The polygraph has many limitations to getting to the truth of a subject’s testimony. It is expensive, there is not enough time to conduct polygraph tests on all subjects, the subject has the advantage of knowing they are being tested, the subject may not speak English, and polygraph test results are decipherable only by trained examiners. A more efficient and effective method, being developed at the University of Utah, has already been licensed to Credibility Assessment Technologies.
The new method measures cognitive reactions, rather than the emotional reactions measured in polygraph tests. Various eye-tracking technologies look for signs of abnormally active facial reactions. The theory is that “lying requires more work than telling the truth.” Subjects reveal signs of lying through pupil dilation, response time, reading and rereading time, and errors. Dilated pupils indicate a more creative and thought out response –usually a lie, and longer time spent answering questions usually indicates a propensity to come up with a lie. The results can be checked with a statistical model for significance by a technician rather than a qualified polygraph professional.
What do you think? Are cognitive reactions a better way of monitoring for truthful testimonies from subjects than emotional reactions?
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