Progress In Brain-Based Lie Detection

A Cognitive Neuroscientist writes "A new study, led by Harvard Psychologist Joshua Greene and forthcoming in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may represent progress on the front of using brain imaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, to detect lies. According to Harvard's press release, Greene's is 'the first study to examine brain activity of people telling actual lies,' as opposed to prior studies in which subjects were merely instructed to lie. The results suggest that one key step in distinguishing honest from dishonest individuals may involve focusing on a small set of brain regions that are responsible for executive control and attention. However, given that the actual paper is yet to be published, it's unclear whether the study is prone to some of the methodological and interpretive complications that have recently plagued similar brain imaging studies."

Comments

Why all the skepticism?

[eln]

I don't understand why the contributor of this story is so skeptical of it...it seems all we would need to do is hook the scientists up to an fMRI and we'd know for sure if they were lying about the study!

Re:Why all the skepticism?

[Foobar of Borg]

in truth, we're just playing a statistics game, albeit with potentially fatal results for those who fall more than 3 sigma outside the norm.

True, but unfortunately a lot of things in society are set up to kill off those who fall more than 3 sigma outside the norm. We just keep looking for excuses to make ourselves feel good about the fact that we are doing it.

Indivual differences

[gurps_npc]

I understand that it takes significant testing to confirm that the machines are working correctly for each individual. I would bet that many individuals - such as psychopaths - could easily beat the machine if they refused to cooperate/pretened to cooperate with the 'set-up' phase.