Application of psychophysiological method of lie detection in Japan.
Yu. I. Kholodny
Doctor of Law, Candidate of Psychological Sciences (Bauman Moscow State Technical University)
Application of psychophysiological method of lie detection in Japan
Source: Vestnik Kriminalisticy (issue 4(28))
The development of the psychophysiological method of lie detection began in Japan in the 1920s, when university scientists showed interest in studying «electro-cutaneous activity as an indicator of emotions.» In 1933, Akamatsu and Togawa proposed «using electro-cutaneous activity for lie detection purposes, since it was found that the level of skin resistance decreases during emotional changes»1.
In 1937, Akamatsu reported the first successful application of monitoring the electrical properties of the skin to detect information a person was hiding. In 1938-1939, the research was continued, and «later Togawa used this method to test a spy — this was the first case in Japanese history of using the psychophysiological lie detection method in practice»2. To implement this method, special «psychogalvanometers» were developed in the 1930s, which began to be mass-produced by the Yokokawa Denki company in 1943.
After the end of World War II, the Japanese police showed interest in the lie detection method, and at Togawa's suggestion, the National Research Institute of Police Science (NIIPS) began to develop this method, adopting the «psychogalvanometers» of the above-mentioned company in 1947.
Polygraph tests were brought to Japan by the American armed forces. The first Japanese polygraph specialist was trained in 1951 at the Far Eastern Crime Laboratory of the American occupation forces, thus beginning the introduction of the polygraph into the activities of the Japanese police. The research in lie detection conducted at some universities in the country was curtailed by the mid-1950s, and the Scientific Research Institute of Psychiatry and Psychology became the only institution in the country to undertake the practical application of polygraph tests, as well as scientific research and organizational activities in this area.
In 1953, the Scientific Research Institute of Polygraph Science began training polygraph examiners for police departments. The first American polygraphs were imported to the country that same year to provide them with the necessary equipment, but by 1955 two Japanese companies had already started producing these devices. The beginning of the widespread use of polygraph tests in Japan is considered to be 1956, when the police departments of the country's prefectures gradually began to be equipped with Japanese-made polygraphs. That year, fifty-one polygraph tests were performed in the country. Since 1959, the data obtained as a result of polygraph tests have been accepted as evidence by courts of various levels3.
In 1968, the Supreme Court of Japan accepted an expert's opinion on the results of a polygraph test as evidence for the first time, and since then there have been many similar cases in the country's judicial practice4.
By the early 1970s, Strict requirements for the use of the polygraph were established in the country. In particular, persons who were not subjected to testing with this device were:
a) those who had consumed alcohol or drugs;
b) those who were mentally retarded or had mental illnesses;
c) those who had medical contraindications (for example, hypertension).
Persons who entered the NIIPP for training as polygraph examiners were carefully selected from among graduates of colleges with a specialization in psychology or engineering. It should be especially noted that polygraph tests were not carried out in police practice if it was impossible to use the peak stress test5.
In May 1971, the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the National Police Agency (NPA) of Japan introduced the first national standard for conducting polygraph tests, which was mandatory for implementation throughout the country. This standard established:
- polygraph testing as an integral part of conducting a criminal investigation;
- a number of requirements and restrictions on the use of the polygraph (in particular, it introduced qualification requirements for polygraph specialists);
- requirements for the condition of a person undergoing a polygraph test and the methods used in such tests;
- control over the procedure for equipping police departments with polygraphs by the NPA;
- the procedure for submitting reports on the results of a completed polygraph test and a number of other provisions6.
In order for the results obtained by a polygraph to be accepted as evidence in court, a polygraph test, according to a decision of the Supreme Court of Japan (1968), must satisfy five mandatory requirements, namely:
1) the test must be conducted using a standard device;
2) the test uses an established testing method;
3) the test must be conducted by a qualified polygraph examiner;
4) the mental and physiological state of the person being tested must meet the requirements of the test being conducted;
5) the results of the polygraph test must be “well described”7.
