A brief history of the development of the psychophysiological hardware method of lie detection.
Kholodny Yu. I.,
Doctor of Law, Candidate of Psychological Sciences,
Head of Department, Institute of Criminalistics of the FSB of Russia
A Brief History of the Development of the Psychophysiological Instrumental Method of Lie Detection
Source: World of Security, 2000.
The problem of detecting lies has apparently existed as long as man himself. Even in ancient times, rulers of nations and their courts resorted to various methods to catch a liar and, thus, establish the truth. Historical chronicles and literary monuments testify that complex rituals and sophisticated ordeals (i.e., divine courts) were developed for these purposes.
For example, the first act of civil statutes of Ancient Rus, drawn up in the 11th century under Prince Yaroslav the Wise and known as the Russian Truth, permitted the use of ordeals in litigation between citizens, stating that the plaintiff could… demand that the defendant justify himself by a test of iron, … and if the claim is worth half a grivna… less, then test with water. Commenting on the medieval code of Russian laws, the historian N. M. Karamzin noted that the ancient Russians, like other peoples, used iron and water to expose criminals — a reckless and cruel custom … The accused took a red-hot iron in his bare hand or took a ring out of boiling water with it, after which the judges had to tie it up and seal it. If after three days there was no ulcer or mark on the skin, then innocence was proven. A healthy mind … could not destroy this statute of pagan times … The people thought that it was easy for God to work a miracle to save the innocent; but the cunning of biased judges could deceive the spectators and save the guilty.
There is reason to believe that similar barbaric methods of establishing the truth were widespread not only in Russia, but also in other states of medieval Europe: the use of divine judgments, in particular, was recorded not only in Old Russian, but also in Old German law. Ordeals were also common in non-European cultures and persisted for centuries: at the beginning of this century, researchers noted that ordeals are still encountered… in Nepal and among various peoples of Africa, for example in Senegal, and in other places. However, history has brought to us other, less cruel ways of searching for truth.
In ancient times, it was noted that when interrogating a person who has committed a crime, the fear he experiences of possible exposure is accompanied by certain changes in his physiological functions. In particular, in ancient China, a suspect in a crime was subjected to, for example, a rice test: that is, he had to take a handful of dry rice in his mouth and listen to the accusation. It was believed that if the rice remained dry in the mouth (the salivation stopped due to the fear of exposure), the guilt of the suspect was considered proven. Similar in essence was the test used in ancient India, when the suspect was told neutral and critical words related to the details of the crime. The person had to answer with the first word that came to his mind and at the same time quietly hit the gong. It was noted that the answer to the critical word was accompanied by a stronger blow. It should be emphasized that references to similar procedures are found among the most diverse peoples who lived at different times far from each other.
It is known that such tests were also practiced in medieval England and, having survived centuries, were encountered in isolated cultures of primitive tribes as early as the middle of the twentieth century.
Here is how one of the two observed variants of such a procedure for detecting the guilty party is described by the American ethnographer and traveler G. Wright, who was personally present in the late 40s during lie detection in one of the tribes of West Africa:
… The sorcerer pointed to several people standing to the side. They were pushed into the center of the circle. The sorcerer turned to the leader and said:
— One of these people is a thief.
… The sorcerer stepped forward and handed the nearest of the six accused a small bird's egg. Its shell was so delicate that it seemed transparent. It was clear that the slightest pressure would crush the egg. The sorcerer ordered the suspects to pass the egg from one to another — whoever was guilty would crush it and thereby incriminate himself. When the egg reached the fifth, his face suddenly twisted into a grimace of horror, and the telltale yolk flowed between his fingers. The unfortunate man stood with his hand outstretched, from which the shell fell to the ground, and his trembling lips muttered a confession.
Analyzing the situation observed by G. Wright and the ancient Chinese or ancient Indian methods described above, it is easy to notice that in order to identify the culprit, investigators resorted to monitoring the dynamics of individual physiological processes (salivation, hand motor activity). This required the presence of sufficiently sensitive recorders of physiological changes in the body of people undergoing the test. The role of such recorders was precisely played by a handful of rice, a specially selected egg with a fragile shell, a gong or something else.
