Lie Detection
Using
Modern Technology
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A
lie, according to the Oxford English dictionary, is an intentionally false statement. “Ly-
ing has long been a part of everyday life. We couldn’t get through the day without
being deceptive”, says Leonard Saxe, a polygraph expert and professor of psychology
at Brandeis University. Also, the great German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once justified
lying as it is a condition of life.
As the world cruises towards complexity through technological advancements and security
of people and nations becomes a priority, lie detection becomes an important field of study.
Lie detection techniques come in handy when interrogating suspects. The truth behind an un-
solved crime or the plan for the next terrorist attack maybe locked inside one’s head. To find
a way to extract that concealed information is the main purpose of Lie detection machines.
To start with, let us analyze
the main methods of lie de-
tection. The classical way
of detecting lies is by study-
ing the behavioral patterns
of the test subject. Some of
these methods include asking
interviewees to tell the story
backward and tricks such as
asking them to maintain eye
contact. But, five years of
lie-detection research have
shown that people’s ability to
Source: https://geekandsundry.com
detect deception by observing behavior and listening to speech is limited – with, on average,
54% of truths and lies being correctly classified (Bond & DePaulo, 2006).
A more scientific approach is to inject a person with Truth Serum. Most of the serums con-
sist of Sodium Pentothal which is a drug which inhibits brain activities. It dulls your thoughts
making it harder to perform cognitive tasks including the task of making up a lie. But truth
serums raise ethical concerns about one’s right about self-incrimination. Furthermore, large
scale studies have shown that truth serums can cause people to reconstruct and fabricate
memories. So we have to look into safer and precise methods to detect lies. This is when lie
detection machines come into play.
The most common and widely used machine to identify liars by the police is the polygraph. A
polygraph machine works under the fundamental assumption, the psychological state of lying
can be detected by physiological signs. It is known that when lying, a person tends to sweat
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University of Peradeniya GAUGE Magazine