Peter - MemberClicks · es to decision making in other psydloloqical tests. Semi-objective rrumeri ... to go to an office for instnx:tiens. When they arrived at this office the half

VOllJME 16 1987

Contents

An Evaluation of the Reliability arxl Validity of Rank Order arxl Starrlard Numerical 5=ring of Polygraph 01arts

NUMBER 4

Cllarles R. Honts arxl Lawrence N. Driscoll 241

Late Vertex Positivity in Event-Related Potentials as a Guilty Knowledge In:licator: A New Method of Lie Detection

J. Peter Rosenfeld, victoria Tepe Nasman, Richard Whalen, Brad cantwell arxl Lisa Mazzeri 258

Inproving Polygraph arxl Research Standards: A Report to the Department of Defense by the Department of Defense Polygraph Institute study Group

Gordon H. Barlarxl, Heidi Herbold-wootten, Martin T. Orne, And William Yankee. Consultants David Dinges arxl 'Ihomas F. Wootten 264

Countenneasure study: Olemical Interference with Dry Electrode Contacts

Patricia A. Fleming arxl Ella Logan 285

Abstracts 292

PUBLISHED QUARTERLY © American Polygraph Association, 1989

P.O. Box 1061, Severna Park, Maryland 21146 Polygraph 1987, 16(4)

/ AN E.VAlllATIOO OF 'lHE RELIABILITll AND VALIDI'I"l

OF RANK ORDER AND STANJl1\RD NUMERICAL SmRING OF roLYGRAPH awm;

By

0lar1es R. Hants and Iawrenoe N. Driscoll

Abstract

'!be reliability of the rrumerical scorin;] system develqlE!d at the University of utah and a Rank Order Scorin;] SystEm (RlSS) were examined .in the control question test po1~ charts fran 60 subjects of two laboratory IIKX:k cr:iJne ~iments. Excludin;J inconclusives, decisions based on the total rrumerical scores were 86.6\ correct, w1e decisions based on the rank order difference scores were .90:2\ correct. It was coocluded that w1e the two chart evaluation tecilniques were of cq:proximately equal power, the RlSS offers a I1UIItle.r of oonceptual and practical advant:llges.

'lhe jndy ent task faoed by the pol~ examiner in decipheriIxJ the }il.ysioloqical n-spa1S8S to a control c:pestion test is 1II:IUIIII1tal.. 'lhe exmniner IILISt exmnine and weigh subtle cilan;Jas in %'lIOOMed }il.ysioloqical respa ses to relevant and CUitLol c:pestions and then decide lotlicb of the

/ lilYsio1oqical reactions, loIhicb often taken on different l1IOIIilO1oqies, is the greater. A!lIliICer of approaciles have evolved to solve this prdolem. 'lbcse awroadles oan be described on a oantinlum that ran:Jes fran the subjective

·.intuitiV'e clinical methods, to the purely statistical methods, as is stom in Figure 1.

/

over 30 years ago Meehl (1954) noted that hI.Dans usin;] clinical intuition to make decisions are almost always cutperfal:med by linear statistical DV'rlpJ s, and in the follCMing years l'eu'rch has consistently FIliP I%ted Meehl's assertions with reqal'd to clinical decision maJd..rq in psyt:holoqical tests (Meehl, 1986). Intuitive clinical approaciles to the evaluation of polygraph charts have fared no better than have clinical intuitive awroaches to decision making in other psydloloqical tests. Semi-objective rrumerical sc::orirX] methods have been fCA.ll'¥i to be m:>re accurate than global intuitive methods (Raskin, Barland, & Podlesny, 1977), and p.irely statistical 0CIIp.Iter-base evaluation of polygraph charts has been fami to be m:>re accurate than semi-objective rrumerical scorin;] (KiIdler & Raskin, 1987). 'lhe superiority of statistical decision making is partia1l.ar1y evident in the fact of cumt:eJ:measure (Hants, 1986; Hants, Raskin & I<i.rdler, 1986). However, until recently oaJp.tter-based chart soorin;] systems have not been

Olarles R. Honts, Rl.D. is an adjunct Asssistant Professor an:! Res8'rch Associate at the UUversity of utah. I&-n:enoe N. Driscoll, M.A., is an Instroct:or at In:tiana university of Pennsy1variia and a self-Elip1oyed polygraph EOOtJDiner with R.:Idson Associates, 1317 Clark arllclirq, Pitteb.lrgh, Pennsylvania 15222 •.

241 Polygraph 1987, 16(4)

Olarles R. Hoots ani Iawreooe N. Driscoll

/

c .. ",ercially available',l ani far the near future most examiners will still have to evaluate their charts usin:J one of the semi-d::ljective l'UIIIIeI"ica1

) soorin:J methods (for a review of the three most CXIII1lOI'l semi-d::ljective soorin:J tectmiques see Weaver, 1980; 1985).

./

Figure 1

A Continuum of Olart Evaluatioo Methods

GLOBAL "NUMERICAL" COMPUTERIZEO r ~ V • '"

, • , I I

ARTHER .REID BAct<STER, 'ARMY. UTAH UTAH

SUBJECTIVE INTUITIVE CUNICAL

OBJECTIVE ------------I~~ ACTUARIAL

STATISTICAL

,

'ltle MIIIi-<lbjective ram.rical evaluatiai of cuattol ~oo tat polJ'""graph c:tIart8 hall beat d ,.u.tad to be a l'd9l1y reliable and x.latiw1y valid 1:ec:tlnJqJe in a I"IlI1i:ler of labomtory shx1'., althcugh t:Iwra 1& dis- . egx ......... t CMIl:' the l8Yal of acx:uracy! of • the technique and the ganaralizability of results fran laborat:ozy studi. to the field (see~-vi .. by, Department: of Defense, 1984; Kirc::har, HI:ll:tMitz, & RasItin, 1987; Office of 'l'ec:tlnology ASSTment, 1983; RasItin, 3.986). Generally, the MIIIiobjective intetpret:ati,o of centrol question tests results in mare false. positive than false negative errors (Raskin, 1986). ()l the basis of laboratory studi., Raskin (1986) estimates the false negative rate of the sani.objective nJIIIerica1 evaluation of cxmtrol questioo tests as 3' and the false positive rate as ".

