Children who benefit from a good memory are much better at covering up lies, researchers from the University of Sheffield have discovered. 
 
 Experts found a link between verbal memory and covering up lies following a study which investigated the role of working memory in verbal deception amongst children. 
 
 The study saw six to seven year old children presented with the opportunity to do something they were instructed not to -peek at the final answers on the back of a card during a trivia game. 
 
 A hidden camera and correct answers to the question, which was based on the name of a fictitious cartoon character, enabled the researchers to identify who had peeked, despite denials. 
 
 Further questioning, including about the colour of the answer on the cards, allowed researchers to identify who was a good liar, by lying to both entrapment questions; or a bad liar, by lying about one or none of the entrapment questions. 
 
 During the experiment, researchers from the Universities of Sheffield and North Florida then measured two elements: verbal and visuo-spatial working memory in the children. 
 
 Verbal working memory is the number of words a person can remember all at the same time. Visuo-spatial working memory is the number of images a person can remember all at the same time. 
 
 Results showed that the good liars performed better in the verbal working memory test in both processing and recall, compared to the bad liars. 
 
 The link between lying and verbal memory is thought to stem from the fact that covering lies involves keeping track of lots of verbal information. As a result, kids who possessed better memories and could keep track of lots of information were able to successfully make and maintain a cover story for their lie. 
 
 In contrast, there was no difference in visuo-spatial working scores between good and bad liars. The researchers suspect this is because lying usually doesn't involve keeping track of images, so visuo-spatial information is less important. 
 
 The results have been published today in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology and are the first time it has been shown that verbal working memory in particular has strong links to lying, not just any working memory. 
 
 Dr Elena Hoicka, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Psychology, said: "While parents are usually not too proud when their kids lie, they can at least be pleased to discover that when their children are lying well, it means their children are becoming better at thinking and have good memory skills. 
 
 "We already know that adults lie in approximately a fifth of their social exchanges lasting 10 or more minutes, so it's interesting to know why some children are able to tell more porkies than others. We'll now be looking to move the research forward to discover more about how children first learn to lie." 
 
 Dr Tracy Alloway, project lead from the University of North Florida, said: "This research shows that thought processes, specifically verbal working memory, are important to complex social interactions like lying because the children needed to juggle multiple pieces of information while keeping the researcher's perspective in mind." 
 
 ### 
 
 Notes to editors: 
 
 Parents with children between 0-4 years can participate in further research conducted by the University of Sheffield by signing up at: https:/ / www. shef. ac. uk/ psychology/ research/ groups/ developmental/ index . 
 
 The University of Sheffield 
 
 With almost 26,000 of the brightest students from around 120 countries, learning alongside over 1,200 of the best academics from across the globe, the University of Sheffield is one of the world's leading universities. 
 
 A member of the UK's prestigious Russell Group of leading research-led institutions, Sheffield offers world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines. 
 
 Unified by the power of discovery and understanding, staff and students at the university are committed to finding new ways to transform the world we live in. 
 
 In 2014 it was voted number one university in the UK for Student Satisfaction by Times Higher Education and in the last decade has won four Queen's Anniversary Prizes in recognition of the outstanding contribution to the United Kingdom's intellectual, economic, cultural and social life. 
 
 Sheffield has five Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students and its alumni go on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence all over the world, making significant contributions in their chosen fields. 
 
 Global research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, AstraZeneca, Glaxo SmithKline, Siemens and Airbus, as well as many UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations. 
 
 For further information, please visit http://www. sheffield. ac. uk 
 
 For further information please contact: Shemina Davis, Media Relations Manager, on 0114 2225339 or email shemina.davis@sheffield.ac.uk ||||| Image copyright Thinkstock 
 
 Children who have a good memory are better at telling lies, say child psychology researchers. 
 
 They tested six and seven-year-olds who were given an opportunity to cheat in a trivia game and then lie about their actions. 
 
 Children who were good liars performed better in tests of verbal memory - the number of words they could remember. 
 
 This means they are good at juggling lots of information, even if they do tell the odd fib. 
 
 Writing in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, researchers from the Universities of North Florida, Sheffield and Stirling, recruited 114 children from four British schools for their experiment. 
 
