The Definitive Book of Body LanguageThe Nose Touch2.The Nose Touch
Sometimes the Nose Touch can be
several quick rubs below the nose or it
may be one quick, almost imperceptible
nose touch. Women perform this gesture
with smaller strokes than men, perhaps
to avoid smudging their make-up.
The important thing to remember is
that this type of action should be read
in clusters and in context; the person
could have hay fever or a cold.
Scientists at the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research
Foundation in Chicago found that when you lie, chemicals
known as catecholamines are released, causing tissue inside
the nose to swell. They used special imaging cameras that
show blood flow in the body to reveal that intentional lying
also causes an increase in blood pressure. This technology
indicates that the human nose actually expands with blood
during lying, and is known as the 'Pinocchio Effect'. Increased
blood pressure inflates the nose and causes the nerve endings
in the nose to tingle, resulting in a brisk rubbing action to the
nose with the hand to satisfy the 'itch'.
You can't see the swelling with the naked eye but this is what
appears to cause the Nose Touch gesture. The same phenom-
enon occurs when a person is upset, anxious or angry.
American neurologist
Alan Hirsch and psychia-
trist Charles Wolf did an
extensive analysis of Bill
Clinton's testimony to the
Grand Jury on his affair
with Monica Lewinsky and
found that, when he told the
truth, he rarely touched his
'I did not have sexual relations
with that woman!'