Estimating the accuracy of muscle response testing: two randomised-order blinded studies.

BACKGROUND: Manual muscle testing (MMT) is a non-invasive assessment tool used by a variety of health care providers to evaluate neuromusculoskeletal integrity, and muscular strength in particular. In one form of MMT called muscle response testing (MRT), muscles are said to be tested, not to evaluate muscular strength, but neural control. One established, but insufficiently validated, application of MRT is to assess a patient's response to semantic stimuli (e.g. spoken lies) during a therapy session. Our primary aim was to estimate the accuracy of MRT to distinguish false from true spoken statements, in randomised and blinded experiments. A secondary aim was to compare MRT accuracy to the accuracy when practitioners used only their intuition to differentiate false from true spoken statements. METHODS: Two prospective studies of diagnostic test accuracy using MRT to detect lies are presented. A true positive MRT test was one that resulted in a subjective weakening of the muscle following a lie, and a true negative was one that did not result in a subjective weakening of the muscle following a truth. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 using a simplified methodology. In Experiment 1, 48 practitioners were paired with 48 MRT-naïve test patients, forming unique practitioner-test patient pairs. Practitioners were enrolled with any amount of MRT experience. In Experiment 2, 20 unique pairs were enrolled, with test patients being a mix of MRT-naïve and not-MRT-naïve. The primary index test was MRT. A secondary index test was also enacted in which the practitioners made intuitive guesses ("intuition"), without using MRT. The actual verity of the spoken statement was compared to the outcome of both index tests (MRT and Intuition) and their mean overall fractions correct were calculated and reported as mean accuracies. RESULTS: In Experiment 1, MRT accuracy, 0.659 (95% CI 0.623 - 0.695), was found to be significantly different (p < 0.01) from intuition accuracy, 0.474 (95% CI 0.449 - 0.500), and also from the likelihood of chance (0.500; p < 0.01). Experiment 2 replicated the findings of Experiment 1. Testing for various factors that may have influenced MRT accuracy failed to detect any correlations. CONCLUSIONS: MRT has repeatedly demonstrated significant accuracy for distinguishing lies from truths, compared to both intuition and chance. The primary limitation of this study is its lack of generalisability to other applications of MRT and to MMT. STUDY REGISTRATION: The Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR; www.anzctr.org.au ; ID # ACTRN12609000455268 , and US-based ClinicalTrials.gov (ID # NCT01066312 ).

Simple New Method of Detecting Lies By Identifying Invisible Unique Physiological Reflex Response Appearing Often Less Than 10-15 Seconds on the Specific Parts of Face of Lying Person; Quick Screening of Potential Murderers & Problematic Persons.

Frequently, we cannot find any significant visible changes when somebody lies, but we found there are significant invisible changes appearing in specific areas of the face when somebody lies and their location often depends on whether the lie is serious with or without physical violence involvement. These abnormalities were detected non-invasively at areas: 1) lobules and c) a small round area of each upper lateral side of forehead; 2) the skin between the base of the 2 orifices of the nose and the upper end of upper lip and 3) Alae of both sides of nose. These invisible significant changes usually last less than 15 seconds after telling a lie. In these areas, Bi-Digital O-Ring Test (BDORT), which received a U.S. Patent in 1993, became significantly weak with an abnormal value of (-)7 and TXB2, measured non-invasively, was increased from 0.125-0.5ng to 12.5-15ng (within the first 5 seconds) and then went back down to less than 1ng (after 15 seconds). These unique changes can be documented semi-permanently by taking photographs of the face of people who tell a lie, within as short as 10 seconds after saying a lying statement. These abnormal responses appear in one or more of the above-mentioned 3 areas 1), 2) & 3). At least one abnormal pupil with BDORT of (-)8-(-)12 & marked reduction in Acetylcholine and abnormal increase in any of 3 Alzheimer's disease associated factors Apolipoprotein (Apo) E4, ß-Amyloid (1-42), Tau protein, viral and bacterial infections were detected in both pupils and forehead of murderers and people who often have problems with others. Analysis of well-known typical examples of recent mass murderers was presented as examples. Using these findings, potential murderers and people who are very likely to develop problems with others can be screened within 5-10 minutes by examining their facial photographs and signatures before school admission or employment.

