the legal problem of how to determine at what point lie detection devices invade people's right to privacy or violate their right not to incriminate themselves
Confirmation Bias
an inclination to search for evidence that confirms our beliefs and to ignore evidence that contradicts our beliefs
Control Question
questions that involve behaviors that are uncomfortable for suspects but are not directly related to the crime under investigation.
i.e. Have you ever lied to get out of trouble?
Control Question Test (CQT)
the questioning procedure most frequently used during a polygraph test. uses questions that involve behaviors that are uncomfortable for suspects but are not directly related to the crime under investigation.
i.e. Have you ever lied to get out of trouble?
Countermeasures
techniques used to influence physiological responses during polygraph tests - reduces detection of guilt about 50%
Credibility Assessment
an evaluation of whether a person is lying
Criteria-Based Content Analysis (CBCA)
a lie detection technique that uses systematic analysis of written statements to assess the truthfulness of a description of an event
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
the tracing of neural impulses of the brain
Eye Movement Memory Assessment
a lie detection method that tracks visual attention to a scene based on eye movement, scanning path, pupil dilation, and gaze fixation to help assess guilty knowledge
False Positive
an inaccurate prediction that something will occur when it does not
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
maps activity in the brain - scans are strung together to show moving image of brain activity, even as the person under study performs other tasks
Guilty Knowledge Test (GKT)
a test used to detect whether or not someone knows facts that only the true perpetrator would know
stimuli are presented and arousal is measured
High-Definition Infrared Thermal Imaging
a technology that measures miniscule shifts in the heat of the human face as a means of detecting deception
Laser Doppler Vibrometry
a lie detection technique that monitors physiological stress via a near-infrared light beam aimed at the neck of a subject a few hundred feet away - currently under development
Liar's Stereotype
false behavioral indicators of lying
Mock Crimes
a technique used so that researchers can determine if a polygraph examiner can detect which people are guilty of a crime
Polygraph
a machine that records a person's physiological responses to questions asked by an examiner
Relevant-Irrelevant Test (RIT)
The first systematic questioning procedure developed for use with the polygraph machine. Uses 3 types of questions:
- nonarousing questions that are irrelevant to the behavior being investigated
- arousing questions that are irrelevant to the behavior being investigated
- relevant questions that are especially arousing for the person who actually committed the crime
Trial by Ordeal
a method of testing the innocence or guilt of a person by subjecting them to painful experiences believed to communicate divine intervention
Unscored Buffer
The first question asked in a GKT. It is not scored and is then discarded; because people tend to react more strongly to the first item in a series.
Wizards
people who can detect lies at a much higher rate than average - using only their powers of observation.