Children With Advanced Verbal Memory Also Make Good Liars

Parents worried that their children are good liars may have to adjust their concerns, as a new study revealed that this may indicate excellent memory and thinking skills.

Experts at the University of Sheffield tested around 135 children between the ages of 6 and 7 years old for their study which was published in the Journal of Child Psychology, according to Science Direct. The research involved asking the children three questions that were printed on index cards. When they replied, the cards were turned over to show the correct answers on the back. These had colored photos and details in it.

For the final question, the children were asked about a fictional character from a fake cartoon series called "Spaceboy." When the researchers have to suddenly leave the room, the children were instructed not to look at the back of the card for the answers.

Everything was shot with a hidden camera, allowing the researchers to see which of the kids have taken a peek at the answers. Returning to ask the children if they could "guess" what was in the back of the final card, the good liars were able to fib with the details. The bad liars just slipped up and some didn't take a peek at all.

The result of the study showed that the kids who told a good lie did better in the trivia games and had better test scores. The experts note that this may stem from the fact that lying involves memory skills to avoid slipping up.

"It takes mental effort to keep in mind what you know you did, what you think the researcher knows, and plan a way so you don't get caught," according to Tracy Alloway,  an author of the study, via Forbes. "When we watched the videos, we could see clear differences in their responses based on their working memory skills. Those with poor working memory would get worked up when answering, while those with good working memory would even offer explanations for how they knew the 'correct' answer to the answer about the cartoon Spaceboy." Some kids even fibbed that the cartoon is their favorite, just to convince the researchers they know what they are talking about.

What can parents take away from this study then? An expert has this advice: "While parents are usually not too proud when their kids lie, they can at least be pleased to discover that when their children are lying well, it means their children are becoming better at thinking and have good memory skills," said Dr. Elena Hoicka, the head of the research via Medical Daily.