BUFFALO, N.Y., May 5 (UPI) -- A University at Buffalo researcher has devised methods to recognize and accurately read the conscious and unconscious behavioral cues that suggest deceit.
Social psychologist Mark Frank's research on human facial expressions in situations of high-stakes deception has been recognized by U.S. security officials and those abroad as a very useful tool in the identification and interrogation of terrorism suspects.
"It (the research) can be applied to the training of security checkpoint personnel to help them identify and decode 'hot spots,' the subtle conversational cues and fleeting flashes of expression that betray buried emotions or suggest lines of additional inquiry," Frank said. "One micro-expression or collection of them is not proof of anything -- they have meaning only in the context of other behavioral cues, and even then are not an indictment of an individual, just very good clues."
Frank says he developed identification skills when he was bouncer in a Buffalo bar and later honed his skills during years of research by staring at miles of videotape of criminals.
