Effectiveness of Techniques and Physiological Measures in the Detection of Deception

Abstract

Control‐question (CQ) and guilty‐knowledge (GK) techniques for the detection of deception were studied in a mock theft context. Subjects from the local community received $5 for participation, and both guilty and innocent subjects were motivated with a $10 bonus for a truthful outcome on the polygraph examination. They were instructed to deny the theft when they were examined by experimenters who were blind with respect to their guilt or innocence. Eight physiological channels were recorded. Blind numerical field evaluations with an inconclusive zone produced 94% and 83% correct decisions for two different types of CQ tests and 89% correct decisions for GK tests. Control questions were more effective than guilt‐complex questions, and exclusive control questions were more effective than nonexclusive control questions. Behavioral observations were relatively ineffective in differentiating guilty and innocent subjects. Quantitative analyses of the CQ and GK data revealed significant discrimination between guilty and innocent subjects with a variety of electrodermal and cardiovascular measures. The results support the conclusion that certain techniques and physiological measures can be very useful for the detection of deception in a laboratory mock‐crime context.

Human and Computer Decision-making in the Psychophysiological Detection of Deception

“…Since then, alternative methods of numerical evaluation were developed by the U. S. Army (Weaver, 1980;1985) and the University of Utah (e.g., Podlesny & Raskin, 1978). Although Backster's numerical scoring system represented a major improvement over global approaches to chart interpretation, his scoring rules were numerous, complex, and were not validated by scientific research.…”

The Effects of Augmented Physiological Feedback on Detection of Deception

“…To explore the possibility that APF affects the duration of a physiological response, rather than its amplitude, traditional split-plot ANOVA was used to test for differences in shapes of physiological responses obtained for comparison and relevant questions over the 20-second interval that followed question onset (Kircher, Woltz, Bell & Bernhardt, 1998;Podlesny & Raskin, 1978). These analyses included second-by-second skin conductance, cardiograph, respiration, finger pulse amplitude, and heart rate measures.…”

“…Twenty second-by-second measurements were analyzed for all physiological measures except vagal tone (Podlesny & Raskin, 1978). were not included in the ANOVA.…”

Pilot study: Polygraph decision support system using event resolution imaging for the relevant/irrelevant format

“…During the first phase, several potential computer applications were considered (Kubis, 1962;Yankee, 1968;Burch, 1969). In the second phase, researchers used various methods to evaluate physiological data collected with laboratory or traditional polygraphs (McGuigan, 1972;Podlesny, 1976;James, 1982;Raskin et al, 1988;Honts, 1986;Giles & Yankee, 1986;Timm, 1989). During this time, the first Computer Assisted Polygraph System (CAPS) was developed incorporating the first algorithm to be used for diagnostic purposes (Kircher & Raskin, 1989).…”