In the early 1970s, Japanese companies produced several models of pen polygraphs, one of which allowed the reactions of the person being tested to be recorded on one side of the polygraph chart tape, and the speech of the person being tested and the speech of the polygraph examiner on the other side (equipped with a special magnetic layer).
In 1973, the staff of the Scientific Research Institute of Policies and Crime conducted a review of the use of polygraph tests in the country8. Although more than thirty years have passed since then, a number of the observations and conclusions made by the specialists are of interest even today.
In particular, it was noted that:
- The use of polygraph tests largely depended on the attitude towards this method in the police departments of the prefectures themselves: 10 (out of almost 50) such departments account for 2/3 of all polygraph tests in the country;
- the more experience a polygraph examiner had, the more he was trusted and, as a result, the more polygraph tests he performed: polygraph examiners with more than 15 years of experience performed (on average) 1.7 times more polygraph tests than polygraph examiners with 10-14 years of experience, and 2 times more than polygraph examiners with less than 9 years of experience;
- of the offenses most frequently encountered in the practice of Japanese polygraph examiners, 2/3 were various types of theft, half of which were shoplifting;
- full-time polygraph examiners (30 people) performed almost 3 times more polygraph tests than part-time specialists (47 people);
- in general, “the level of diagnostic difficulties (when performing a polygraph test. — Yu. Kh.) decreased with an increase in the educational level”9 of persons tested on a polygraph10;
- polygraph testing of persons in poor health is more difficult for a polygraph examiner than of persons in normal health;
- the period of time between the commission of an offense and a polygraph test, as a rule, does not affect the effectiveness of such a test;
- interaction with investigators and familiarization with the materials of the cases under investigation is an essential condition for the successful conduct of polygraph tests.
In the second half of the 1970s, 4,600-4,800 polygraph tests were performed in Japan annually, the overwhelming majority of such tests were performed by police polygraph examiners in their own interests, and also provided assistance to the Ministry of Postal Service and the Self-Defense Forces (Ministry of Defense) of Japan11. At that time, there were about 100 polygraph examiners in the country. They were trained from among graduates of psychological and technical faculties of universities in special 2-month courses at the Research Institute of Polygraph Science.
In 1971, the Nara Prefectural Police Department analyzed 1,889 polygraph tests and found that 1,063 people gave false information and 932 of them (87.6%) confessed to the crime after such tests. The “missed target” error rate (when a guilty person was found innocent) was 2.5%, and the “false alarm” error rate (when an innocent person was found guilty) was 0.4%. Two decades later, the National Police Agency of Japan (1990) conducted a similar study and obtained similar data: of the 1,697 people tested with a polygraph, 1,319 (77.7%) confessed to the crimes they committed after the test and 1,428 (84.1%) were charged by the police and later convicted. 12At the beginning of the 21st century, there were about 70 polygraph examiners working in forensic laboratories in 47 prefectural police departments in Japan, with 2/3 of the laboratories having specially equipped rooms for conducting polygraph tests. A small number of polygraph tests (about 30) were conducted annually by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and the Japan Self-Defense Forces.
The conceptual difference in the use of the polygraph in the country, according to Japanese experts, is that “a test using a polygraph is considered a psychological test or psychological procedure, as opposed to its use in the United States as one of the interrogation methods”13.
In cases where it is necessary to use a polygraph, the police department contacts the head of the forensic lab, who instructs the polygraph examiner to join the investigation. The polygraph examiner visits the scene of the crime, determines the signs of the offense and, based on this, prepares questionnaires for the upcoming test. Therefore, «during the test, the question is asked: «Does the person being tested recognize the details of the crime or not?», and not «Is the person being tested lying or not?»14. After detecting signs of the offense, the polygraph examiner returns to the forensic lab and prepares questionnaires. During polygraph tests, visual material (photographs, maps, diagrams) is often used, and the preparation of such material takes the polygraph examiner 2-3 days. Thus, according to Japanese experts, it is impossible to conduct a polygraph test on the day of receiving the application from the police department.
