At what age are people best at fibbing?
From junior to senior Pinocchio: A cross-sectional lifespan investigation of deception
Over a thousand museum visitors aged 6 to 77 told little lab fibs, revealing that fibbing skill peaks in young adulthood.
Ig Nobel 2016
At a science museum in Amsterdam, visitors from age 6 to 77 played a quick computer game where they sometimes had to answer truthfully and sometimes tell a fib. They were also asked how often they lie in daily life.
Lying skill rises through childhood, peaks in young adulthood, then gently declines in later life. Teenagers, meanwhile, reported telling the most fibs, which no parent will find surprising.
Fibbing is a skill with a career arc.