The eyes don't have it: lie detection and Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

Proponents of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) claim that certain eye-movements are reliable indicators of lying. According to this notion, a person looking up to their right suggests a lie whereas looking up to their left is indicative of truth telling. Despite widespread belief in this claim, no previous research has examined its validity. In Study 1 the eye movements of participants who were lying or telling the truth were coded, but did not match the NLP patterning. In Study 2 one group of participants were told about the NLP eye-movement hypothesis whilst a second control group were not. Both groups then undertook a lie detection test. No significant differences emerged between the two groups. Study 3 involved coding the eye movements of both liars and truth tellers taking part in high profile press conferences. Once again, no significant differences were discovered. Taken together the results of the three studies fail to support the claims of NLP. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Event-related potentials increase the discrimination performance of the autonomic-based concealed information test.

The concealed information test (CIT) assesses an examinee's crime-relevant memory on the basis of physiological differences between crime-relevant and irrelevant items. The CIT based on autonomic measures has been used for criminal investigations, while the CIT based on event-related potentials (ERPs) has been suggested as a useful alternative. To combine these two methods, we developed a quantification method of ERPs measured in the autonomic-based CIT where each item was repeated only 5 times. Results showed that the peak amplitude of the ERP difference wave between crime-relevant and irrelevant items could discriminate between guilty and innocent participants effectively even when only 5 trials were used for averaging. This ERP measure could detect some participants who were missed by the autonomic measures. Combining the ERP and autonomic measures significantly improved the discrimination performance of the autonomic-based CIT.

The truth about lying: inhibition of the anterior prefrontal cortex improves deceptive behavior.

Recent neuroimaging studies have indicated a predominant role of the anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC) in deception and moral cognition, yet the functional contribution of the aPFC to deceptive behavior remains unknown. We hypothesized that modulating the excitability of the aPFC by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) could reveal its functional contribution in generating deceitful responses. Forty-four healthy volunteers participated in a thief role-play in which they were supposed to steal money and then to attend an interrogation with the Guilty Knowledge Test. During the interrogation, participants received cathodal, anodal, or sham tDCS. Remarkably, inhibition of the aPFC by cathodal tDCS did not lead to an impairment of deceptive behavior but rather to a significant improvement. This effect manifested in faster reaction times in telling lies, but not in telling the truth, a decrease in sympathetic skin-conductance response and feelings of guilt while deceiving the interrogator and a significantly higher lying quotient reflecting skillful lying. Increasing the excitability of the aPFC by anodal tDCS did not affect deceptive behavior, confirming the specificity of the stimulation polarity. These findings give causal support to recent correlative data obtained by functional magnetic resonance imaging studies indicating a pivotal role of the aPFC in deception.

A Concealed Information Test with multimodal measurement.

A Concealed Information Test (CIT) investigates differential physiological responses to deed-related (probe) vs. irrelevant items. The present study focused on the detection of concealed information using simultaneous recordings of autonomic and brain electrical measures. As a secondary issue, verbal and pictorial presentations were compared with respect to their influence on the recorded measures. Thirty-one participants underwent a mock-crime scenario with a combined verbal and pictorial presentation of nine items. The subsequent CIT, designed with respect to event-related potential (ERP) measurement, used a 3-3.5s interstimulus interval. The item presentation modality, i.e. pictures or written words, was varied between subjects; no response was required from the participants. In addition to electroencephalogram (EEG), electrodermal activity (EDA), electrocardiogram (ECG), respiratory activity, and finger plethysmogram were recorded. A significant probe-vs.-irrelevant effect was found for each of the measures. Compared to sole ERP measurement, the combination of ERP and EDA yielded incremental information for detecting concealed information. Although, EDA per se did not reach the predictive value known from studies primarily designed for peripheral physiological measurement. Presentation modality neither influenced the detection accuracy for autonomic measures nor EEG measures; this underpins the equivalence of verbal and pictorial item presentation in a CIT, regardless of the physiological measures recorded. Future studies should further clarify whether the incremental validity observed in the present study reflects a differential sensitivity of ERP and EDA to different sub-processes in a CIT.