A polygraph test is dependent on the suspect's consent: if he rejects the test, it is not performed. The use of a polygraph after an arrest is rare because the police are required to inform the person of the crime he is suspected of committing and to provide him with a range of information known to them, including information that could be used in a polygraph test.15
Before polygraph testing, the polygraph examiner must conduct a pre-test interview lasting about 30 minutes, during which he obtains the person being tested's consent for such testing and then explains the essence of the upcoming procedure. Polygraph testing, depending on the volume of tasks to be solved, can last several hours; each of the questionnaires used is usually repeated at least three times.
The use of the polygraph in Japan has a number of significant differences from the use of this device in other countries of the world (for example, in Russia or the USA).
In Japan, polygraph tests are not used in the private sector. The reason for this is the national and cultural characteristics of this country: a high level of trust is established between the employer and the working personnel, production relations are usually long-term and similar to those that develop in a family. «Under such circumstances, it would be unthinkable to subject a future or working employee to such an insulting procedure as a polygraph test»16 .
Furthermore, unlike the United States, where polygraph tests are used as one of the methods of personnel selection (screening) by the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Ministry of Defense and a number of other agencies, in Japan the polygraph is used only during criminal investigations. It is precisely the lack of use of the polygraph during personnel selection in the state and private sectors of the country that explains the fact that in Japan, for decades, about 5,000-6,000 tests with this device have been carried out annually, while in the United States there are more than 1,000,000 per year.
When conducting investigations, Japanese polygraph examiners do not use the control question method (CQM) during checks — the main one in the practice of American polygraph examiners — and use only the method of identifying hidden information (IHI), which has a much narrower scope of application, and this also affects the decrease in the volume of polygraph use in the country. The reason for this approach is that «polygraph examiners of the Japanese police are very careful to avoid in every possible way the errors of «false alarm» when making a decision based on the results of lie detection. About 40% of polygraph examiners have never used IHI, even if the number of elements of a crime is insufficient for the use of IHI.»
In Japan, the IPC is an additional method and is used as a means of protecting against the «missing target» errors of the MVSI. In cases where the investigation has strong suspicions about a specific person, and during the polygraph test when using the MVSI for signs of a crime, no pronounced reactions occur, the IPC can be used after this method. If, when using the IPC, the person being tested has insignificant reactions to the test questions, then it is concluded that he or she is not lying. Therefore, the result of the IPC is assessed in support of the innocence of the person being tested; however, pronounced reactions to the test questions of this method are not considered by Japanese polygraph examiners as significant for making a (prosecuting. — Yu. X.) decision»17.
An important condition for the possibility of using the MVSI in the activities of the Japanese police is that the media actively cooperate with law enforcement agencies: this allows in more than 50% of cases to save the received operational information from publicity18 and use it when implementing tests of this polygraph testing method — the most insured against the errors of «false alarm».
Historically, it turned out that the development of the use of the polygraph in the country was entrusted to the Research Institute of Psychiatric Problems, and this largely explains the significant amount of scientific research that was carried out by Japanese scientists and specialists in the field of the psychophysiological method of lie detection.
For example, research conducted over the past twenty years has established that, under real polygraph testing conditions, exhalation duration is the most effective indicator of stimulus significance19.
In studying the capabilities of the MVSI tests, researchers demonstrated that «the amplitude of the skin-haptic response (SHR) to questions that are significant and insignificant for the person being tested tends to decrease with an increase in the number of questionnaire presentations. However, reactions to significant questions were significantly greater than to insignificant ones during all nine questionnaire presentations.» As a result, the researchers came to the conclusion that «repeated presentation of questions in the MVSI tests will be effective in finding differences in reactions to significant questions from reactions to insignificant questions, since the SHR to insignificant questions is greatly inhibited»20. Unfortunately, the results of these studies are not known to all Russian specialists working with the polygraph21.
Along with improving the technology of polygraph tests, Japanese scientists are directing their efforts to finding and studying new methods and means of revealing information that a person may be hiding.