Despite the high reliability ani validity delialSLrated by SCIiIB of the standard sani.-<lbjective l'UIIIIeI"ica1 soorin:J systems, alternative semi-<lbjec-' tive soorin:J prt'C'!OJ1u"'BS have: been 1P¥]18Sted. One alternative that 8}:PMl"S to offer SCIiIB advantages .is the Horizontal soaring System described- by Go%dal. Qx:hett1 (1981). With the Horizontal SOOrin:J System the ~--ooly has to rank order the ~. in a PtYsioloqica1 system rather t:rwl~~ make magnitude jndgments betioeen ;Iespcx ses. Many of these rank 0Iders j~ CQlld be aocaJplished by siliple objective 'D9M'""aart:, OCIIplet.e1Y ~- . raJDVin:J all subjective jntJ"e.t pt'lO sses. '!bus, this type of mnk cmter ~ soorin:J 1& ~ically and peu:ametrica1ly less OCIIplex than at:ancm:d ..

,/ lI_riCal scoring. Rank order acorin:J sbruld be Msier to teach to J1SW' examiners and shcWd offer &aIlS inc:taoent in validity since it mare c1e&ely mcdel s the processes used in statistical decisioo procedures. --' -- -

242

-~~ -

Polygraph 1987, 16(4)

./

:>

Rank Order Versus stamard Numerical Seerin:!'

unfortunately, the Horizaltal Seerin:!' System pIqXl6t'd by Gordon am O::d1etti (1981) is scrrewhat subjective am CXIIPlex. '!he pnsent stIXly used a D¥:lre d:ljec:tive Rank Order Seerin:!' System (InlS), am exantined the reliability am validity of this InlS in c:x:IIpU"isal to ale of the standard J'l1llIIIlI'ical scorin:!' systeIII;. . '!he InlS is described in detail am was based in laxge part on d:ljective JIIIIaSUnSIIElI of J;ilysio1cqical re&pa1Se features that I 5 seerd!. has shown to be highly diagnostic of guilt ani innooence (Kirdler & Raskin, 1987). 'lbe stardard J'l1llIIIlI'ical soorin:!' system used was the system develqJed am validated at the university of utah (Podlesny & Rasldn, 1978; Raskin & Hare, 1978). '!he data used in this stuiy were obtained fran two previous laboratory stulies of the detection of deception, Driscoll, Honts, am Jooes (1987), an:/. Honts, Raskin, am Kirdler (1987).

MEImD

SUbjects

'!he data for thJ.s stuiy were obtained fran 60 subjects 1r4lo participated in two previous &b"l.. (Driscoll, et al., 1987; Honts, et al., 1987). Driscoll et 81.'s subjects were 40 mal .. (mean age, 33 years, mean years of educatien 13.3) rec:roited, fran gIQlP oamsel.irq sessiens at the veteran's center in dcwntown PittsbuIgh. 'lhirty-six of the subjects were veterans am 4 ..... nc:n-wterans •. 'Driscoll, et al.'s subjects weIe paid $5.00 for their part.icipati.cn ani weIe offerecl an additional $5.00 bcnIs if they produoed a truthful cutcc:me en the polWIdfil exwmlnaticn.

Honts, et al.'s (1987) subjects were 10 female am 10 male students , (mean age, 22.2 years, mean educaticn, 13.7 years) ~ 'oIere enrolled in introcb::tory psydlology at the university of utah am they participated for extIa course credit. Honts, et 81.'s subjects were offeIed a bcnIs of $15 if they oaUd pICduce a tIuthfUl. cutcc:me on the polygraJ;h test.

~iolcqical reoordirgs in the Driscoll, et 81. experiment were made with a stoeltirq R)lyscribe, ~ 22770, field polygraJ;h instrument. ~iolcqical reoordirgs in the Hoots, et a1. experiment were made on a Beckman ~ R Dyn:JgraJ;b, laboratoty polygraJ;h. Both instI:uments IeOOrded relative blood pressure fran an inflated cuff, elect:ItxieImal activity roec:.:>rded in IX: D¥:lde, am a!ylanlnal respiratien. '!he polygraJ;b in the Honts, et 81. experiment also IeOOrded thoracic respiration, and provided a measure of periJ;beral V!ISCIl1Dtor activity in the form of fin;Jer pllse aDplitude transduced fran a J;botoelec:tric plethyStOglaph.

at . !Ff'ure

Both Driscoll, et al. am Honts, et al. used laboratoty mx:k crime paradign& folla.rirq the guidelines descrilled by Podlesny am Raskin (1977). After an initial cx:ntact, subjects who agreed to perticipate were instrucI:ed to go to an office for instnx:tiens. When they arrived at this office the half of the subjects rarxlanly assigned to the Guilty oorxtition received

243 Polygraph 1987, 16(4)

/

Olarles R. Honts arxl Lawreooe N. Driscoll

instructiaw to perfom a l\¥X'.k:-theft. Innocent subjects were toldt:hat a m:x:Jt-theft had ooc:urred blt were given no details. All subjects' were offered a l\al8tazy reward if they CQlld prcduce a truthful CXltcx:IIIe on their p6l~ test.

