How to Detect Lies? The Real Secret of Microexpressions

Flashes of emotion across the face can help show when someone is lying to you.

A composed man with an attentive, hard-to-read expression connected to a contemporary analogue polygraph; mechanical pens trace waveform lines across chart paper stamped LIE

6 Universal Microexpressions

A woman's face showing lifted cheeks, raised lip corners and tightening near the outer eyes
HappinessCrow's-feet beside the eyes show that the smile has reached beyond the mouth.
A man's face showing lowered joined brows with tension around the eyes and lips
AngerThe brows pull down and together.
A woman's face showing a brief asymmetric lift at one corner of the mouth
ContemptOne corner of the mouth rises higher than the other.
A man's face showing a wrinkled nose and lifted upper lip
DisgustThe nose wrinkles and the upper lip lifts.
A woman's face showing raised brows, opened eyes and a dropped jaw
SurpriseBrows rise, eyes open and the jaw drops.
A man's face showing raised drawn brows, lifted upper eyelids and a tense slightly open mouth
FearBrows rise and pull together as the mouth stretches sideways.

Microexpressions are brief, involuntary facial movements that can appear before a person regains control of what their face is showing.

Staged expression studies. Each name identifies the visible pattern, not anyone's private emotion or honesty.

Surprise is brief

Brows lift, eyes widen and the jaw opens; then the face moves on. Surprise is the flash, not a held pose. If the shocked look stays fixed, treat it as a different clue. Watch the release and what replaces it.

Neutral
Flash
Release
Gone
Neutral. Flash. Release. Gone. The change after surprise is part of the clue.

Spot Contempt in Three Checks

Start low on the face. Compare both sides of the mouth, then check whether the eyes and brows changed too.

A close portrait with numbered guide lines pointing to one raised mouth corner, the quieter opposite corner, and comparatively still eyes and brows
Corner. Symmetry. Upper face. Three places to check before the moment disappears.

  1. One corner tightens

    Look for a small upward or inward pull at one mouth corner.

  2. The sides do not match

    The useful clue is the asymmetry, not the size of the movement.

  3. The upper face stays quieter

    The mouth can move while the brows and eyes barely change.

Faces can be naturally asymmetric. Compare the movement with the same person's resting face before naming the pattern.

“He’s outstanding. I genuinely love working with him.”First hunchLIE!

Watch what flashes after the compliment

If one corner lifts immediately after the compliment, the words and face briefly disagree. Treat that as a reason to check, not a verdict. Speech, habit, taste, tension or natural asymmetry can create a similar shape.

Ask: “Which part of working with him feels least comfortable?”
Neutral
Flash
Release
Neutral. One-sided lift. Release. The timing creates the question.
A badge-free investigator in a white shirt and dark tie holds an articulated interrogation lamp over a narrow table while another calm adult sits opposite; a one-way window, wall clock, tape recorder and heavy door establish the interrogation room

Now you know where to look

Catch the flash, compare it with the words, then ask one calm question. The face does not close the case. It tells you exactly where to look next.

See lie detection in action

Bring the experiment into your event. Guests watch faces, test their instincts and begin reading one another before the room builds one connected result.

Enquire about your event
Yonatan Lavy seated opposite a participant in a live stage interaction, with both extending one hand through theatrical haze
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