In particular, in the early 1990s, a report appeared on the first experience of using in real conditions for lie detection purposes the encephalographic method of monitoring the brain activity of the person being tested22 — the so-called method of evoked potentials (EP method). Having summarized in 1998 the results of studies conducted in Japan, the USA and Great Britain and focused on the use of the EP method for lie detection purposes, the Japanese specialist S. Hira discovered a number of advantages of this method, one of which is its «counteraction to counteraction»23, i.e. the fundamental impossibility of a person resisting the detection of hidden information by monitoring the EP of his brain. It should be noted that already at the beginning of this century, the police departments of Tokyo and the prefectures of Yamagata, Shizuoka, Osaka and Hyogo had at their disposal special equipment for recording and computer analysis of the EP of the brain and the electrocardiogram of a person24.
According to the assessment of Japanese specialists25, in the country at the beginning of the 21st century:
1) There are 95 polygraph examiners (11 of whom are women) working in the police force who have a university degree in psychology, and one tenth of the 500 members of the Japanese Society of Physiological Psychology and Psychophysiology are police polygraph examiners;
2) The training of polygraph examiners is carried out by the Research Institute of Physiological Psychology within the framework of three training courses: basic (mandatory, 3-month), higher (mandatory, 20-day) and specialized (additional, 10-day);
3) the legal regulation of polygraph tests has been governed for decades by a decision of the Supreme Court of Japan, which came into effect in 1968;
4) the results of polygraph tests are accepted by courts of various instances as evidence
5) Japanese companies have begun to produce their own computer polygraphs.
1 Fucumoto J. Psychophysiological detection of deception in Japan //Polygraph. 1982. V. 11. N. 3. P. 234.
2 Ibid.
3 Abrams S. The polygraph in Japan //Polygraph. 1973. V. 2. N. 1. P. 36-41.
4 Fucumoto J. A case in which the polygraph was sole evidence for conviction //Polygraph. 1980. V. 9. N. 1. P. 42-14.
5 Abrams S. Op. cit.
6 Takahashi M. The police operation of polygraph detection and its assessment from a judicial standpoint in Japan //Polygraph. 1976. V. 5. N. 3. P. 223-234.
7 Nakayama M. Practical use of the concealed information test for criminal investigation in Japan //Handbook of polygraph testing/Ed. by Kliener M. Academic Press, 2002. P. 73.
8 Suzuki A. A survey of factors affecting the polygraph examination in Japan //Polygraph. 1977. V. 6. N. 3. P. 218-232.
9 Suzuki A. Op. cit. P. 222.
10 This observation confirmed the fact, previously established by American specialists, that polygraph testing is easier to carry out in relation to «white-collar» offenders.
11 Fucumoto J. Psychophysiological detection…
12 Nakayama M. Op. cit. P. 72-73.
13 Fucumoto J. Psychophysiological detection…, P. 237.
14 Nakayama M. Op. cit. P. 75.
15 Nakayama M. Op. cit.
16 Ben-Shakhar S. Furedy J. J. Theories and application in the detection of deception. A psychophysiological and international perspective. Spring-Verlag New York Inc., 1990. P. 130. 3 Nakayama M. Op. cit. P. 60.
17 Nakayama M. Op. cit. P. 60.
18 Ben-Shakhar G., Furedy J. J. Op. cit.
19 Nakayama M., Yamamura T. Changes of respiration pattern to the critical question on guilty knowledge technique//Polygraph. 1990. V. 19. N. 3. P. 188-198.
20 Nakayama M. Op. cit. P. 80.
21 In particular, V. A. Varlamov, being an active supporter of the use of MVSI tests (or, in his terminology, “indirect method” tests) and using the dynamics of the GSR to illustrate his views, persistently asserts that “primitive calculations at the elementary school level confirm the advisability of using the test once” (Varlamov V.A. Lie Detector. Moscow, 2004. P. 125).
22 Miyake Y., Mizuiani M., Yamahura T. Event -related potentials as an indicator of detecting information in a field polygraph examination //Polygraph. 1993. V. 22. N. 2. P. 131-149.
23 Nakayama M. Op. cit. P. 81.
24 Ibid. P. 73.
25 Furumilsu I., Hira S., Nakayama M. Polygraphic examination in Japan: application of the GKT in forensic investigations //European expert meeting on polygraph testing. Maastricht, 2006.