For this blog entry, I decided to look into research on lie detection, more specifically, the polygraph or "lie detector" test. I'm sure that we have all seen movies or TV shows where someone is put under a "lie detector" to find out whether or not they are telling the truth about something. For myself, I never have believed that those tests are truly accurate, and I was interested to see that in our text they argue that lie detectors are "biased against the innocent." They go on to explain that these tests should really be called "arousal detectors" because many people show arousal when they are asked certain questions for reasons other than the fact that they know they are lying. The current model of this machine bases its assumptions on the Pinocchio Response, or that behavior indicates lying just like Pinocchio's nose that got longer, subjects are said to display body reactions that give them away. This seemed very interesting because I couldn't imagine how there could be a machine that can actually test whether or not someone is telling the truth.
I would like to know what kind of further research is being done on a similar model for detecting whether or not someone is telling the truth. Maybe thing's will become more advanced and researchers will find a way to make the current models more accurate. Let me know what you all think about this subject, whether you believe it or think it's a big phony. Also, for more information on this machine you can look into this website
http://inventors.about.com/od/fstartinventions/a/forensic_2.htm
I'm not sure why I have trouble with the links but here it is again, http://inventors.about.com/od/fstartinventions/a/forensic_2.htm