It is clear that the echo of acute mental experiences of a person can manifest itself not only in the two mentioned, but also in many other physiological processes. In 1730, Daniel Defoe published a treatise entitled An Effectual Project for the Immediate Prevention of Street Robberies, and Suppression of All Other Disorders by Night. In this treatise, the great novelist drew attention to the fact that a thief has a tremor in his blood, which, if attended to, will expose him… Some of them are so ossified in crime that… they even boldly meet their pursuer; but grab his wrist and feel his pulse; and you will find him guilty. And although the author of the famous Robinson Crusoe was the first European to suggest using pulse analysis to combat crime, nevertheless, the very principle of diagnosing mental illness by pulse was well known among educated people of that time. In particular, Benvenuto Cellini (an outstanding Italian artist of the late Renaissance), recalling in his memoirs his reluctance to study music in his youth and his father's concerns about this, described that when he, i.e. his father—author talked to me about music, holding my pulse in his hand (because he had some knowledge of medicine and Latin science), then he felt in this very pulse, as soon as he began to talk about music, such great interruptions that often, frightened… he left me.
Despite the fact that the proposal made by D. Defoe contained a fruitful idea, it took almost a century and a half for it to begin to acquire its material embodiment.
In 1877, using a plethysmograph (an instrument for measuring blood filling of blood vessels and changes in pulse), the Italian physiologist A. Mosso, during one of the experiments in the clinic, observed how a patient's pulsations suddenly, for no apparent reason, increased. This amazed me, and I asked the woman how she felt; the answer was — «good» … I carefully checked the device to make sure that everything was in order. Then I asked the patient to tell me what she had been thinking about two minutes ago. She replied that, while looking absently at the bookshelf hanging opposite, she stopped her gaze on the skull standing among the books and was frightened by it, since it (i.e. the skull — author) reminded her of her illness.
After conducting a series of experiments, A. Mosso came to the idea that if fear is an essential component of a lie, then such fear can be isolated. These ideas led to research using primitive devices aimed at discovering information hidden by humans and, in practice, marked the birth of a new branch of science — psychophysiology.
Without belittling the contribution of the first researchers (A. Mosso, F. Kisov, W. Wundt, and others) to the development of psychophysiology, it should nevertheless be emphasized that the leading role in the development of the applied direction of this science belongs not to them. In 1995, the Italian criminologist, doctor of medicine Cesare Lombroso published the second edition of his book The Criminal Man (L’Homme Criminel), which presented the first experience of the practical application of the psychophysiological method of lie detection to identify persons who have committed crimes. The book describes a case in which a criminologist, using a primitive laboratory device — a hydrosphygmograph, during a suspect's examination did not detect any noticeable changes in blood pressure when asked about a robbery, but a drop in pressure of 14 mmHg was noted when the conversation turned to the theft of passports. Based on this data, C. Lombroso, as it turned out later, correctly established that the suspect was not involved in the robbery, during which 20,000 francs were stolen, but was guilty of stealing passports and other documents. Later, in 1902, while investigating the murder of a six-year-old girl, in which a certain Tosetti was suspected, C. Lombroso used a plethysmograph and discovered slight changes in the pulse when Tosetti did mental calculations; however, when he was shown images of wounded children, the recorded pulse did not show any sudden changes, including the photograph of the murdered girl. The results of the subsequent investigation convincingly proved that Tosetti was innocent of this crime.
It is interesting to note that both of the examples given, borrowed from the practice of C. Lombroso, clearly demonstrated a very important fact: monitoring a person’s physiological reactions can lead not only to the identification of information hidden by him, but, what is no less important, can help establish the suspect’s non-involvement in the crime being investigated.
