“People who lose their language ability because of brain damage

develop an extraordinary gift for spotting liars, scientists have

discovered.

Stroke victims who have suffered damage to the brain’s language

centres learn how to detect the subtle facial expressions that can

indicate when a person is lying. Tests on a group of aphasics –

people who cannot converse after brain damage – showed they could

detect liars nearly threequarters of the time, compared with a 50:50

success rate for undamaged people. One aphasic who had recently

suffered brain damage performed no better than healthy subjects,

indicating that the ability is learnt through experience.” [Nature via The Independent]