New research suggests that children with good memories are much better at covering up their lies, BBC News reported.

While investigating the role of working memory in verbal deception amongst children, researchers from the Universities of Sheffield and North Florida found that good liars performed better on verbal memory tests compared to bad liars.

"While parents are usually not too proud when their kids lie, they can at least be pleased to discover that when their children are lying well, it means their children are becoming better at thinking and have good memory skills," researcher Dr. Elena Hoicka said in a statement.

For the study, researchers presented more than 100 6- to 7-year-old children with the opportunity to do something they were instructed not to -peek at the final answers on the back of a card during a trivia game. A hidden camera and correct answers to the question, which was based on the name of a fictitious cartoon character, enabled the researchers to identify who had peeked, despite denials.

Researchers further questioned the children to identify who was a good liar, by lying to both entrapment questions; or a bad liar, by lying about one or none of the entrapment questions.

During the experiment, researchers then measured two elements: verbal and visuo-spatial working memory in the children.

Researchers believe the link between lying and verbal memory stems from the fact that covering lies involves keeping track of lots of verbal information, Medical Daily reported. As a result, kids who possessed better memories and could keep track of their lies.

"We already know that adults lie in approximately a fifth of their social exchanges lasting 10 or more minutes, so it's interesting to know why some children are able to tell more porkies than others. We'll now be looking to move the research forward to discover more about how children first learn to lie," Hoicka said.

The findings are detailed in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.