Vanessa Van Edwards explains how ending statements with a question inflection makes listeners doubt you. When your voice rises at the end, your brain interprets it as uncertainty or dishonesty, even if you're telling the truth. A child saying "No" to stealing a cookie with upward inflection triggers the parent's skepticism instantly.
what the brain does when it hears an accidental question inflection. Your brain goes from listening to scrutinizing. The reason for this is because liars often accidentally use the question inflection because they're asking, "Do you believe this?" If I say to my daughter, "Did you take the cookie from the cookie jar?" and she goes, "No," that movement, it subconsciously, even if you're not lying, it triggers the part of our brain that goes, "Uh-oh, something's off here." And we don't like to hear people who are questioning themselves because we don't want to feel that we're questioning.
