So for the last 20 years, I've been studying how children learn to tell lies. And today, I'm going to share with you some of the discoveries we have made. Three common beliefs we have about children and lying: One, children only come to tell lies after entering elementary school. Two, children are poor liars. We adults can easily detect their lies. And three, if children lie at a very young age, there must be some character flaws with them, and they are going to become pathological liars for life. Well, it turns out all of the three beliefs are wrong.
在過去的二十年， 我一直在研究孩子們如何學會撒謊。 今天我將與給分享我們的一些成果。很好的總結了三個我們對于孩子撒謊的常識。第一，孩子通常在上小學后開始撒謊。第二，孩子不會撒謊成人可以簡單地識破他們。第三，如果孩子很早就開始撒謊那么他們一定有一些人格缺陷，并且一生都將是病態的撒謊者。然而結果是，這三個認識都是錯的
We have been playing guessing games with children all over the world. But in the middle of the game, we make an excuse and leave the room. Because the desire to win the game is so strong, more than 90 percent of children will peek as soon as we leave the room. We found that regardless of gender, country, religion, after four years of age, most children lie. So as you can see, lying is really a typical part of development. And some children begin to tell lies as young as two years of age.
我們一直和全世界的孩子們一起玩競猜游戲。在游戲的中間，我們會借故離開。因為孩子太想贏這個游戲，超過90%的孩子在我們離開后馬上偷偷看了卡片。我們發現無論性別國籍宗教信仰，大于四歲的孩子絕大部分都在撒謊。如您所見，撒謊是成長典型的一部分。很多孩子在2歲的時候就已經學會了撒謊。

So now, let's take a closer look at the younger children. Why do some but not all young children lie? The first key ingredient is theory of mind, or the mind-reading ability. Mind reading is important for lying because the basis of lying is that I know you don't know what I know. Therefore, I can lie to you. The second key ingredient for good lying is self-control. It is the ability to control your speech, your facial expression and your body language, so that you can tell a convincing lie.
現在我們仔細研究小孩子。為什么不是所有的孩子都撒謊？第一個是心智理論，換言之讀心的能力。讀心能力在撒謊時很重要因為撒謊從根本上說就是我知道你不知道我知道。因此我的謊言成功了。第二個撒謊的關鍵因素是自我控制控制語言控制面部表情控制身體動作。這樣的謊言才讓人信服。
And we found that those young children who have more advanced mind-reading and self-control abilities tell lies earlier and are more sophisticated liars. As it turns out, these two abilities are also essential for all of us to function well in our society. In fact, deficits in mind-reading and self-control abilities are associated with serious developmental problems, such as ADHD and autism. So if you discover your two-year-old is telling his or her first lie, instead of being alarmed, you should celebrate—because it signals that your child has arrived at a new milestone of typical development.
我們發現那些小孩子中讀心能力和自我控制能力更強的更早開始說謊也成為了更老練的撒謊者。事實證明這兩種能力在社會中也是至關重要的。并且讀心能力和自我控制能力不足經常和一些嚴重的發展問題比如多動癥和自閉癥聯系在一起。所以當你發現你二歲的孩子開始撒謊不要驚慌你應該慶幸——因為這意味著你的孩子進入了典型發展的新的里程碑。
So when children lie, their facial expression is typically neutral. However, behind this neutral expression, the child is actually experiencing a lot of emotions, such as fear, guilt, shame and maybe a little bit of liar's delight. Unfortunately, such emotions are either fleeting or hidden. Therefore, it's mostly invisible to us. So in the last five years, we have been trying to figure out a way to reveal these hidden emotions.
所以孩子撒謊是他們的面部表情是很自然的。然而在自然的表情背后孩子在體驗一系列的感情有害怕，內疚，羞恥也許還有一點騙人的喜悅。可是這些表情或一閃而過或被隱藏的很好，對于我們來說很難捕捉。所以過去的五年中我們一直在尋找挖掘隱藏的表情的辦法。
Then we made a discovery. We know that underneath our facial skin, there's a rich network of blood vessels. When we experience different emotions, our facial blood flow changes subtly. So to help us reveal people's facial emotions, we have developed a new imaging technology we call "transdermal optical imaging."
后來我們有了發現。我們知道在臉的皮膚下面是豐富的血管網絡。在我們經歷不同的情感的時候，我們面部血液流動也會稍微改變。我們可以發現人們隱藏的表情。所以我們設計了新的圖像技術來幫助我們捕捉人們的面部表情。我們叫它“透皮光學成像”。
Of course, lying is not the only situation that will evoke our hidden emotions. So then we asked ourselves, in addition to detecting lies, how can our technology be used? One application is in education. And also we can use this in health care. We can also use this in marketing research. We can even use it in dating. So transdermal optical imaging technology is at a very early stage of development. Many new applications will come about that we don't know today. However, one thing I know for sure is that lying will never be the same again.
當然撒謊并不是激發隱藏表情的唯一情況。所以我們思考，除了測試謊言之外，這項技術還可以用來做什么？在教育領域可以應用這門技術。這門技術同時可以用在健康護理上；這項技術也可以用于市場調查；我們甚至可以用在約會上。所以透皮光學成像技術僅僅處于起步階段。將來會有更多意想不到的新應用出現。然而我堅信研究謊言的未來 將會因此變得不同。