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Abstract
Although popular beliefs sustain that nonverbal language is the best indicator when detecting a lie, different investigations have demonstrated that the combination of verbal and nonverbal language offers higher percentages of success in the detection of deception than using only one of these parameters. In fact, it has been scientifically proven that verbal language can be the best predictor of deceptive behavior.
For our investigation, we selected 38 informants ranging between 17 and 19 in age, who were submitted to two tests. In the first test, the informants have to express the truth or lie when responding to the same set of previously established questions. In the second test, they have to write two texts on the same subject, specifically lying in one and telling the truth in the other.
Afterwards, we analyzed the lexical frequencies in the oral as well as written tests, and we compared the list of frequent words of the deceptive texts with the list of words used the most in the truthful texts. In this paper, we just present the results of written texts.
The preliminary results of our investigation partially coincide with previous investigations; for example, more third person pronouns and more senstitive verbs are used when the speaker lies. However, our investigation has reached innovative conclusions, such as a higher number of cliche words when lying and the use of different connectors if telling a lie or the truth.
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