All EOO!!!!inatiaw were cx:txhx:ted by experienced field examiners, an:! allexam1natiaw were given usin;J the st.arXial:d field practices. Both-experiments used the three relevant question test foxmat deYelcpd at the university of utah, am at least three dlarts of PtYsioloqical data were collected. A typical question pattern fran these experiments would be as follows:

I. (Introductory) 00 you un:ierstan:l that I will ask ally the questiaw that we have diso1Ssed? Answered "Yes"

SR. (sacrifice-relevant) Regardin;J the rare coin that has been lepoz t:.ed 1IIissin;J, do you inten::l to answer all of the questiaw truthfully? Answered "Yes"

Nl. (Neutral) 00 you live in the united states? AnaJee:l "Yes"

Cl. (CXiIUol) ruri.n;J thefiLst 18 yeaLS of your life, did you ever take -SCIII8thing that did nat belaq to yaJ? Aram'ed "No"

Rl. (aalavant:) Did you take.-the rare coin? Araueal "No" i

./ N2. (Neutral) Is your first l'IIIIIIe Jc:bn? Answa:ed "Yes"

C2. (CXiJtxol) BetlJl.en the ages of 18 am 24 did yaJ ever do eanet:h!n1- -- u_,

dishonest, illaqal, or iDIIIoral? AnIMILe:l ''No''

R2. (Relevant) Did you take that rare coin fran the desk? Ana;eecl "No"

NJ. (Neutral) were you Ix>rn in the mcnt:h of Bept:eIJi)er?, AnIwered ''Yes'''- -

Cl. (CCIntrol) Prior to 1983 did yaJ ever deceive sa e ne? Ana !led "No" -

RJ. (Relevant) Regarclin] the rare coin that was lepoztsd missinq, did yaJ take it? Answered ''No''

. At the CXIlClusial of the final d1art the examiner JUm:ically _SCCIIed, all of the dlarts usinq the sani-objective l1UIIIerical IICXlrirq pre .:-"u:es davalcpd at the university of utah (PCdlesny & Raskin, 1978; Raskin & Hare,

) 1978). 'lhe follcwir¥J' d1aracteristics were utilized to e 55 the sLtEilllt:;b,_ of the lespCI ses: skin ccn:luc:tanoe lespcllSe, IDIplitude an:! duraticn;respimticn, dec:Lease. in iDIplitude, slcwir¥J', am baseline incz:aaSlwdiastollc blocxl PI; JLe, inc:Lease am: duration, am fin,;Jer p.U.se iDIplitude, duratiar" an:! magnitude of vasooanstLuction.

In evaluatinq the cx:nb:ol questicn test data eacb _ pair OfCUIUo,l- ~~:::. relevant cpIStialS was assigned a score. fran -3 to +3 for 8IIdl of the phyS1- .

../ oloqical systaE. '!be IDIlIgI'litude of the I"AIIII8rical score was depancSalt up:lI'l the IDIlIgI'litude of the difference beb,een the PtYsioloqical lespcuses to the two questioo types. Positive scores were assigned when lespcnsee to control

244 Polygraph 1987, 16(4)

/ Rank order Versus standard Numerical Scorirg

questions were st.rorY:Jer, arrl negative scores were assigned when the responses to relevant questions were st:ron;Jer. '!be P'lYSiological' charts were also scored with standard numerical scorirg by another experieooed field polygtalXl examiner who had no CXJIltact with the subjects or infonnation regardirg each subject's guilt or imooence.

'!be charts were later scored blin:lly by two evaluators usirg the R:SS. In the R:SS, the P'lYSiological responses were evaluated by rank orderirg the responses within each P'lYSiological c:l' "lcnent so that the laIgest z:esponse in that 0 "lcaent was given a rank of 6 arrl the smallest response in that system was given a rank of 1.

'!be criteria used for rankirg were those that statistical analyses (Kirdler & :Raskin, 1987) have indicated as havirg the highest diagnostic value. For electroclennal responses, measurements were made of the response's magnitu:ie to the closest IlIII of pen deflection. ElectrodeImal responses were then tanked in oIder of magnitu:ie, with the largest response reoeivirg a rank of,~ 6. ,If ,two electroclennal respollses were of the same magnitu:ie, b.lt one was clearly of greater duration or CCII(llexity (IIIll.tiple inflections), the responses with the greater duratiCXl ard,Ior calPlexity was given the higher rank~ For 'relative blood pressure respa-ses, the magnitu:ie of the inc::Iease in diastolic blood ~ E S'lr8 was _smad to the closest III1l of pen deflectiCXl. '!be questiCXl with the diastolic 1n::Ieaae of the greatest

,/ magnitude was given the rank of 6. If two diastolic blood pt S'lI'e inc:reIIses were of the same magnitu:ie, then the tie was broken with reference to the duratiCXl of the diastolic increase. Diastolic blood pressure respalSes of greater duration were assigned the higher rank. For finger p.Ilse allplitu:ie, the duration of vasocxlI'lStriction was _sured to the nearest seoorxi, arrl the respoJlSe with the greatest duratiCXl' was given the highest rank. If two vasoconstrictions were of similar duration, then the one with the lazger vasooonstriction was given the higher rank. Respiration xesponses were not measured. '!be evaluators used the respiration length notion described by TiIlIII (1982). TiIlIII's veasure represents the length of the line traveled by the pen during a specified time interval. Arr:! decrease in the amoont of respiratory activity (apnea, SUWressiOn, slCMirg of rate, etc.) results in a decrease in the len;th of the measured line. In this analysis, the evaluators mentally estimated the len;th of the line so that the l:espoIlSe that af{'E'ared to have produced the shortest respiration len;th was given the highest rank.. .

