Want to spot a liar? Just ask them Hundreds of studies have suggested that it is possible to tell if someone is lying through body language. Rubbing the nose nervously, tugging at an earlobe, sweating and avoiding eye contact are all signs someone is lying, we're told. Scientists then examined whether the dishonesty of these self-confessed liars would be born out in a laboratory test. Subjects were asked to roll dice and received a sum of money depending on the number they said they had rolled. Because the researchers were unable to see the actual numbers, participants were free to cheat and report higher scores. Those who had already admitted to lying more frequently had higher winnings in the dice test, indicating that they had told the truth about their dishonesty. Bruno Verschuere, an author of the study at the University of Amsterdam, said: "The fact that participants who indicated lying often actually did lie more often in the dice test demonstrates that they were honest about their dishonesty. It may be that frequent liars show more psychopathic traits and therefore have no trouble admitting to lying frequently. Previous studies have found that on average people lie twice a day. The new study, published in the journal Human Communication Research, suggests that this average is distorted by frequent liars and that a large proportion of people do not lie at all.