In the first years of the 20th century, the instrumental method of lie detection attracted some attention from some scientists in various countries, but the first experiments in the applied application of this method carried out by C. Lombroso remained unique for two decades and did not find followers: the method plunged into the incubation period of laboratory research.
Among the scientists of that period, it is especially worth mentioning the American psychologist and lawyer William Marston, who in 1913 began systematic scientific research into an instrumental method of lie detection. During the First World War, when the fight against German spies became especially acute, the US National Research Committee formed a group of psychologists (W. Marston was included in its composition), which was tasked with assessing the capabilities of known lie detection methods for solving counterintelligence tasks. Having conducted the relevant research, this group came to the conclusion that the most effective of the methods existing at that time was the so-called blood pressure deception test, developed by W. Marston at the Harvard Psychological Laboratory: the effectiveness of this test reached 97%. The members of the psychological group suggested that counterintelligence adopt the blood pressure lie detection test and recommended appointing V. Marston as a special agent of the Defense Department to use this test for counterintelligence purposes. Life itself pushed for the introduction of the psychophysiological lie detection method into practice.
It was the fourth year of the war. The agents of the Kaiser's Germany, flooding the USA, carried out sabotage at factories, in the army, in the navy, and obtained military and political information. In 1917, an important secret document was stolen from the safe of one of the American generals. About 70 people were among the suspects, and V. Marston was given the task of finding the thief. As a result of the work carried out, a person was singled out from among the suspects who, in the opinion of the inspectors, was exactly the one they were looking for. The conclusion made turned out to be accurate: placed under close surveillance, this man was soon detained on the road from Washington to New York at the moment of handing over a secret document to a German agent.
Practice confirmed the effectiveness of the «blood pressure deception» test, but active military operations on the fields of the First World War soon ceased, and V. Marston did not receive the expected appointment.
Despite the indifference of the Ministry of Defense, which ignored the instrumental method of detecting lies for many years, it nevertheless gradually began to enter the practice of investigating and solving crimes: in the early 20s, several enthusiasts appeared in the country, whose activities played a decisive role in the further history of the development of polygraph tests.
In addition to W. Marston, who was active in this field and in 1923 was the first to present the results of a polygraph test in court as evidence, a significant contribution to the introduction of the psychophysiological method of lie detection into the practice of solving crimes was made by California police officer J. Larson: having become familiar with the “blood pressure deception” test developed by W. Marston, he began to use this method in the activities of the police department he headed in 1921.
Being a creative person, J. Larson developed the first portable prototype of the modern polygraph: the device he created provided continuous simultaneous recording of blood pressure, pulse and respiration. With the help of this device, a large number of tests were carried out on persons suspected of real criminal offenses, and a high degree of correctness of the test results was recorded.
The California police, in general, actively used the hardware method of lie detection in their work: by 1932 (i.e., in about ten years of operation), the method was used in 1928 cases when searching for the bodies of victims. Lie detector tests gradually began to be used by police departments in a number of US states. In 1935, the lie detector attracted the attention of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which in 1938 for the first time (after V. Marston) used a polygraph in an espionage case investigation.
In the same 1920s, Leonard Keeler, who played a decisive role in the development of the psychophysiological lie detection method in the USA, began his work under the leadership of J. Larson: he designed the first polygraph — a lie detector, specially designed to identify hidden information in a person (1933), developed the first testing method using a lie detector (1935), founded the first company for the serial production of these devices and the first school for training specialists in this field. It was L. Keeler who had the priority of introducing the polygraph into the personnel selection system and crime prevention in the business sphere.
By the end of the 1930s, three companies in the United States had established serial production of lie detectors, about a hundred police departments in twenty-eight states of the country actively used these devices in their work, and dozens of banks and commercial firms in the northern states introduced the polygraph to test personnel upon hiring and during official proceedings.