If two or IOOre responses cx:W.d not be rank ordered by the procedures described above they were considered tied. l\lhen ties occurred the sum of the ranks involved was taken arrl divided by the rruni:ler of the ranks. '!be tied ranks were then given equal rank;in;J values. For exanple, consider the situation where the measurements of the six skin cxntuctance responses were as follows:

Rl = 46nm; R2 = 43mn; R3 = 4Omn; Cl = 4Omn; C2 = lOmn; C3 = 2Omn.

In the above exanple Rl woold be ranked 6 arrl R2 woold be ranked 5. R3 arrl Cl are of the same llllignitu:ie, arrl for illustratiCXl assume they are of the same duration arrl CCII(llexity,. To determine the rank oIder scores for R3 arrl

245 Polygraph 1987, 16(4)

Olarles R. Honts am lawrence N. Driscoll

r;, •... 11

. . . I .

J".i "!";': ;. ;'"

0'~>J\PJ"0"J\J\j\I . /,5 ' IS

'JJ\J\J\.j\}\J\/\'

-J;~~~~\~~~ " ~'~~~'1~~~~il~~~~\IW\\~~\.\\~%~\~~~\\~WI~~~;~:i • '.~\/"";" ." ..•..• c. -- .:--•. ~.,.~.,.--.. '3 "-- . It.s

" '.' ,]~~;;~iit_~VI;~viJ.J~~~~~~jJWJ1\QijUI»Jlll\ij,U!l~~)JJil~ili.l\,\Vj)'\ii'\11,~M!I!Jl\VJJ.'I}I': .~M;l. __ Sv.bj",-<..-t:1l:: I~' . '.J. __ ~_ 5

<;; Ptrt<~ \ .... \ "'\ e'1'

1_' •

246


Rank Order Versus St:aOOani Ntnnerical Scoring

3

\f'~~\\~~~I"ll,lll ~~\~\~H~M,11 ~J\~l,ll\~\\W\I\l\~\~\~l\ I, ,ii,I,

,I\' \\\\\~\\\';\~\\\,\\n\\\\,~\\\\\\\ I, WI\\\'\\\ Lt,.:)

~1\l.\~l;\\.(J,~\lmt~IJ~,~<\,~~~HJ.\}~Ht'H~.i,\JJJJ~,(J11}.l.INl '.'J '!J-W\II.~\'.MtJWd , ).

~ -

CI

-,_.'-

247

i23


j

/

Charles R. Honts ani Lawrence N. Driscoll

Cl ycu add the l'III'lIai; for the two slats they occ:upy (i.e., 4 + 3 = 7) ani'" divide by the J'I.IIIi)erof rank ties (i.e., 7/2 - 3.5). In this exzmple both R3 ani Cl W'I:lUl.d receive the rank of 3.5. Cl W'I:lUl.d receive the rank of 2 ani C2 W'I:lUl.d receive the rank of 1.

lack of reaction ani discounted ZCXles are given the l~ available rank. If there is no IesPOllse to a question, or if a response is notevaluated because of distortion, the response is given the rank of 1. If more than a'le question shows a lack of reaction or is discounted because of distortion, the ranks are all tie::l at the smallest rank available. For exanple, oa'ISider the situation where the measurements of the six skiJl cxn:luctance IespcI ses wreas follows:

Rl = 4611m; R2 = 43mD; R3 = 40!1mi Cl = m:IIIBIIeIlt; C2 '" 01IIII; Cl = 0IIm.

In this exanple Rl, R2, ani· R3 W'I:lUl.d receive the ranks of 6, 5, ani 4 respectively. Cl, C2, ani Cl' 1!IOUl.d be considered tie::l at the lowest rank available ani all W'I:lUl.d receive the score of 2 (3 + 2 + 1 = 6/3 = 2).

At the cxn:lusion of the soorin;J ani ranld.n:Js to relevant lJl8StialS . wre ..,!I!!DI!d ani all ranld.n:Js to CXiiUol questials wre' F"'"'8d. 'lhe t:ot:al. of-' ranld.n:Js for relevant questiCl'lS were than IIUbtract:ed tmD the total· "of ranJti.n;pJ for CXI'Itrol. questions ani the ~tinq dittcwlCe - devaluata:l . to det:eIiIIine t%Ut:h. or deoeption. AcocIrding to the ratJ.cnale of tIa .~,~':::::.._" . ~on :t:..t n ....... it llUbjects IIhalld prcx:Iuce pcm.tiw dittet...awa:_ . ---

,/ ani Qrllty subjects shcW.d produce negative' ditfeJ:&108 8OOlO88. An 8IGIIIpl.-of a cx.Ipl.eted JalS score sheet ani an ac"XXJ!p"nyin;J chart are giV8l in" ~ A, ani a blank JalS score sheet is provided for the raaciet's UBe __ in~B.

/

RESUIJrS

All statistical tests es1ploye::l a .05 rejection region.

'lbe data sets generated by the two el!pet'iments were not statistically. . different for any of the depeldent """"..,tres, ani they wre cxwt.ine::lfor' analysis ani ~ into one data set. 'lbe data fran the two evalUators wre not statistically different ani analyses of the data fran only one of the evaluators is repcrte::l unless otheIwise note::l.

ReliabUitv

Interrater reliability was teste::l by correlatinq the scores of the two evaluators. 'lbe resultant interrater oorrelation l:lebo_. the ori¢nal evaminer's ani the inclepen:ientevaluator's standard nmaerical. 8OOlO_ was significant, ~ = .87. 'lbe resultant interrater rank order CCIIX8lat:iCrf-'foi=' the rank order difference scores of the two independent evaluator's _1lisO~ -significant, rs = .93. Both oorrelatialS were quite luqa inr:ticatinq that both procedures were very reliable.

248 Polygraph 1987, 16(4)

,/

Rank order Versus St:.ardard Numerical Scorirg

'!he mean.standard runerical score tor Imxx:ent subjects was +7.6, am the mean stan:i.ird numerical score for Guilty subjects was -9.4. Analysis of Variance in:licated that these means were significant different, F(l,58) = 39.05.

