Relationship between Nonverbal Sensitivities and Detection of Deception

Abstract

Subjects took a test of skill at interpreting nonverbal communication, the Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity (PONS), and a videotaped test of ability to distinguish between truthful and deceptive statements. It was hypothesized that skill at reading the types of nonverbal cues known to indicate deception, i.e., body movement, paralinguistics, would be related to actual accuracy at detection of deception. Correlations between 23 PONS scales and 3 deception measures were generally nonsignificant, suggesting that accurate detection of deception may not be merely a function of sensitivity to nonverbal cues.