FS 5 – LIE DETECTION TECHNIQUES

CHAPTER 1

POLYGRAPHY

Polygraphy – the scientific method of detecting deception with the aid or use of a polygraph instrument.

Polygraph – a delicately engineered instrument that simultaneously records changes in respiration electro dermal
activity and cardiovascular activity.

Polygraph – The word Polygraph originated from the Greek word “Poly" which means "many'" and “graphein” which
means to “write or writings”.

Thomas Jefferson - first person to know used the term Polygraph to describe one of his inventions.

Polygraph Examiner – is one who is capable of detecting deception and verifying the truthfulness of statements
through the use of a polygraph instrument;

Subject - is any person who undergoes a polygraph examination.

Polygraph Examination – is a process that encompasses all activities that take place between a polygraph examiner
and an examinee during a specific series of interactions. For a valid polygraph examination to exist, respiration, EDA,
and Cardiovascular activity must be monitored and recorded.

Psychophysiological Detection of Deception (PDD) – another term which can be used synonymously with
Polygraph examination.

EARLY METHODS OF LIE DETECTION

Ayur Vida

 a hindu book of science and health around 500B.C. considered as an earliest known reference to a method
of detecting conception.

Trial by Ordeal (1300-1600 approx.)

 refers to the oldest form of crime detection done by subjecting a subject to an obstacle or trial and sometimes
even involving third degree.
 lt is a judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused is determined by subjecting them to an
unpleasant, usually dangerous experience or in the present term would mean an employment of “3rd degree”.
 “Third degree" is a euphemism for torture (inflicting of pain, physical or mental, to extract confessions or
statements).

NOTE: The word "Ordeal” was derived from the Medieval Latin word "Dei Indicum” which means "a miraculous
decision".
 lf the wound or injury made by such an ordeal heals, a person is considered innocent, otherwise, the accused
is said to be guilty.

 It relies on the belief that a person is declared guilty or not through a “Divine Providence"

Trial by Combat

 the two parties who are in dispute will fight in a duel or combat and whoever won the fight will be considered
innocent and the loser will be judged as guilty. lt is a practice done in ancient England.
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Ordeal of Heat and Fire

 in this test the suspect walked a certain distance, usually nine feet, over red-hot plowshares or holding a red-
hot iron;

Ordeal of Hot Water

 a person will be instructed to retrieve a stone from boiling water.

Ordeal of Boiling Oil

 practiced in West Africa. A person must a retrieve an item in boiling oil and those who refused the task will be
automatically adjudged guilty.

Red Hot Iron Ordeal

 the accused will touch a hot metal 9 (nine)times using his tongue.

Order of Hot Needle

 a person's lips will be teased by a hot needle.

Ordeal of Cold Water

 a person will be accused of witchcraft and the accused who sink or drown is considered innocent while those
who floats will be tagged as witch.

Ordeal of Rice Chewing

 an accused is required to swallow rice and if he failed to swallow or spit out dry, he will be adjudged guilty.

Ordeal of Red Water (The Trial of the Eucharist)

 an accused is required to run for an hour and immediately eat a cup of rice and drink dark-colored water. It will
serve as emetic and once a person vomits the rice, he will be considered innocent.

Ordeal of the Cross

 the accused and the accuser must stand on the side of the cross and have to stretch out their hands
horizontally. The first person who lowers their arms will lose.

The Test of the Axe

 a group of person will be arranged in circle and an axe will be spun in the center of the group. When the axe's
blade stops at a particular person, he is considered as guilty.

The Test of the Candle

 the accuser and the accused are each given a candle with the same length. These candles will be lighted at
the same time. The one with a candle that burns longer determines who speaks the truth.