DecisioosbasEdoo the standard lUllerical sc=es were analyzed in the follatirg manner. Altho.lgh the bourxSaries of the inconclusive ZQle are usually set at +/- 5 in the ArrIrj am utah systeDs (Weaver, 1980), there have only been a few examinations of the etfects of varyirg the bourxSaries of the inccnclusive Zale (Barlam & Raskin, 1975; Raskin & Hare 1978; Raskin, Barlam, & Podlesny, 1977). We systanatically varied the bourxSaries of the inccnclusive ZQle fran 0 to +/- 13 am evaluated the relationship betw'een the tric:tlot:alDls decisioo (tJ:uthfUl, inccnclusive, am deceptive) am the dic:tlot:alDls criterioo (Innocent, Guilty) with the W s< statistic (Nie, &111, Jenkins, steinbrenner & Bent, 1975). '!he resultirg percent inc:orx:lusive, am correct decisions with Innocent am Qlilty subjects are shovIn in Figure 2.

Maxham statisti.cal efficiency of the inccnclusive region was in:licated by a peak value of the tAu s< statistics at 0.7f) when the lx:IUndaries of the inccnclusive rar¥Je were set at +/- 7. However, the efficiency of the irx:onelusive rar¥Je was ally very slightly 1_ at the standard ~ of +/- 5, ~ ~ s< - 0.69 • . At the standard ~ of +/- 5, the inccn::lusive rate was lot 1_. 'lhls the standard ~ of +/- 5 for the inccn::lusive ZCIl8 BRl""'l"S to be well supported in this data set.

Rank 9trleJ: Difference Ijtpre&

'!he mean rank order difference score for Imooellt subjects was 13.4, am the mean rank order difference scores of Guilty subjects was -20.9. Analysis of Varianoe in:licated that these means were significantly differ-ent, 1(1,58) = 24.69. I

Possible lx:IUndaries for an inccnclusive ZQle for the rank order difference scores were evaluated in the same way as was described abave for standard runerical scores. E!ourx3aries ri:an 0 to +/- 19 were examined, am the resultirg percent inconclusive am correct decisioos for Qlilty am Innocellt subjects are shown in Figure 3.

'!he W s< statistic in:licated maxU1m statistical efficiency for an inccn::lusive ~ set at +/- 13, where jQy Ii< peaked at 0.72. since the rate in increase in inconclusives is relatively flat arourd +/- 13, that loIQlld seem to be a reasonable choice as a bc:JurdaIy for the inconclusive zone when usirg the R::6S. .

laW1WY of Decisions

Decisions based on the standard. numerical sc=es made usirg the standard +/- 5 J:xuDaJ:y of the inccn::lusive ZQle are illustrated in Figure 4. DecisialS with the standard lUllerical scores were 65\ correct, 10\ incorrect am 25\ inccnclusive. Excludirg inc:alclusives, decisioos based on the standard mmerical scores were 86.6\ (39/45) correct. '!he false negative

~49 Polygraph 1987, 16(4)

./

./

Olarles R. Hoots an:!. Iawrerx:le N. Driscoll

rate with the st:ardaxd J'I.lI1Ierical scores waS 13/6' (3/22) an:!. the false positive rate was 13.6t (3/22) •

• Figure 2

Effects of varying the inccn::lusive l:lalnclaties with starxiaxd lI.IIIII!rical scoring. (GC - GUilty couect, IC - Innocent 'O:lrrect, Inc. Inccn::lusive)

~3t(]n,cll:lrd' Numerical Scoring

100 ..,------------------------.-~~-----.---

90

80

70

60 -c .. ~ 50

" ~ 40

o GC

30 + I C

20 0- Inc

10

0

0 +/- 1 +/- 3 +/- 5 +/- 7 +/- '9 +/- II +/- 13

Boundri •• or th. Incondusi\l~ Zone

250 Polygraph 1987, 16(4)

/ Rank Order Versus Stan:la:rd Numerical Scoring

Figure 3

Effects of vazying the .iJ¥::onclusive boJn:Sari_ with the rank order sooring ~. (GC - Guilty CXn:L ... "t, IC - Innocent CXn:uoct, Inc - Inconclusive)

Ronk Order Scorinq

1<lO -------,----

eo /

" ,', ~ G-_--&S--4

----~ ---1--------• 1- ,-+----+ tr" _______ --

70

00--~ .. " 50 C GC • " 0.

40- + IC

30 <> In,:

20

10 -

--O~~~---._--_.----._--_.----._---r----._--~---~ o +/- 1 +/- 3 +/- 5 +/- 1 +/- 9 +/- 11 +/- 13 +/- 15 +/- 17 +/- 1'.l

Boundries of the Inconclusive ZOM

/

251 Polygraph 1987, 16(4)

/

./

./

Olarles R. Honts and lawrence N. Driscoll

Figure 4

PerccltacJe of OOlXe::t (Cbr), false pcslti.... (FP), false negative (m)r~-' inocncl.u.ive (INC) caJtO'MW' for dacisials buaci at standard nmarlcal.--ar¥1 rank order soorin;J.

100

90

I!O

70 I

60

C u ~ 50 u ...

40

30

20 i

i

10 ----I RanI< Ordor Standard Numerical

I:SSSI INC

252 Polygraph 1987, 16(4)

)

Rank Order Versus Sta.n'jard NUmerical Scoring

Decisions based on rank order difference scores were made with the in::anclusive bo..In:lary set at +/- 13. '!he resulting decisions are also illustrated in Fi~ 4. Decisions based on the rank order difference scores were 61.6% correct, 6.7% incorrect, am 31.7% inconclusive. Excluding in::anclusives, decisions made with the R:l>S were 90.2% (37/41) correct. '!be false negative rate was 5.3% (1/19) am the false positive rate was 13.&% (3/22).

