People from Scotland, Ireland and Northeast England are better at spotting fake accents than people from the South, a study has found.

Cambridge University researchers found these Belfast They were the ones who knew best when someone was imitating their accent. essex, Bristol And London was the least accurate.

Study co-author Dr Jonathan R Goodman, from the Leverhulme Center for Human Evolutionary Research in Cambridge, said the team thought “the ability to detect fake accents is linked to the cultural homogeneity of an area, the degree to which people in that area have similar cultural values”.

Approximately 50 speakers with seven English accents were recruited and asked to read sentences in their own accent and then do the same by imitating other accents.

The range of accents included people from north-east England. Tyne and Wear – and from Belfast, DublinBristol, Glasgowand Essex.

It also included speakers with Received Pronunciation (RP), sometimes described as standard British English.

The researchers then had participants listen to short recordings and determine whether the accents were real or fake.

In a later phase of the study, researchers recruited more than 900 people from the UK and Ireland to listen to recordings and determine whether accents were being imitated.

Between 65% and 85% of participants from Scotland, north-east England, Ireland and Northern Ireland were able to tell whether short recordings of their native accent were real or fake.

Meanwhile, those from Essex, London and Bristol had a success rate of just over 50%, ranging from 65% to 75%.

Participants in all groups were slightly better than equal rates at detecting fake accents, achieving just over 60% success, and those who spoke naturally with the test accent tended to detect gestures more accurately than groups of non-native listeners.

But the results may be partly illuminated by how accents in Belfast, Glasgow, Dublin and north-east England have developed culturally over the last few centuries, the researchers said.

The authors suggested that there were “numerous cases of inter-group cultural tensions” at the time – particularly in the south-east of England – and that this put pressure on those from the North East, Belfast, Dublin and Glasgow to “emphasise cultural tension”. they see their accents as markers of social identity”.

They then argued that “greater social cohesion among speakers of accents may have increased the risks posed by freeloaders from other groups, requiring improved accent recognition and imitation detection—features that individuals without strong cultural group boundaries, such as those living in London, probably do not need.” “.

In their study, researchers stated that many people with an Essex accent have moved to the region from London in the last 25 years.

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Dr Goodman said of the study’s findings: “Cultural, political and even violent conflicts are likely to encourage people to strengthen their accents as they seek to maintain social cohesion through cultural homogeneity.

“Even relatively mild tension (for example, trespassing by tourists in the summer) can have this effect. I’m interested in the role trust plays in society and how trust is formed.”

“One of the first judgments a person makes about another person and decides whether to trust them is how they speak.

“How humans learn to trust another person who might blend in has been incredibly important throughout our evolutionary history and remains critical today.”

The research was published in the journal Evolutionary Human Sciences.