 It's interesting to know why some children are able to tell more porkies than others Dr Elena Hoicka, University of Sheffield 
 
 Using hidden cameras during a question-and-answer game, they were able to identify the children who peeked at the answer to a fictitious question, even though they were told not to. 
 
 Cover story 
 
 A potentially surprising finding (for parents) is that only a quarter of the children cheated by looking at the answer. 
 
 Further questioning allowed the researchers to work out who was a good liar or a bad liar. 
 
 They were particularly interested in children's ability to maintain a good cover story for their lie. 
 
 In separate memory tests, the good liars showed they had a better working memory for words - but they didn't show any evidence of being better at remembering pictures (visuo-spatial memory). 
 
 The researchers said this was because lying involves keeping track of lots of verbal information, whereas keeping track of images is less important. 
 
 Dr Elena Hoicka, a developmental psychologist from the University of Sheffield, said there was an upside to having a child who fibs. 
 
 "While parents are usually not too proud when their kids lie, they can at least be pleased to discover that when their children are lying well, it means their children are becoming better at thinking and have good memory skills. 
 
 "We already know that adults lie in approximately a fifth of their social exchanges lasting 10 or more minutes, so it's interesting to know why some children are able to tell more porkies than others." 
 
 She said they now wanted to find out more about how children first learn to lie. ||||| Parents who worry that their children are lying to them should not be too concerned, because it shows they have excellent memories and thinking skills, researchers have found. 
 
 Psychologists at the University of Sheffield who tested 135 children found that those who lied did far better on a trivia test than their honest peers. 
 
 They believe it is because it takes a lot of thought and memory skills to keep track of lies told so that they do not slip up and give the game away. 
 
 “While parents are usually not too proud when their kids lie, they can at least be pleased to discover that when their children are lying well, it means their children are becoming better at thinking and have good memory skills,” said Dr Elena Hoicka, from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Psychology, said 
 
 “We already know that adults lie in approximately a fifth of their social exchanges lasting 10 or more minutes, so it’s interesting to know why some children are able to tell more porkies than others. We’ll now be looking to move the research forward to discover more about how children first learn to lie.” 
 
 • Lying is an "important social skill" for young children 
 
 • Lying to your kids? They might stop trusting you 
 
 • Lying children will grow up to be successful citizens 
 
 For the study, children aged six and seven years old were given the opportunity to peek at the answers on the back of a card during a trivia game. 
 
 Unbeknownst to them, they were being recorded on a hidden camera. Those children who looked at the answers but then denied it did better at a later memory test. 
 
 The link between lying and verbal memory is thought to stem from the fact that covering lies involves keeping track of lots of verbal information. 
 
 As a result, children who possessed better memories and could keep track of lots of information were able to successfully make and maintain a cover story for their lie. 
 
 Dr Tracy Alloway, project lead from the University of North Florida, said: "This research shows that thought processes, specifically verbal working memory, are important to complex social interactions like lying because the children needed to juggle multiple pieces of information while keeping the researcher’s perspective in mind.” 
 
 The results were published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.
– Children shouldn't lie to their elders, right? Fair enough, but a new study says the best child liars possess superior verbal working memory skills, the BBC reports. Researchers at the University of Sheffield gathered more than 100 children, ages six and seven, and told them not to peek at answers about a fictitious cartoon character on the back of a card (meanwhile, a hidden camera was on them the whole time), according to a press release. Then researchers questioned the children, spotted the liars, and evaluated their ability to lie in the face of two entrapment questions. The "best" liars fibbed each time, while poor liars did it only once or not at all. Writing in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, researchers say they were most impressed by a child's ability to keep up a strong cover story for any falsehood. In memory tests that followed, the talented liars showed a more powerful working memory with words, but not with pictures. This is likely because covering up for lies involves juggling a lot of verbal information and "keeping the researcher's perspective in mind," a project leader tells the Telegraph. Parents may not want kids to lie, but "when their children are lying well, it means their children are becoming better at thinking and have good memory skills," says developmental psychologist Elena Hoicka. "We already know that adults lie in approximately a fifth of their social exchanges lasting 10 or more minutes, so it's interesting to know why some children are able to tell more porkies than others." One possible surprise from the study: Only 25% of the children cheated by peeking at the answer. (Another recent study found an interesting consequence of lying on Facebook.)