Event-related brain potentials during the standard autonomic-based concealed information test.

The concealed information test (CIT) has been used to detect information that examinees possess by means of their autonomic responses. However, the central activities related to these autonomic responses remain unclear. In this study, we simultaneously recorded 128-ch event-related potentials (ERPs) and various autonomic responses (heart rate, respiratory rate, respiratory amplitude, cutaneous blood flow, and skin conductance response) to a critical item (i.e., the item that participants memorized) and to non-critical items (i.e., items other than the critical item) using the standard protocol of the autonomic-based CIT. A topographic analysis of variance and a temporal-spatial principal component analysis revealed that the critical item elicited a larger negative potential (N2b, 205-298 ms) at central regions and a larger positive potential (positive slow wave, 502-744 ms) at parieto-occipital regions, compared to the non-critical items. Correlation analysis across 21 participants showed a significant correlation between N2b increase and heart rate deceleration in response to critical items compared to non-critical items, but there were no autonomic correlates of the positive slow wave. The results suggest that at least two brain processes are involved in the autonomic-based CIT: The first is an attentional-orienting process that facilitates the processing of critical items, to which heart rate deceleration was linked, and the second is an additional process after the identification of critical items.

Differentiating orienting and defensive responses to concealed information: the role of verbalization.

Using physiological measures, concealed information can be validly assessed. Orienting theory has been proposed to account for concealed information testing. As orienting is characterized by heart rate deceleration, one would expect this type of heart rate response to concealed information. However, with some exceptions, an initial heart rate acceleration to concealed information is typically observed. In the present paper, we examine the role of verbalization to explain the mixed pattern of heart rate changes. Using a within-subjects design, 30 participants were asked to either remain silent or to give an overt verbal response ("yes"/"no") to concealed autobiographical and control information. The results indicate that verbalization accounts for the initial heart rate acceleration. In line with the orienting theory, initial heart rate deceleration is observed when participants remained silent.

Investigating investigators: how presentation order influences participant-investigators' interpretations of eyewitness identification and alibi evidence.

Presentation order of ID and Alibi evidence was manipulated for undergraduate participants who conducted a simulated police investigation. Experiment 1 found a recency effect when an eyewitness rejected the investigator's suspect. Experiment 2 also examined order effects, exploring how participant-investigators evaluated alibi information in addition to eyewitness ID information. When investigators saw the witness identify the suspect but also received a strong alibi for that suspect a recency effect occurred, such that whichever piece of information occurred at the end of the procedure had the strongest impact on investigators. Thus, type of evidence and evidence order both had a dramatic influence on participant-investigators' decisions.

P300-based detection of concealed autobiographical versus incidentally acquired information in target and non-target paradigms.

The basic rationale of P300-based tests of concealed information compares responses to critical ('probe') and non-critical ('irrelevant') items. Accuracy, both in the laboratory and the field, is the degree to which responding to probes exceeds that to irrelevants. The present laboratory study assessed the influence of two factors on accuracy. The first, varied between subjects, was whether the paradigm included probes, irrelevants, and target items (as is the case in most P300 preparations), or whether the paradigm included only probe and irrelevant items. The second, orthogonally varied, within-subject factor was whether the probe was an autobiographical item (the subject's name), or incidentally acquired (as in common field applications). Accuracy was greater with the subject's name as probe, perhaps because of the greater potency of autobiographical items than incidentally acquired ones, even when these are learned to a 100% accuracy. On the other hand, contrary to expectations from a work-load interpretation, the removal of the target did not affect accuracy, but rather decreased P300 magnitude to both probes and irrelevants in the non-target group.