Donkey's Tail (Ash Tail) Ordeal

 used in India, the suspect is required to enter a ten wherein a donkey with a tail covered with soot is placed.
The suspect is told that the donkey is sacred and to pull its tail, and when he comes out with dirty hand, he
considered innocent because he is not afraid to do the deed. While if he comes out with a clean hand, he is
presumed guilty as he is afraid to do the act which was then a manifestation of guilty Donkey's Tail Ordeal is
also known as "Trial by the Sacred Ass”

The "Hereditary Sieve"

 Dr.Hans Gross mentioned this Ordeal in his famous book on Criminal Investigation in which beans were
thrown into a sieve as the name of each suspect was called. The deception criteria were described as follows
- “lf the bean jumps out of the sieve, the owner of the name pronounced is innocent, if the bean remains in the
sieve, the person named is the thief.
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CHAPTER 2
DEVELOPMENT OF POLYGRAPH

DEVELOPMENT OF CARDIOSPHYMOGRAPH

Cesare Lombroso – Father of Modern Criminology

 In 1895, Cesare Lombroso, an Italian Criminologist and tutor of Angelo Mosso, published the second edition
of his book entitled “L'Homme Criminel" in which he relates the use of hydrosphygmograph during
interrogation of suspects. He called it a blood pressure pulse test;
 He is considered as the first person to conceive the idea of lie detection and the first to apply the technique
in actual criminal suspects;

Angelo Mosso

 In 1878, science came to the aid of the truth seeker through the research of an Italian psychologist Angelo
Mosso. He made use of an instrument called a plethysmograph in his research on “emotion and fear and
its influence on the heart and respiration;”

Dr. William M. Marston

 In 1915 was credited as the creator of the systolic blood-pressure test used in an attempt to detect
deception during. questioning. and using. A standard blood pressure cuff and stethoscope, requiring
repeated inflation of the pressure cuff to obtain readings at intervals during examination. This was called
Discontinuous Technique;

John A. Larson

 Encouraged by August Vollmer of the Berkeley Police Department to conduct a research on deception;
 Gardio-Pneumo Psychogram was Larson's first instrument which was borrowed from Dr. Robert
Jessel and was invented by Earl Bryant;
 today he is known as
 the Father of Scientific Lie Detection; and at the same time
 the Father of Polygraphy

Earl Bryant

 In 1921, made an instrument for Larson in which he used a breadboard as a base and from that it
became in the industry as Bread Board Polygraph – capable of recording continually and
simultaneously the respiration and cardiovascular activities;

Leonard Keeler

 In 1926, he made a modification of Larson's instrument. He developed metal bellows and kymograph that
pulled a chart paper at a constant speed under recording pens from a roll of chart located inside the
instrument;

 Credited as the creator on Relevant-Irrelevant Technique;

 today Keeler is known as the Father of Modern Polygraphy;

 In 1938, 1938, Keeler included the Psychogalvanometer(PGR), a third measuring component of his
instrument which was also known as Galvanic Skin Reflex (GSR invented by Italian Physiologist Galvani in
1791;
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DEVELOPMENT OF PNEUMOGRAPH

Vittorio Benussi

 In March 1913, he presented a paper before the second meeting of the Italian Society for Psychology in Rome
where he described how he recorded the subject's breathing pattern using a Marey Pneumograph in which he
noted the changes in inspiration-expiration ratio during deception:

Harold Burtt

 In 1918, Burtt suggested that the changes in respiration were an indication of deception;
 He was able to determine that the changes in respiration were of less value in the detection of deception than
the changes in blood pressure;

DEVELOPMENT OF GALVANOGRAPH

Luigi Galvani

 1791, is an Italian physiologist who was accorded the distinction for developing the galvanic skin reflex (GSR)
or the galvanometer, which records electrical bodily resistance in terms of ohms, the lowest current ever
recorded.

B. Sticker

 believed that the origin of the galvanic skin phenomenon was under the influence of the exciting mental
impressions and that the will has no effect upon it;

Otto S. Veraguth

 He is said to be the first person to use the term Psychogalvanic Reflex. Veraguth was the first scientist to use
the word association test with galvano- meters;
 In 1907, he described his observation on galvanic phenomena and emotions that there was an ascending
galvanometer curve during the presentation of relevant stimuli versus the rest curve on non-crucial stimuli;

DEVELOPMENT OF QUESTIONING TECHNIQUES

Leonard Keeler

 He is also credited as the creator on Relevant-irrelevant Technique,

John E. Reid

 In 1950, he developed the Control Question which consist of a known lie and incorporated it into the
relevant/irrelevant technique. He developed a movement or activity sensor a means of recording arm and leg
movements;

Cleve Backster

 Developed the psychological set theory and the anticlimax dampening concept;
 He also developed and introduced the Quantification System of Chart Analysis (Numerical Scoring) which
permits the examiner to score the charts numerically according to standard rules;