This study is flawed on so many levels it can hardly be called ‘scientific’.

For a start, NLP teachings do NOT say looking to the right is an indication of lying. At the most, the eye movement indicates that a person is likely to be constructing a visual image, rather than remembering a specific event.

Ask a person to imagine their front door painted in red and green stripes, and they’ll most likely look up and to the right while they create the image in their minds.

Similarly, when a cop asks Lefty what he was doing last Thursday, and Lefty has to suddenly invent an alibi, he’ll most likely construct a series of images and, consequently look up and to the right.

Some NLP ‘experts’ (maybe they read a book on it once) have taken galloping liberties with this and decided it’s a sure indication of ‘lying’. And so the myth was propagated.

As for the study, in the first part, the people who lied were told to do so. They were prepared for this, and weren’t caught on the hop. No worries. The construct had already been made.

As for the videos of known liars (the murderers and abductors), it’s almost certain these people had rehearsed their stories prior to appearing on TV, and had no need to create a new visual construct.