DeterminingWhetherPolygraphandEDAMeasurementsCanReliablyDetectLies

NamNguyen
ArizonaStateUniversity

Introduction
Inpopularmediasuchastelevisionshowsandmovies,polygraphmachinesareoften
usedtodetectwhetherasuspectinquestionisrevealingthetruth.Oftentimes,theresultsfrom
thesemachinesareenoughtoconvictthesuspectintheseshowsandmovies.Thetheorybehind
thesepolygraphtestsisthatthemachinewillbeabletodetectthatapersonislyingbasedoff
multiplemeasurementscollectedfrominvoluntaryresponsesfromthesuspectsbody.Intheory,
whentheaveragepersontellsalie,theirheartrateincreases,theirbreathingratequickens,and
theybegintosweat(Brettetal.,1986).Theheartrateandbreathingrateareeasilymeasured
directlyusingelectrodeleadsandarespiratorytransducer.Manypolygraphsalsomeasure
electrodermalactivity(EDA)torelatehowwellapersonsskinconductselectricityasaresultof
sweating.Sweatingwouldincreasetheconcentrationofionspresentontheskin,resultingin
increasedelectricalconductivity.However,actualjudicialcourtsareveryreluctanttoaccept
polygraphevidenceasproofduringtrial.Typically,statelawseitherdictatethatpolygraph
readingsarecompletelyinadmissibleoronlyallowadmissionontheconditionthatboththe
persecutorsanddefendantsagreetoadmitthetestresultsasevidence.(LaMance,2015).Thelab
groupwasgivenachancetoobservetheworkingsofapolygraphmachinefirsthand.Itwas
observedwhileusingthemachinethatthereadingswerealwayssporadicandshowednoclear
trendswhenasubjectwasputunderstresssuchassolvingamathproblemorplacedinan
uncomfortablesituationsuchasbeingtouchedontheface.Thisobservationwhenusingthe
polygraphtestsraised thefollowingquestion:Howreliableisapolygraphtest?Thisquestion
andresultinginvestigationwillprovideinsightastowhythejudicialsystemisdisinclinedto

acceptthesetestsasconcreteevidenceduringatrial.Basedoffthecautionobservedbycourtof
law,thelogicalhypothesiswouldbethatpolygraphtestscannotreliablybeabletodifferentiate
betweenatruthfulpersonandaliarbasedoffsuspectsphysiologicalresponses.Ifpolygraph
testsarenotabletodetectlies,thenthemeasurementsofthecollectedbythepolygraphmachine
willnotdiffersignificantlybetweenwhenthetestsubjectistellingthetruthversuswhenthetest
subjectislying.
Methods
Totestthehypothesis,atestsubjectactingasthesuspectwasaskedaseriesofyesor
noquestionsabouttheirpersonallife.Theirheartrate,respiratoryrate,andEDAwere
monitoredthroughoutthequestioningphaseusingapolygraphmachine.Oneelectrodeeachwas
attachedtothebottomoftheleftindexandmiddlefingertomeasureheartrate.Thesubjects
respiratoryratewasmeasuredusingarespiratorytransducerandtheirEDAwasmeasuredusing
threeelectrodeswithtwoattachedjustabovetheinsideoftheiranklesandthelastelectrode
attachedtotheirforearmjustabovethewrist.Thesubjectwasaskedatotalof10questionseach
separatedby10secondintervals.Oncethesubjectansweredthequestion,themeasurementsfor
theheartrate,breathingrate,andEDAwererecorded.Attheendofthequestioning,thetest
subjectrevealedwhichoftheanswerswerelies.Theindependentvariableinthisprocedureis
whetherthesubjecttoldatruthorlie.Thedependentvariablewastheresultingmeasurementsof
heartrate,respiratoryrate,andEDAaftertheanswerwasgiven.Thecontrolledvariableswere
thefrequencyinwhichthequestionswereasked,thetemperatureintheroom,andthelight
levelsoftheroom.Thenatureoftheprocedureincludedreplicationintheformof10totalyes
ornoquestionswhichallowedformultiplemeasurementstobetaken.Themultipleyesorno

questionsgaveasamplesizeofn=10sothatthedatafromthepolygraphmachinecouldbe
statisticallyanalyzed.