DISalSSlOO

In this study the R:l>S slightly outperformed the standard numerical scoring system develc:p!d at the university of utah. '!be Ja)S achieved a slightly higher .tmJ s; index of predictive parieI' am produoeci ~tely one third fe..'et' false negative errors, althoogh the Ja)S did produce 6.7% IIDre in::anclusives than the standard numerical scoring systan. 'lbe analyses performed in this study in:licate that the scoring system described here as the rank order Scoring system is at least as reliable ani as aocurate a methcd for chart scoring as. is the standard numerical scoring system develc:p!d at the university of utah. '!his is not surprising since the Ja)S m:>re closely models the objective procedures used in statistical decisioo making.

HcweII8r, even if the Ja)S is a\l.y of ecp.ivalent accuracy to traditicnsl rl.lll8rioal scoring, it may still offer a I"I.IIIbIr of advantages. ~ly the IalS is preferable to standard JUDerical scoring since it requires the evaluator to perform sinpler j.Pgments. AdcliticnUly, the Ja)S requires many fewer subjective jUdglll8l1ts ani generally relies m:>re on objective msu"ras than do the starx'Iard JUDerical scoring methods. 'Iherefore, it 8bculd be more reliable. aaross a large ra.mi:ler of examiners. For similar reasons, the Ja)S should be easier to learn than more subjective methods. st:udent:$ are liKely to bee> "18 proficient at R:l>S scoring faster than are stments of standard JUDerical scoring. 'lbus, less class time WQlld need to be devoted to chart analysis ani IIDre time coold be devoted to more critical factors for the e.v;rm; ner, such as the psychological dynamics of the pretest interview. Adcliticnslly, the sillpler nature of the Ja)S will have the practical advantage of being. easier to explain to laymen, ani may be IOOre aooept:able to behavioral scientists who are used to working with rank ordering systems.

However, three cautions regarding this analysis of the Ja)S are in order. '!be data analyzed in this study were obtained fran laboratory studies. '!be degree to which these result generalize to charts obtained in real polygrapt examinatictlS is not known. we believe that they are liKely to have a great deal of generality, bJt that will have to be established by replication with a sauple of charts fran field examinations. 'lbe secorxl area -nere cautioo is required oonoerns the +/- 13 bo..In:lary for the R:l>S in::anclusive zone. Althoogh this study had considerable statistical parieI', the SI.9JeSted boondary should be viewed as just that, a SUl};Jested bo..In:lary. '1lle stability of the ba.ulds of the inccnclusive zone will need to be established in further studies. Finally, 'we have not pxamined the e.ffectiveness of the R:l>S in a mixed issue examination. Oltoffs for the evaluatioo of individual questioos will have to be develc:p!d Ellpirically. until the results of such an analysis are available the R:l>S should be used with great caution in examinations \>here the issues are mixed.

253 Polygraph 1987, 16(4)

/ O'Iarles R. Ib1ts arx:l lawrence N. Driscoll

In SUIIIIBry, the IO:lS was fam:! to be a reliable arx:l valid method for the evaluatioo of sin;Jls issue control queSt:ioo test polygrcq:n c:ilarts--'lhe. ~ slightly outperfoxmed a standard l"AIIDBI'ical scorin:J arx:l wasfam:! to haVe IIIIII1Y conoeptual ard practical advantages aver stamard l"AIIDBI'ical scorin;J. ExZIIIIiners are ~ to cautiQlSly ca1Sider, am experiment-with IO:lS scorin;J pendin;J additic;nu. resom::h.

References

Barlarx:l, G.H., & Raskin, D.C. (1975) • An evaluatioo of field techniques in detec:tioo of deoeptioo. : Psydlcqlysiology, 12, 321-330.

Department of Defense.. (1984). '!he "9?rraGY arx:l utility of polygrattl tpstim. washirqton, D.C.: Department of Defense.

Driscoll, L.N., Honts" C.R., & Jooes, D. (1987) • '!he validity of the positive centrol }:hysiological detectioo of deceptioo tedurique. JoomaJ. of Mige Scierpe am MpiMsyation" l:i, 46-50. ~~ __ u.,m __

Gorden, N.J., " OxbeitU, P.". (1981). 'lhe hmjmm., Ijmrjm sv-t-. tJrplblillhed lIIIImlSCI:'ipt. ~ladelpua: Jca&mtt for Scientific I1MIIItitjatiw· 'l'rainil'q •

Honta, C.R. (l986).' Q:mtemee'llM an;! the pby!IlgJml9'l "-,-r'm at """tim; A myr;tqtMi1rucpkaJ IDI].vaia. ~ished dcctm:al.~~dtSMr-_ tatioo. university of utah, Salt Lake City •.

Hcnts, C.R., paplrin, D.C., " Itirc:her, J .C. (2986, August). <»unter- ' M"'1l'!' an;! the "'tegtioo of rio e ¢iql. Paper pr 5 S lilted at the-.t1ng of the American Psydlological ~\ssociatioo, washi.n;taJ, D.C.

Hcnts, C.R., Raskin, D.C., " KirdIer, J .C. (1987) • Effects ofphysi- -cal ~ arx:l their elect:raayogra}:hc detectioo durin;J polygzapl' test for deoeptioo. Manuscript accepted for p,lblicatial in the Jg'!Di'l of· .'. .. Ps1/'c:b' hvsiology. .~n_

KirdIer, J.C., & Raskin, D.C. (1987). HImIan evaluatiCXlS of pol~ data in a laboratory ~. for p,lblicatioo in the Jg.u:nal ofl\r::pl.ied Psydplogy.

