Monica Semrad, a PhD student supervised by USC’s Dr Bridie Scott-Parker, is hoping to find the Sunshine Coast’s best lie detector during the next week.

“We are looking for anyone who would like to come to the University campus at Sippy Downs and spend some time watching video recordings of people who may or may not be lying,” said Monica.

Dr Scott-Parker added “Although Judge Judy may be famous for saying ‘You know how I can tell a 17-year-old girl is lying? Her mouth moves’, our research is showing that there is much more to figuring out who is lying and who is telling the truth.”

“We look forward to seeing how skilled our community is in detecting lies. Being a mum myself, I have had some practice outside of the research laboratory.”

Monica said her research would help improve lie detection generally, and in the future could boost lie detection in areas like child protection and illicit drugs law enforcement not only in Queensland, but throughout Australia.

“If you would like to see if you are the best lie detector, you can bring your friends and family with you and you can challenge them,” she said.

“At the end of next week, we will be announcing the top three lie detectors and they will receive a gold class movie ticket for two.”

Dr Scott-Parker encouraged people to sign up for this activity.

“Everyone has a role to play in keeping our community safe,” she said. “Who knew watching some videos could potentially make such a difference to everyone’s safety?”

To participate, contact Monica at M_S329@student.usc.edu.au or arru@usc.edu.au. Videos can be viewed over the next seven days, between 7am and 9pm.