The Definitive Book of Body Languagethe person's lifetime, usually only varying in the speed at
which it's done. When a teenager tells a lie, the hand is brought
to the mouth in a similar way to the five-year-old, but instead
of the obvious hand-slapping gesture over the mouth, the
fingers rub lightly around it.
The teenager telling a lieThe original mouth-covering gesture becomes even faster in
adulthood. When an adult tells a lie, it's as if his brain
instructs his hand to cover his mouth in an attempt to block
the deceitful words, just as it did for the five-year-old and the
teenager. But, at the last moment, the hand is pulled away
from the face and a nose touch gesture results. This is simply
an adult's version of the mouth-covering gesture that was used
in childhood.
Bill Clinton answering questions about
Monica Lewinsky in front of the Grand Jury