KirdIer, J.C., Hol;owitz; s.W., " Raskin, D.C. (in press). Meta-analysia of m:x:k crillle studies of the control questial pol~ tech-nique. law arx:l Ht!Plf!n Behavior. . ___ ., __ ,_._, .. --' -

Meehl, P.E. (l954). ClW!7J!l versus SNistim1 J?rfrii cti 00. olia: university of Minnesota Press.

Meehl, P.E. (1986) •. · Omses; ard affects of lIlY distUJ:bin;J little b:lak. Jg!lNl of PersqJality 3,,:: !I!IJt;, 20, 370-375. .'-'-'. ,---,~

Nis, N.H., IlIll, (1975). stat1FHknl !i:Graw-Hlll.

C.H;, Jenkins, J .G., steinbrenner, K., & Bent, D.H. !?S!!1Iqpe for the m in1 §9imJ"'. Neil y~-"----

254 Polygraph 1987, 16(4)

,/

/

" Rank Order Versus standard NUmerical Soor~

Office of Techpology ~sses~. (1983). 59ieotific validity of pol,yqradl t=tirp; ,A n o'ni' revi. m:1 eyaluatiR'J - A te1uUseJ Jfl "wt:.:'--~

a (arA-'lM-H-15). ~, D.C.: u.s. Gc7.tamIent Printirg Offioe~~---

Podl.ny, J.A., , Raskin, D.C. (1977). Alysiological ~ and the detec:tioo of deceptioo.Ps)!dp1ogiQ'l B!llletin • .M, 782-799.

Podl.ny, J .A., , Raskin, D.C. (1978) • Eftect:ivv E s of tecbniques and PlYBiological IDMSIJra in the cJetectial of deoeptioo. """'1n'tY'iolcav, 12, 344-359.

PasJdn, D.C. (1986). 'lha polyg ..... :b in 1986: Scientific, pro1l 1CI1Ill and legal i_ ..... ~ awlicatiat and accept:aooe ot polwzdlh'--8II'i-::.::-denoe. tlt:ah lawWw.lB§.29-74.at 43. ",, __ , ___ ,

Pa.kin, D.C. ,,8IIrlan:1, G.H., , I'tldl.ny, J.A. (1977). reliability of ~ of deoepticn. Pclyqrw:h. §, 1-39.

Validity and-

PaeJd.n, D.C., , Haxe, R.D. (1978). PIIyciIqlathy and cJetectial of dlclptiadn a priaal pcpllatial. PIYdn ....... ,9)my,~, 126-136.=~:~:-:-- ~-

TiIIIIII, H.W. (1982). 'Analyzing dacIIptian fI:aD raspiJ:atiaI- pattems. JaP7"l of Mhz 5911OOf1 arx:! Mp!Natp¢fm, lII, 47-51. , ___ . _~ ____ --

waavar, R.S. (1980). 'lha I'UII8t'ical ~uatia1 of polygx4fi CIlaJ:ta: 'Bvol.utial and 0CIIpIriscn of three major systas. PplwLiph, J,-94-108.~ --.

Weaver, R.S. (1985).., Effects of ditferinq ruaerical d1art evaluatioo systa. 00 polygraph examination ~ts. Polygrarh, li, 34 .... 1.

FtQbpt-

1 A CXIIp.Iter assisted polWZcq:tl systan (CAPS) fran Scientific As-mrent TeduJologim, Inc., ested partim sballd cc:nt:act the first author.

APPENDICES

A. A CCIIpleted RlSS scores sheet.

B. A blank RlSS Score sheet.

255

is new <XJ!I!!PTCially avaUable Salt Lake city, utah. Inter-

-------,


Sub jec t _C_-M~l_---,:J:b~ __ \ _~!---__ Oa t~ 6 A ~ ti l \ I 't ~ 3 EXJm i ner C. -tJ.r:J;;. Dec is i on Yelo::.=-'-cq~:.....-\E..:\~I,)!...:e.~ _____ Revi ewed B y --=C.~R-.:.l+-.!-_____ Oa tc .s tJo u 8~

Chart 1 Co\ R\ c~ \~ ";l. '-~ R3

Vasomotor \ ~ 3 4 ~ 5

ResQiration (p ~ S 3 Lf I~ J11 ~o! (p

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5 l'i 1 .> II)I .,~

Lt )t ~ .:::> )( ~ I Cardiovascular ~c ! .u

Subtotal 5 ~3 I~ 15 e, Itt

Ct1art 2 C:? R\ c..\ R~ c..~ R3

Vasomotor , Lf ~ S 3 It>

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Vasomotor ~ S ; =t--; ;( ':? ~ . . 1 1

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Electrodermal \ 5 3 ~fkj ~ 1 ~ ~ !

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Total Total Total Hor02ont<J.l Horozontal Horo2ontal

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Subject ____________________________ Date _____________________ Examiner

Decis1on _______________________ Revie~ed By _________________ Date

Chart :1 __________________________________________________________________ __

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Resp1ration

Electrodermal

Cardiovascular

Subtotal

Chart =2 ______________________________________________________________ __

Vasomotor

Respiration

Electrodermal

Cardiovascular

Subtotal

Chart ~3 __________________________________________________________________ __

Vasomotor

Respiration

Electrodermal

Cardiovascular

Subtotal

TOTALS

Total Horozontal

Score Control

Questions

Total Horozontal

Score Relevant Questions

Total Horozontal

Score Control Minus

Relevant


IATE VEm'EX RJSITIVI'IY IN EVENl'-REIATED roI'ENTIAIS AS A GUILTY ~ INDICA'IOR:

A NEW ME'IHOD OF LIE DEIEcrION

By

J. Peter Rosenfeld, victoria Tepe Nasman, Richard Whalen Brad cantwell, and Lisa Mazzeri

SUbjects were allowed to choose an item to keep fram nine items in a box. '!hey then were shown one of nine words randamly selected on a display screen. One of these words described the chosen item, the others described novel items. '!he subjects were told to try not to react emotionally to any of the words, but to try to defeat this test of deception. It was fOUl')j that large positive waves with latencies between 400 and 700 IDS poststimulus were present in the ERPs to the chosen but not to the novel words.

