Can We Tell When People Are Lying? From Ordeals to Algorithms

We think we can spot a liar, yet research shows otherwise. What actually gives someone away? Can technology do better, and at what cost? Everyone lies. Some lies spare someone's feelings; others can destroy a marriage. Yet for all our experience with deception, we're remarkably bad at recognizing it in others. Research suggests we're barely better than chance, even when the person lying is our own child. And perhaps most surprisingly, learning to lie is actually an important milestone in a child's cognitive development. For centuries, we've searched for a reliable way to separate truth from deception. Ancient courts subjected suspects to physical ordeals, while the twentieth century gave us the polygraph, a machine that promised to identify lies by measuring changes in the body. But nervousness isn't necessarily evidence of dishonesty, and even trained professionals regularly confuse the two. In this lecture, Professor Kang Lee will explain what makes lying possible in the developing brain and why detecting it remains so difficult. He'll also introduce his research using ordinary video cameras to measure subtle changes in facial blood flow. These measurements can reveal physiological responses without a person's knowledge, but can they actually tell us whether someone is lying? And what happens to our privacy when even these hidden responses become measurable? Audience members will also have a chance to put their own lie-detection skills to the test. About the Lecturer Dr. Kang Lee is a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Moral Development and Developmental Neuroscience, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. His research investigates how children learn to lie and how humans recognize deception. He also helped develop transdermal optical imaging, a technology that measures physiological changes through ordinary video recordings. His TED Talk, Can You Really Tell If a Kid Is Lying?, has been viewed more than 14 million times. Agenda 6:00 PM doors open. Guests are welcome to arrive early, order drinks, and have dinner before the lecture begins. 7:00 PM lecture begins, followed by Q&A. 8:15 PM wrap up. Guests are welcome to stay for conversation and another drink.