The
Cephos Corporation is a new company that is attempting to develop and commercialize a lie detector using functional MRI brain imaging and analysis. The company was highlighted in an article by Jonathan Maze in today's Charleston
Post and Courier titled,
"MRIs may be more accurate than polygraphs, researchers say":
Quote:
MRIs may be more accurate than polygraphs, researchers say
BY JONATHAN MAZE
Of The Post and Courier Staff
Inspired by spies and sleuths, researchers believe they have uncovered a better way to discover a cover-up.
Looking at pictures of the brain using magnetic resonance imaging, researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina found certain parts of the brain are more active when a person is lying.
In a study to be published in next month's issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, the researchers say the results of their experiments could serve as the basis for a new lie detector that is more accurate than the ever-controversial polygraph test. Deceit, the researchers believe, is associated with increased blood flow in particular areas of the brain.
"The Holy Grail is to see whether you can break (the new test) down to see if Mr. Smith is lying today," said Dr. Mark George, director of the Center for Advanced Imaging Research at the university, who worked on the study with lead researcher Dr. Andrew Kozel. "That is where this is headed right now."
If it takes off, those behind the discovery expect to sell their fib-detecting technology to lawyers and law enforcement agencies.
While still preliminary, a company has been formed to take the research to market. Cephos was started in January by a Johns Hopkins University graduate and funded with $5 million from venture capitalists out of New England.
The company's founder, Steve Laken, believes the MRI approach offers an edge over the polygraph, which in many instances is not admissible in court. For the MRI-based test to be marketable, it would have to be accurate enough to be allowed as evidence.
"We see this being used by civil and criminal litigators to bolster their case," said Laken, Cephos' chief science officer.
How long it takes to bring a new lie detector to market will depend on the results of the next series of studies on individuals. Laken could not provide a time frame. He did indicate there is interest in a new test, especially among those involved in defending or prosecuting white-collar criminals.
Whether a new and more accurate lie detector would be admitted in court is another question.
Paul Gibson, a North Charleston attorney and former president of the state Trial Lawyers Association, has doubts. Gibson believes the polygraph test, when administered correctly, is often more accurate than some of the expert testimony that is admitted in court, such as handwriting analysis and testimony on bite marks -- testimony that often is contradicted by the other side's experts.
While judges can admit the results of a lie-detector test, Gibson said they often are reluctant to do so because it takes the decision of a case out of a jury's hands.
"The courts are much more comfortable leaving the determination of who is lying or telling the truth to the jury rather than a battle of experts," Gibson said.
The polygraph measures a person's anxiety. It tests blood pressure, respiratory activity and perspiration, on the theory the anxiety level is higher when a person lies.
According to the American Polygraph Association, the polygraph is accurate 87.5 percent of the time. Yet its accuracy has long been under fire by critics who say it often misses people's lies.
Recently, the National Science Foundation said it couldn't find evidence to support the use of the polygraph to detect deception.
"There are people who lie easily and don't get anxious," George said. "And there are people who get anxious even when telling the truth and get falsely accused."
An MRI-based test would show brain activity when a person is lying, which researchers believe will be a more accurate determination.
The genesis of the idea came about a decade ago, when George, then working at the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C., was asked by the CIA to explore whether the MRI could detect lies.
At the time, research on the brain and imaging studies weren't advanced to the point where George felt comfortable with following through on the request. But the idea stuck with him, and as work on the brain advanced, it resurfaced.
Led by Kozel, who presented his findings Wednesday at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Honolulu, researchers asked 11 adults to tell the truth or lie while an MRI scanned their brain.
Before the scanning began, the subjects visited a room where they were told to locate and leave in place $50 bills under two of six objects in the room. As they were scanned, the subjects were asked where the $50 bills were and told to lie or tell the truth.
If told to lie, the subjects were given the incentive of an additional $50 if one of the researchers could not tell when they were lying.
Researchers found that five regions of the brain, parts believed to be related to deception, show activity when a person is lying.
George said a lie is not a normal response, so a person is not performing normal activities while fibbing. "Telling a lie is a more complex act than telling the truth," he said.
The bottom line? Researchers were able to detect when nine of the 11 test subjects tried to tell a lie.
Jonathan Maze covers health care and nonprofits. Reach him at 937-5719 or jmaze@postandcourier.com.
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