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Cues to Deception
DePaulo et al., 2003

The main goal of this study is to conduct a review on the previous studies to
summarize estimates of deception cues mentioned in the literature.
The article begins by reviewing some of the previous approaches concerning
prediction of cues to deception. In this section four well established studies
from deception detection literature are reviewed by authors; (1) the study of
Ekman and Friesen in which they describe two categories of cues namely
leakage cues (trying to hide feelings) and deception cues (occurrence of
deception without indicating the nature of information being concealed). (2)
The study of Zuckerman et al. which identifies four factors (i.e. arousal,
feeling while lying, cognitive aspects of deception, and attempted control of
verbal and nonverbal behaviors) and for each factor they have identified a
number of behavioral cues (e.g. blinking, distancing, speech hesitations,
etc.). (3) The study by Ekman which introduces two major categories of cues,
thinking cues and feeling cues. And (4) the study of Buller and Burgoon
which maintains that to predict the behavior of deceivers we should take into
account not only the deceivers psychological individual variables, but also
interpersonal communicative processes between deceiver and target.
Next section of the article deals with articulating a self-presentational
perspective approach to predicting cues to deception proposed by DePaulo. It
begins by reviewing the incidence and nature of lying in everyday life and a
comparison between typical lies and the lies studied in deception detection
literature. Following that using the notion of deception discrepancy in selfpresentation of lies and truths the authors argue that implications of this
discrepancy can help people to predict likely cues to deceit. Specifically they
argue two main implications: (1) deceptive self-presentations are not as

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convincingly embraced as truthful ones; and (2) deceptive self-presenters

are likely to experience a greater sense of deliberateness than truthful ones.
Regarding the deliberate attempts to deceive, it is discussed that cues to
deception would be stronger and more numerous among people when they
have been motivated to succeed in their self-presentations.
They then continue by trying to formulate deception as well as nondeception presentations. They argue that lies are not necessarily more
difficult to construct than truths (e.g. when lies are based on a previous
experience of self or others). However they maintain that even when that is
the case, still lies would generally be shorter and less detailed than truths. In
short they hold that the stories told by liars would be too good to be true.
Next, the authors identify two factors (the opportunity to plan a presentation
and the duration of that presentation) as the moderators of the mentioned
cognitive cues of deception.
Moreover, the authors discuss the role of identity relevant emotions in
deceptive and nondeceptive presentations and identify guilt, shame, and
fear of being caught as the main feelings which can result in emerging facial
cues in liars.

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Fullers Dissertation Summary

Chapter 2: Literature Review
This chapter begins by pointing out the fact that although deception
detection can be known as a very old field of research, yet the empirical
studies show that the ability of the current methods is not much better than
chance. The author then narrowed down to the specific field of analyzing
texts to detect deceptions and introduced four well known methods of
deception detection based on text: Automated Text-Based Deception
Detection, Scientific Content Analysis, Statement Validity Analysis, and the
Behavioral Analysis Interview.
Regarding the Automated Text-Based Deception Detection, it has been
pointed out that of 158 cues to deception, around 50 of them can be used for
text analysis. Two prominent tools working based on this method are
discussed: Agent 99 Analyzer, and LIWC. A number of studies conducted
using each tool is reviewed and the accuracy of deception detection in each
case is reported.
As for the SCAN method, it is noted that the technique appears to work well
in classifying statements, but not when the subject is discussing multiple
issues.
Concerning SVA, and particularly its main component, Content Based Criteria
Analysis (CBCA), it is noted that this technique analyzes the statements
based on 19 criteria, and is reported to have an accuracy ranging between

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55 to 90 percent. Also a general truth bias is reported for CBCA in the

literature.
Also BAI is a technique that works by analyzing subjects verbal and
nonverbal behavior during a structured interview.
Apart from the mentioned text-based deception detection techniques, some
other prevalent methods of deception detection are also discussed briefly.
Specifically the author has explained Polygraph, Voice Stress Analysis, and
Brain Fingerprinting are elaborated.
The next section in this chapter explains some of the well accepted theories
of deception including Knap et al hypotheses, Ekmans clues to deceit
(leakage cues and deception cues), Zuckerman et al Four Factor Theory
(arousal, attempted control, felt emotion, and cognitive processing), Reality
Monitoring (involving distinction between experience- and imagination-based
memories), Self-presentational perspective (categorizing deception cues into
five

categories

communication),

representing
Information

nonverbal,
Manipulation

verbal,
Theory,

and
and

paraverbal
Interpersonal

Deception Theory (merging the principles of deception with principles of

interpersonal communication). At the end of this chapter, the notion of Highstakes deception is explained and it is argued that the motivation of deceiver
can be influential in producing different deception cues.

Chapter 3: Text-based Deception Constructs

This chapter of the dissertation deals with discussing the validation attempts
of some of the suggested constructs for text-based deception detection
studies from literature.
Two constructs frameworks (one suggested by Zhou and Burgoon and one
set of revised constructs for using in text deception detection) were

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compared in terms of their construct validation to determine which

framework is the most appropriate to the high-stakes deception context.
The proposed, revised set of constructs involves two main components; one
which reflects the difference between group of truthful messages and the
group of deceptive messages (including quantity, specificity, uncertainty,
clarity, immediacy, affect, and cognitive processing), and one which includes
the construct of severity and is expected to affect the content of the
messages and the intensity of cues.
By employing a set of measures (cues) for each construct, and using a
sample of 1168 official statements, the proposed constructs as well as the
constructs of Zhou/Burgoon framework were validated by conducting a
confirmatory factor analysis and it is shown that the revised model is better
due to its parsimony, theoretical base, and higher reliability of constructs.

Language Networks: their structure, function and evolution

Sole et al., 2015
The main goal this article is to review the recently developed field of
language networks and to show the relevance of this trend for future
research. The article mainly focuses on the statistical universals in language
networks and their similarity to the features found in other networks
previously studied in other sciences.
The paper begins by bringing up this idea that analysis of complex networks
in the context of human languages can serve as a factor to explain the

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shaping and evolution of language. The authors have argued that language
in its all levels (phonetic, lexical, syntactic, and semantic) exhibits highly
intricate network structures.
It is clarified that although different kinds of network are involved in
language context, the current study focuses mainly on the network structure
of language elements themselves at different levels. Specifically three kinds
of language networks were discussed; co-occurrence networks (in which two
words are linked if they appear together within at least one sentence.),
syntactic

networks

(based

on

constituent

structures),

and

semantic

networks. It is shown that all these kinds of language networks display small
world effects as it was the case for most of the natural phenomena studied.
As an implication of this characteristic, it is argued that it is a consequence
of universal laws that govern all types of evolving networks, independent of
the specific cognitive and social processes that generate them.
At the last section the authors have discussed the structural principles of
language networks as well as the nature of shaping that affects the
statistical properties of network growth.