Veracity judgements: reinterpreting the processes behind "deception detection"

Over 100 years of research have produced conflicting findings regarding the ability to detect deception and little theoretical progress in understanding veracity judgements. This stagnation, the author argues, stems from two sources. First, the focus on behavioural cues has miscast the underlying process as a ‟detection” task when evidence for diagnostic cues is lacking. Second, the use of incorrect statistical models which fail to explain people‘s judgements. Using a veracity judgement framework and employing Bayesian Mixed-Effects Signal Detection Theory models, examining multiple datasets (N = 985) highlights the source of past inconsistencies and exemplifies a new avenue of research on deception.