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Forensic Psychology and Lie Detection

Posted by Helping Psychology in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX on Oct 20, 2008

Is it possible to detect when someone is lying? Experts in the forensic psychology field have recently been exposed to the research that concludes MRI’s are more capable of detecting lies than the traditional lie detector tests, which rely on irregular heart beats, skin and blood pressure, but the new fMRIs and brain scans are being incorporated to become a powerful forensic tool, which compares greatly to the polygraph test, which have many potential flaws.

A research study was completed in which 18 paid subjects were given a card, and asked which card they were shown. The participants were than instructed to lie about the card in which they were holding. When the subjects lied about the card there was increased activity in several regions within the brain. One of these regions, the anterior cingulated gyrus, plays a crucial part in conflict monitoring within the brain, attention and the response to inhibition. These studies took place at the University of Pennsylvania under the head researcher, Daniel Langleben, MD – and he has confirmed that the brain’s inherent response is to tell the truth. He states, “No area of the brain works harder to tell the truth than to lie”. This being said, the brain wants to tell the truth – as it has to work harder to fabricate a lie, than to the tell the truth found within the brain.

There is hopefulness for the fMRIs to measure complex mental changes that polygraph tests are unable to pick up. Next, we need to function the MRI process to pick up spontaneous lies, rather than in scenarios when the subjects are instructed to lie. What is the next step in finding complex ways to measure when subjects are lying? First, we need to monitor these spontaneous lies – next, perfect the technique. We will know more after it has been researched more, but the preliminary findings were instructed at the society for neuroscience and annual meeting.

Helping Psychology is your guide for forensic psychology graduate program programs.

Argosy University Forensic Psychology Master's Degree Programs

Students in this master of arts degree program are either practicing or seeking to be employed in the field of forensic psychology. Coursework focuses on education and training applicable to law enforcement, legal and organizational consultation, and program analysis.