With the outbreak of World War II, the American Psychological Society launched a study to assess the reliability of polygraph testing for government purposes. After a thorough review of the state of the art in polygraph testing technology and its application in law enforcement and business, the research committee concluded that lie detection techniques were adequately developed, the necessary technical means existed, and a number of well-trained professionals were available. Of the three factors listed, the most important is the human factor, since it is the factor that determines the success or failure of lie detection efforts. In the presence of a competent specialist, the results of polygraph tests are very useful. When such specialists are not available, the method and equipment should not be used. As a result, the use of this method in the interests of US government agencies was given the green light, and in the early 1940s it began to be used for the purpose of protecting state secrets: the lie detector was used to test personnel working on the creation of the atomic bomb at the Oak Ridge Research Center. These polygraph tests were performed (under contract) by specialists from a private company.
During World War II, the U.S. Army already had a team of polygraph examiners. At the end of the war, the army polygraph examiners were given the important task of testing 274 German prisoners of war who were being promoted to leadership positions in post-war Germany. A team of seven experienced polygraph examiners conducted the test, establishing affiliation with the Nazi or Communist Party, participation in sabotage or diversion, service in the SS or Gestapo, commission of serious crimes, etc. The results showed that 156 people (57%) were suitable for promotion to leadership positions. The experts' opinions differed regarding 8 candidates (3%), and the remaining 110 candidates (40%) were recommended for rejection. Of the latter, 27 people were identified and confessed to belonging to the Nazi Party, SS, or Gestapo (including the treasurer of this party in the mid-1930s), three people to belonging to the German Communist Party, etc.
The effectiveness of lie detector tests did not go unnoticed, and this method began to be actively introduced into the activities of the armed forces and intelligence agencies of the United States. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States, created in 1947, began using the polygraph during its special operations, as well as in the selection of personnel. By the end of the 1940s, all persons without exception entering the service of the CIA were subjected to lie detector testing. Since 1948, The American army began training polygraph examiners at the L. Keeler Institute (Chicago), which opened that same year—the only educational institution of this profile in the country. The significant development of the apparatus psychophysiological method of lie detection in the USA did not go unnoticed, and in the 1920s, interest in identifying hidden information in a person using laboratory equipment was shown in several countries.
In particular, in the USSR, psychologist A. R. Luria (later an academician of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR) improved the associative method, which was very popular in experimental psychology of those years, and, working in a special laboratory at the Moscow Provincial Prosecutor's Office, applied the developed method to identify hidden information in persons who had committed serious crimes.
In Germany, psychiatrist Otto Lowenstein developed a tool for lie detection purposes that recorded the movements of a seated person and his breathing.
However, despite the promise of the above-mentioned works, they remained only laboratory experiments that did not receive a real outlet in law enforcement practice.
In the second half of the 1930s, lie detectors and the technology for their use created in the United States began to be exported abroad for the first time.
The polygraph appeared in Poland in 1936: it was purchased by the Warsaw Institute of Mental Hygiene. And although researchers showed interest in the use of the polygraph in investigative work (as evidenced by one of the publications that appeared in print in 1939), the outbreak of war postponed the introduction of the polygraph in Poland by a quarter of a century.
In the early 40s, the polygraph appeared in China, for which several specialists were trained in the USA in 1943. After the end of the civil war in China, specialists in working with the polygraph and the devices themselves were taken to Taiwan.
Japan, unlike China, independently conducted research into the hardware method of lie detection, which began in the 1920s: psychologists Akamatsu and Togawa studied the diagnostic capabilities of changes in the electrical properties of the skin (the so-called galvanic skin reflex), and this work was crowned with success. In 1937, Japanese scientists reported the creation of their lie detector — the psychogalvanometer. It is curious to note that, like the United States, the first use of the Japanese lie detector occurred in the late 1930s during an investigation of an espionage case. During World War II, one company began mass-producing psychogalvanometers for lie detection, which (already in the post-war years) were used by Japanese police units.
India first showed interest in lie detector tests in 1948 in connection with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi: an Indian police officer who had undergone six weeks of training in the United States used a polygraph to narrow the circle of people suspected of involvement in the conspiracy. After a few cases of use in investigations, the use of the polygraph was suspended until the early 1970s.