The 'Pinocchio effect': your nose says you lie
What is the Pinocchio effect?
How it happens to Pinocchio Your nose indicates that you are lying. But unlike the famous character, the nose does not grow, but rather the temperature of our face rises , and the same happens with the orbital muscle of the inner corner of the eye. When we make a considerable mental effort the temperature of our face falls, and when we have an anxiety attack, the temperature increases.
These are some of the conclusions drawn from a study that was conducted in the Department of Experimental Psychology of the University of Granada, which introduced new applications in the thermography . By the way, thermography was also used to design the first body map of human emotions.
Thermography is a technique that detects body temperature . It is applied in many fields, such as in industry in general, the construction industry and medicine. Thermographic cameras have a wide range of uses: they measure the loss of energy in buildings, they detect respiratory diseases in animals or the rabies in raccoons. Thermography was developed in the USA. during the Second World War to detect the presence of enemies (night vision).
Why does the Pinocchio effect happen?
Scientists at the Chicago Foundation for Treatment and Research of Taste and Touch discovered that when we lie we release chemicals called catecholamines, which cause inflammation of the internal tissues of the nose .
The lies increase the sanguineous pressure and, consequently, the nose is inflamed, appearing slightly reddened. Experts in non-verbal language have observed that those who are lying tend to rub their noses, either with a quick rubbing under the nose or with a quick and almost imperceptible touch.
In addition, the nose is not the only part of the body that is inflamed, since the penis also does it. As far as we know, Pinocchio only grew his nose when he lied.
