interrogated them, but have we asked them to draw us a picture?

Maybe we should according to leading lie researchers in the Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology, in an article titled, 'Drawings as an Innovative and Successful Lie Detection Tool.'

Researchers hypothesized that several tendencies would become evident in the scribbles and sketches of liars not found in those of non-liars. For instance, they suspected that liars, when asked to sketch out the particulars of a location where they hadn’t really been to meet someone they hadn’t really met, would provide less detail in their drawings. They also suspected that the drawing would seem less plausible overall, and would not include a depiction of the person they allegedly met.

Finally, they hypothesized that non-liars would use a “shoulder-camera” perspective to draw the situation – a direct, line-of-sight view that previous research suggests is more indicative of truth telling. Liars, they suspected, would use an “overhead-camera” perspective, indicating a sense of detachment from the situation.

Then they set up an elaborate "spy mission" where they were to meet someone. They orchestrated the mission where, at the end, half would have to lie and half would tell the truth.


Then they asked them:

"Draw the particulars of their experience."

What they found was:

Interestingly, significantly more truth tellers included the “agent” (other person in the situation) in their drawings than did liars (80% vs. 13%).

In addition, significantly more truth tellers drew from a shoulder-camera view than liars, who by in large drew from an overhead view (53% vs. 19%).

In verbal statements, more truth tellers also mentioned the agent (53%) than liars (19%).

Using the “sketching the agent” result alone, it was possible to identify 80% of the truth tellers and 87% of the liars – results superior to most traditional interview techniques.

The main reason drawing seems to be effective in identifying liars is that they have less time to work out the details. Someone who is telling the truth already has a visual image of where they were and what happened, but liars have to manufacture the details. It’s easier to concoct something verbally than to first visualize and then create it on paper.


Source: Vrij, A., Leal, S., Mann, S., Warmelink, L., Granhag, P., & Fisher, R. (2009). Drawings as an Innovative and Successful Lie Detection Tool Applied Cognitive Psychology DOI:◦

Draw Me a Picture of the Murder Scene