New technology firms up ways to detect lies from shifty eyes

 

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Carol Forsloff - Many of us know that old adage that shifty eyes signals someone is lying, but new research has gone beyond that to a new eye tracking method for lie detection.

A group of University of Utah researchers, educational psychologists John Kircher, Doug Hacker, Anne Cook, Dan Woltz and David Raskin are using eye-tracking technology for a brand new and a promising alternative to the polygraph for lie detection. The researchers’ efforts are anticipated to be commercialized after appropriate licenses are obtained formally for distribution through Credibility Assessment Technologies (CAT).

CAT is based in Park City, Utah, and managed by  Donald Sanborn and Gerald Sanders, who are venture capitalists and are the president and chairman, respectively.

“The eye-tracking method for detecting lies has great potential,” Sanders says. “It’s a matter of national security that our government agencies have the best and most advanced methods for detecting truth from fiction, and we believe we are addressing that need by licensing the extraordinary research done at the University of Utah.”

This new research keeps this University in the cutting edge area of research on lie detection.

Substantial improvements in technology have led to specific eye tracking eye movement to detect lies. . The Utah researchers say they are the first to put together the type of software and methods to detect lies in this fashion.

This is how it is described as working, according to research reports from the University.   Instead of measuring a person’s emotional reaction to lying, eye-tracking technology measures the person’s cognitive reaction. To do so, the researchers record a number of measurements while a subject is answering a series of true-and-false questions on a computer. The measurements include pupil dilation, response time, reading and rereading time, and errors.

The researchers determined that lying takes more effort than telling the truth, so they look for indications that the subject is working hard. This may show dilated pupils and or taking longer to read and answer the questions.   It takes special instruments to be able to record what might be minute reactions.

“We have gotten great results from our experiments,” says Kircher. “They are as good as or better than the polygraph, and we are still in the early stages of this innovative new method to determine if someone is trying to deceive you.”

There are special benefits to the eye-tracking methods for detecting lies.  For one thing it promises to cost less and require less time for examinations.  It can also be administered by technicians as opposed to qualified polygraph examiners.

Other useful techniques have been found to support lie detection.  Kim Iannetta, is a behavioral expert in the use of handwriting and content analysis, principally in the area of determination of mental disturbance or dangerousness.  She has found that ways words are organized on a page, how these are in relationship to a theme, and the actual way an individual forms letters can point to deception.  She tells us, "It's important to have collaborative evidence as well, but handwriting examination can provide solid evidence that allows serious investigation and can support technological devices and other forms of analyzing deception."

The present research is looked upon favorably by those involved also with lie detection.  “I came to the University of Utah to do work in reading comprehension, but I jumped at the chance to get involved with this research,” Cook says. “That’s the fun of this kind of job. You get the opportunity to collaborate with your colleagues to achieve more than any of you could individually.”

 Numerous government agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, and Department of Energy use polygraphs regularly screen employees and applicants for sensitive positions.  Criminal investigations are another use for assessing whether someone is lying. 

“It’s exciting,” Cook says, “that our testing method is going to be taken from a basic research program to commercial use.”