Telling bare bones stories

If someone recounts a story with just the basic outline, they may be lying. Truth tellers often use small, salient details from the story, such as the time or setting of the event they’re describing. Liars leave out these little details because they are harder to keep track of. On the flip side, liars may go into great (fake) detail when you ask them a simple question. This is a form of overcompensating for the lie by flooding the listener with details. (It should be noted that when we experience a traumatic event, our memory does not function properly and sometimes omits either sensory or verbal details. Thus, when someone is interrogated, it cannot be immediately assumed they are lying if they have trouble remembering what happened.)