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European Researchers Develop More Accurate Full-Body Polygraph
jfruh writes: Despite their widespread use in industry and law enforcement, traditional lie-detector polygraphs give accurate results only about 60% of the time, barely better than the 55% accuracy people can get just by following their gut instincts. Now researchers in the UK and the Netherlands are trying to improve that. They claim a full-body polygraph based on motion-capture suits used for movie special effects can detect lies with 75% accuracy.
just add full body motion to the list of do's and don'ts when you're taking the test. ever notice how often joe biden scratches his nose when he's talking out of his ass? yea, that's called a tell. i remember hearing about an indiana guy that was arrested for training people to beat polygraphs.
polygraphs are as much a science as astrology.
I have a dowsing rod with better accuracy. My coin flip is 50% accurate. But lets convince everyone here that our standards for the truth are low enough to buy a bunch of polygraph apparatus that is 75% accurate, because technology is just not good enough to get to the truth. The truth is, this is totally stupid.
...and stressful enough already. Now they'll tell you to strip and get into a silly motion capture suit. Next up is sticking a probe up our anus to measure the contraction of the sphincter muscles. After all, it's for our own good. How else will our overlords prevent another Snowden fiasco?
Exactly. There's no reliable body response for a lie. All they are measuring is nervousness, which you could have for a variety of reasons. It's the same thing the border agent does.
The purpose of the polygraph is to bully the victim into a confession. The unknowing victim thinks they are undergoing a scientific test, but they are actually being drilled by a skilled interrogator w/ no lawyer present to defuse the loaded questions.
Yup, the basics of the "classes" people give to beat a polygraph are summarized as relaxation techniques. (Oh noes, will I go to jail for revealing the "secret" that's all over the internet? Oh, I'm okay because I didn't charge for it.. *whew!*). Mask the nervousness and you can spin some wild tales while hooked up and look to be absolutely truthful. Don't get me wrong, it takes a bit of practice but has been proven to work repeatedly. Most often by former "experts" in polygraphs that want to prove what a sham they are.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
I would also like to know if there is really a "widespread use" of polygraphs. I understood they were almost exclusively used in the US, and that most other countries actually forbade its use as evidence in courts - which would make the use of polygraph a local idiosyncracy rather than a widespread practice.
I think even in the US they are not allowed as evidence. They are used as interogation, but yes, I have never heard of any use outside of the US, at least they fell out of favor around the same time as phrenology.