New and improved accuracy findings in deception detection research

•Recent research has documented improved accuracy in deception detection.•Reliance of deception cues produces accuracy only slightly better than chance.•Improved accuracy is obtained through contextualized communication content.•Lies can be detected by persuading liars to confess and tell the truth.

Until recently, accuracy in deception detection experiments was 54 ± 10% with an accuracy ceiling of 67%. Slightly-better-than-chance accuracy findings, however, are no longer inevitable. The old accuracy ceiling has given way as recent findings documenting substantially improved levels of accuracy have accumulated and replicated. The thesis of this essay is that a theoretical shift from cue theories to a focus on contextualized communication content and persuasion accounts for the new and improved accuracy findings in deception detection research.