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i wonder if this could be used for lie detection

tokenadult 14y ago
i wonder if this could be used for lie detection I was tempted to downvote, but this is a legitimate question, and I guess you haven't had opportunity to learn about how bogus "lie detection" in general is. I happened to attend university where some of the earliest rigorous researchers on lie detection were active, http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2006/09/david_lykken_and_the_polygraph.html http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2006/09/david_lykken_and_the... http://images.salon.com/april97/news/news970410.html http://images.salon.com/april97/news/news970410.html http://antipolygraph.org/articles/article-018.shtml http://antipolygraph.org/articles/article-018.shtml http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=2119 http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?... so people in my town have known for a long time that purported lie detection tests don't work, and indeed our state has long banned the use of polygraphs or other purported lie detection devices for any courtroom purpose. Law enforcement investigators in our state use actual interviews of witnesses and suspects, and by state law all police interrogations must be videotaped. That helps immensely in reducing mistaken conclusions from improperly conducted interrogations.
- bane 14y ago
  I'm actually thinking if it might be a good tool to detect distress in a subject. Not lying exactly, but might provide insight into a subject's emotional state non-invasively during questioning or interrogation. People might become distressed for many reasons that may not just be simple lying. Perhaps even a Voight-Kampff-like test a la Blade Runner/Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
  - taliesinb 14y ago
    It never made sense to me that an manufactured android would be easiest to detect using a psychology test instead of say, X-raying them.
    - JoeAltmaier 14y ago
      Androids in that case were fully human, just manufactured. The principle differences were improved physiology and durable mental processes, which could have occurred naturally.
    - hikarudo 14y ago
      In "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", the androids are practically indistinguishable from humans in their physiology.
- Symmetry 14y ago
  Its quite true that polygraphs and similar means of telling whether a person is distressed are almost useless. However, there have recently been some advances in using fMRI to do direct lie detection by looking at what parts of a person's brain are being used at a given time. This doesn't seem to be reliable enough for courtroom use yet, but its getting there.
tsumnia 14y ago
I said it above, but to carry on with what tokenadult said; Lie detection is a little more complicated than detecting facial expressions. If you have a defensive, introverted person looking downward, they might be lying or that could be how he responds to whatever interrogation they are under. Conversely, a mentally distressed individual (or someone who has done a heavy amount of NLP) could lie straight to your face because they personally believe they are telling the truth. This type of technology will no doubt be used to attempt lie detection, but it won't work. The only thing we can do is use the context clues of the face to infer what we think is going on.

i wonder if this could be used for lie detection I was tempted to downvote, but this is a legitimate question, and I guess you haven't had opportunity to learn about how bogus "lie detection" in general is. I happened to attend university where some of the earliest rigorous researchers on lie detection were active, http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2006/09/david_lykken_and_the_polygraph.html http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2006/09/david_lykken_and_the... http://images.salon.com/april97/news/news970410.html http://images.salon.com/april97/news/news970410.html http://antipolygraph.org/articles/article-018.shtml http://antipolygraph.org/articles/article-018.shtml http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=2119 http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?... so people in my town have known for a long time that purported lie detection tests don't work, and indeed our state has long banned the use of polygraphs or other purported lie detection devices for any courtroom purpose. Law enforcement investigators in our state use actual interviews of witnesses and suspects, and by state law all police interrogations must be videotaped. That helps immensely in reducing mistaken conclusions from improperly conducted interrogations.

bane 14y ago
I'm actually thinking if it might be a good tool to detect distress in a subject. Not lying exactly, but might provide insight into a subject's emotional state non-invasively during questioning or interrogation. People might become distressed for many reasons that may not just be simple lying. Perhaps even a Voight-Kampff-like test a la Blade Runner/Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
- taliesinb 14y ago
  It never made sense to me that an manufactured android would be easiest to detect using a psychology test instead of say, X-raying them.
  - JoeAltmaier 14y ago
    Androids in that case were fully human, just manufactured. The principle differences were improved physiology and durable mental processes, which could have occurred naturally.
  - hikarudo 14y ago
    In "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", the androids are practically indistinguishable from humans in their physiology.
Symmetry 14y ago
Its quite true that polygraphs and similar means of telling whether a person is distressed are almost useless. However, there have recently been some advances in using fMRI to do direct lie detection by looking at what parts of a person's brain are being used at a given time. This doesn't seem to be reliable enough for courtroom use yet, but its getting there.

tsumnia 14y ago

I said it above, but to carry on with what tokenadult said; Lie detection is a little more complicated than detecting facial expressions. If you have a defensive, introverted person looking downward, they might be lying or that could be how he responds to whatever interrogation they are under. Conversely, a mentally distressed individual (or someone who has done a heavy amount of NLP) could lie straight to your face because they personally believe they are telling the truth. This type of technology will no doubt be used to attempt lie detection, but it won't work. The only thing we can do is use the context clues of the face to infer what we think is going on.