Through the use of a thermal camera scientist types have found out some pretty interesting things about the human body.

According to the latest research, humans have a natural tendency to heat up around the nose and eye area when we tell lies. It’s been dubbed the ‘Pinccohio’ affect by some news outlets, although generally most people’s schnozzes don’t suddenly grow in size when they’re lying to someone.

Before you start wondering exactly how this is important, it’s believed that the new information will be able to influence the field of lie detection, and also be used in the interrogation of suspects to check when they might be telling fibs.

The heat around the face appears around the nose and the orbital muscle which is in the inner corner of the eye. It’s believed the findings could also have great influence on the field of psychology and how temperature plays into the state of the human mind and our emotional responses.

The team in question behind the research, who work at the University of Granada, have used the thermal camera to study a selection of different people and recorded the results.

As well as the aforementioned Pinocchio affect, there are also several other discoveries that they’ve picked up with the use of the thermal camera.

Firstly they found that when we perform mental efforts that might require a lot of thinking, the temperature of the face tends to drop. Anxiety attacks are said to make the temperature in our face rise.

They also found that sexual desire can be identified using the thermal camera, as areas such as the chest/genitals tend to heat up when someone is feeling aroused.

It’s believed that the temperature rise attributed to lying comes about because the brain activates an element known as ‘insula’. This complex part of the brain is only activated when we feel real emotional feeling, and directly affects the body’s temperature output as a result.

As a result, the scientists believe that when we lie, the insula heats the face because we are concealing our true feelings. It’s likely this is also linked in with embarrassment, and the feeling of heat rising in the cheeks and the obvious red effect that can sometimes be seen.

The scientists argue that the more ‘real’ a feeling the brain experiences than the lower the temperature change will be.