Results
Inthegraphbelow,thesubjectsheartratewasmeasuredwhileaskedaseriesoftenyes
ornoquestions.Thesubjectsheartratewasfoundtobeonaverage5.6%higherwhentelling
thetruth.
80
75
70
65
60
Heart Rate (beats/min)

55
Truth

50

Lie

45
40
35
30
0

Question

Figure1:Displaystheheartrateofsubjectaftereachquestion

9 10

Thefollowinggraphdisplaysthesubjectsbreathingduringthequestioning.Overthe
courseoftheexperiment,thesubjectsbreathingratewasfoundtobe19%fasterwhentellingthe
truth.
11
10
9
8
Respiratory Rate (breaths/min)

Truth

Lie

5
4
0

9 10

Question

Figure2:Displaystherespiratoryrateofsubjectaftereachquestion

Thegraphbelowshowshowtheconductanceofthesubjectsskinvariedthroughoutthe
questioning.Itwasfoundthatthesubjectsskinwasonaverage85%moreconductivewhenthe
truthwasbeingtold.

0.4
0.2
0
-0.2

Conductance (microsiemen) -0.4

10
Truth

-0.6

Lie

-0.8
-1
-1.2
Question

Figure3:DisplaystheEDAofsubjectaftereachquestion

Discussion
Thehypothesisforthisexperimentwasthatthepolygraphmachinewouldnotbeableto
discernbetweenatruthandalie.Giventhishypothesis,itwaspredictedthemeasurementsofthe
heartrate,respiratoryrate,andEDAwouldnothaveanycorrelationtowhetherthetestsubject
wastellingthetruthorlying.
Theheartratestayedrelativelyconstantthroughoutthecourseofthequestioning.There
wasnoobviousevidenceofanincreasedheartratewhenaliewastold.Itshouldbenotedthat
theoutlierthatoccurredatQuestion10wasmostlikelyduetoequipmenterror.Therespiratory
rateofthesubjectduringquestioningvariedsporadically.Althoughitseemsthattherespiratory
ratewasonaverageslightlyhigherwhenthesubjectwaslying,thedeviationbetween
measurementsweretoogreattotrytodrawanyconcretecorrelationsfromthisdata.Itshouldbe
notedthatafterQuestion8,thesubjectstartedtolaughwhichmostlikelyaffectedthe
measurements.Theconductanceoftheskinfluctuatedslightlyduringthecourseofthe

experiment.However,theredidnotseemtobeatrendbetweenEDAandtruthfulnesseven
thoughtheconductanceofthesubjectsskinwasonaveragemuchhigherwhenthetruthwas
told.
Theresultscollectedwereconsistentwithwhatwaspredictedbeforetheexperiment.
Fromthedatacollectedduringtheexperimentalprocedure,therewasalmostnocorrelation
betweentruthfulnessandanyofthemeasurementsofthesubjectsphysiologicalresponses.
Theseresultssupportthehypothesisthatthepolygraphmachinecouldnottellthedifference
betweenasuspecttellingthetruthandasuspecttellingalie.
Althoughtheresultsofthisexperimentsupportedtheproposedhypothesis,therewere
manywaysinwhichthisexperimentalprocedurewasflawed.Theequipmentusedwasnotof
veryhighquality,thetestsubjectmovedandgiggledthroughoutthecourseoftheexperiment,
andonlytentrialswereruninwhichdatawascollected.Therefore,theconclusionreachedfrom
thisexperimentshouldbetakenwithcaution.Inordertoimprovethereliabilityoftheresultsin
futureexperiments,betterequipmentshouldbeusedandmultipletestsubjectsshouldbe
questionedtominimizetheeffectofeachsubjectsuniquecharacteristics.Morequestionsshould
alsobegiventoeachsubjecttominimizetheerrorduetostatisticalanomalies.Future
experimentscouldalsoattempttomeasurebrainactivityinadditiontothephysiological
responsesmeasuredinthisproceduretopossiblygetadeeperinsightintoinvoluntarysignalsa
persongivesoffwhenlying.

References
Brett,A.,Phillips,M.,&Beary,J.(1986).Predictivepowerofthepolygraph:canthe"lie
detector"reallydetectliars?.TheLancet,327(8480),544547.
LaMance,K.(2015,January15).AdmissabilityofPolygraphTestsinCourt.