Jodi Arias is on trial in Arizona for the murder of her on again, off again boyfriend Travis Alexander.

Her trial has been filled with numerous memory lapses, recantations, and to many she seems to be a master manipulator and habitual liar.  She originally reported that she was not present at the crime scene and then later admitted to being present and taking photos of Travis.

Susan Constantine, Humintell’s Florida affiliate and body language expert has commented on the Arias trial.  She has been featured on numerous TV stations and in many articles such as US News‘ article on body language and job interviews.

In the 3 minute clip below, Susan talks about Jodi’s poised and controlled demeanor breaking down and her leaking microexpressions such as contempt.

Amanda Knox was recently interviewed by ABC’s Diane Sawyer in her first Primetime interview after she returned home from Italy where she spent 4 years in a prison after being convicted of murdering her roommate Meredith Kercher.

At the beginning of the interview, Knox shows what we call a “hot spot”: an inconsistency between what she says and what her nonverbal behavior says. Can you spot it in the video below?

Remember, seeing a hot spot does not necessarily mean that the person is lying. Rather, they are indicators of areas of concealed thoughts or feelings.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Want more hot spotting practice?
Take a look at these past blog posts: Looking for Hot Spots and Hot Spotting: Practice Makes Perfect

© Leopollo | Dreamstime Stock Photos

A simple wave of the hand can boost a child’s performance in mathematics.

A new study published in Child Development found that students perform better when instructors teach with hand gestures—something that teachers in the United States do less commonly than teachers in other parts of the world.

National Geographic reported on this study that suggests being able to learn material vibrantly first and foremost comes from a vibrant and active teacher.

Lead researchers, psychologists Kimberly Fenn (University of Michigan) and Susan Wagner Cook (University of Iowa) tested over 100 elementary students to see if hand gestures can have an impact on a young students ability to learn math.

Half of the students watched videos in which instructors waved their hands under each side of the equation while explaining that both sides should be equal. The other half watched speech-only videos in which the teachers used words but no gestures to convey the same information.

In a test given immediately afterward, students who observed the gestures performed better.  A second test, 24 hours later, also showed that the gestured-to students had an edge over the other group.

An interesting fact is that a 2008 study found that American teachers were less likely than those in Hong Kong and Japan to use gestures in explaining analogies,

Why are hand gestures effective in learning ?

Previous studies have also found that hand gestures improve students’ learning ability, but very little is known about why.

Fenn purports that students with a gesturing instructor don’t just remember the concepts, they also remember the teacher’s movements: “When you watch someone perform an [action], it actually stimulates areas of the brain that you would use to perform that action.”