Neuroethics: a guide for the perplexed.

Like filings to a magnet, issues of all shapes, sizes, and degrees of importance are sticking to the idea of neuroethics. Martha Farah, an early thinker in this new field, proposes that, numerous as they are, the problems actually fall into just three categories. She finds that neuroethics has made a quick start sizing up many practical--and some unique--questions swirling up from brain science, but, she writes, watch for challenges that reach beyond these to the metaphysical. Neuroscience may one day explain in terms of neural tissue virtually all aspects of human cognition and emotion--realms traditionally deemed apart from physical law. Thus, we should also expect neuroethics to grapple with our fundamental distinction between persons and mere "things." If mental processes prove to result from purely physical events, this opens to question our notions of consciousness, spirituality, free will, and moral responsibility.

Behavioural and functional anatomical correlates of deception in humans.

Brain activity in humans telling lies has yet to be elucidated. We developed an objective approach to its investigation, utilizing a computer-based interrogation and fMRI. Interrogatory questions probed recent episodic memory in 30 volunteers studied outside and 10 volunteers studied inside the MR scanner. In a counter-balanced design subjects answered specified questions both truthfully and with lies. Lying was associated with longer response times (p < 0.001) and greater activity in bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal cortices (p < 0.05, corrected). These findings were replicated using an alternative protocol. Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex may be engaged in generating lies or withholding the truth.

Admissibility and per se exclusion of hypnotically elicited recall in American courts of law.

State v. Mack (1980) ruled that hypnotically elicited testimony is per se excluded from Minnesota law courts; this court also ruled that police could employ hypnosis in an attempt to construct an independently corroborated case. In recent years, there have been moves to rescind this exclusion; this raises a question of the probative value of such additional information when it is uncorroborated. This situation is compared with that of the polygraph as an index of deception: Like hypnosis, it is excluded per se in most American jurisdictions. Some legal decisions in Wisconsin are used to illustrate one alternative to the per se exclusion approach. Admissibility of scientific evidence in American courts of law has been based on a criterion of "general acceptability within the relevant scientific community," as first elucidated in Frye v. United States (1923). Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Frye decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (1993), by making general acceptability but one of several admissibility criteria. Three Daubert-based decisions, one involving hypnosis and all concerned with "recovered repressed memories," indicate some problems in law posed by Daubert.

Increasing contextual pressures to breach posthypnotic amnesia.

The study investigated conditions that produce strong social pressures on posthypnotically amnesic Ss to remember more before being given the cue to remove amnesia. Highly susceptible Ss who passed posthypnotic amnesia were classified as voluntary or involuntary (having high or low control over recall). Test Ss were serially subjected to 3 pressure situations before being given the cue to lift amnesia: (a) instructions to be honest, (b) lie detection, and (c) a replay of a video of the session. Control Ss sat for the same amount of time and were only asked if they could remember anything else while the experimental Ss received the pressure recalls. All but 1 S breached in the experimental condition. Only the voluntary Ss breached in the control condition. Results are discussed as they relate to breaching amnesia and the voluntary dimension.

More on volitional experiences and breaching posthypnotic amnesia.

3 experimental conditions using a mock lie detector were employed to investigate further the type of manipulations that lead posthynotically amnesic Ss to breach their amnesia before the reversibility cue is given. 1 condition told Ss they were telling the truth, another that they were lying, and another only that the physiological apparatus could tell whether they were telling the truth. Ss in the "lie" condition breached more than Ss in the other 2 conditions, which did not differ. Ss who rated their recall as in their control (voluntary) were more likely to report more material after breaching manipulations than Ss who reported their recall as not in their control (involuntary). The results are discussed as they relate to breaching conditions and the voluntary/involuntary dimension.