Presently available methods for detection of deception ("lie detection") are based on the hypothesis that certain physiological indicators reveal when an individual's emotions are specifically aroused by his knowingly enJaging in deception. '!he indicators typically used are respiratory activity, electrodennal response, blood pressure, and pulse. While some institutions and agencies have found them useful, the validity of these methods for standard polygraphic detection of deception has been repeatedly challenged (e.g., Saxe et al., 1985; Kleirnnuntz & Szucki, 1984).

In the present report, we describe a method of deception detection which is novel in two ways" (1) It utilizes brain activity as the (sole) physiological indicator. (2) the Brain activity examined is hypothesized to index to Cognitive (versus emotional) process of recognition. Briefly, a subject is allowed to choose an item fram a box. He is then repeatedly presented with single vert>al stimuli (words); his chosen item is one of the repeatedly presented 9 words, the other 8 items are novel. '!he chosen item is an "oddball" stimulus, in the sense of being the only familiar item among those presented in the test phase. It should thus elicit, in the event-related potential (ERP), the late positive EEX; wave referred to as P300 by other who have utilized s.i.nple auditory oddball stimuli (e.g., sutton, et al., 1965) or vert>al stimuli as rare events in this well-known "oddball paradigm" (IAmcan-Johnson & Ibnchin, 1977).

Previously published in the International Journal of Neuroscience 43 (1987): 125-129. Reprinted with the pennission of the authors and the publisher, Gordon and Breach, Science Publishers, Inc. For copies of reprints contact the author J.P. Rosenfeld, Fh.D., Professor, Departments of Psychology, Neurobiology and Fhysiology, Northwestern University, Cresap Neuroscience Laboratory, Evanston, Illinois 60201.

258


Rosenfeld, Nasman, Whalen, cantwell & Mazzeri

MEIHOD

EEx:; activity fran only one active electrode at vertex was recorded. '!his site was referenced to the left mastoid with the subject groun::led at the right mastoid. Electrode resistances were maintained below 7 K-ohrns. Signals were anplified by a Grass PSll anplifier with 3 db filter cutoffs set to pass signals between 0.3 am 30Hz. '!he anplified signals were then digitized on-line by an a-bit AID converter with one data point being acquired every 3 IllS. A z-ao type microcx:mp.tter then averaged the ERPs into appropriate meI'lDzy buffers. '!he same CCIllpUter controlled all stimulus presentations am experimental events.

'!he subject was seated in the laboratozy am presented with a box of 9 items. He was told to choose the item in the box he would like to keep if he could. He then wrote a 100 word essay giving his reasons. '!hen he went to a neart>y display tenninal where a list of the 9 boxed items was shown. '!he subject privately entered his chosen item number am returned to a seat.

'!he items in the box fran which the subjects made choices were a 33 mm camera, a string of pearls, a princess style wall phone, a box of 35 mm film, a dollar bill, a wallet, a watch, a synthetic ruby ring, am a bag of coins. '!he corresporrling list on the display tenninal showed, "1. CAMERA," "2. PEARLS," "3. FHONE," "4. FIIM," "5 • OOLIAR," "7. WALIEl'," "a. RING," and "9. OOINS."

'!hen the subject was instructed as follO'ilJS:

"You are going to see a series of many words on the screen flashed, one at a time, every 2 seconds. Only a few words are used by each will be repeated several times. '!he word corresporx:ling to the item you chose before may be one of the words which will be repeated several times. You must pay attention at all times to the screen, so you won't be able to help noting on each trial whether or not this chosen word occurs, but tzy not to react one way or another to it. Try to imagine you are a thief and have just stolen the chosen item. Imagine you are taking a lie detector test and you }mow what you stole but you don't want to react and get caught. We think we will be able to read your mirrl am figure out what your chosen word is, based on your brain's response to your seeing this word. We encourage you to tzy to deceive us by saying 'no' to yourself each time you see the chosen word, but we think our lie detector will read your mirrl anyway. By the way, our eye electrodes will alert us if you are not focusing on the words on the screen, so, as we said, you must pay attention.

"Any question? OK, now you tell me what will be going on and what you will be doing.

"Try not make eye or face or head and body movements. If you must blink, blink between trials just before you anticipate the display going off. "

After being instructed am making a choice , silver-silver chloride electrodes for ERP recording were attached to the head. Also, electrodes were attached above am below the right eye for detection of eye movements.

259


ERP as a Method of Lie Detection

'!his activity was anplified arrl continuously IOC>nitored on an oscilloscope durirg the session. rata fran subjects showirg IOC>re than 10 eye IOC>Vements durirg the recording epoch of the 200 trials of a session were discarded.

'!he subject was then seated in an all-metal, electrically-shielded chamber with a display tenninal 0.9 meter in front of him. Every 2 s, a sirgle word a~ on the screen. '!he words were of 4-7 letters each, with each letter beirg 0.7 em by 0.7 em. '!he words came on 100 ms after the AID converter began sanplirg arrl remained on for the duration of the poststimulus recording epoch = 1470 ms. '!here were 9 possible words from which one was rarrlomly selected by a rarrlom-event routine for presentation on a given trial. '!he rarrlam-event routine was subject to the restriction that no two consecutive trials would present the same word. since there were 200 trials in all, each word was repeated 18-26 times durirg the run. Of the set of 9 words used, one was the subject's chosen item and the other 8 were novel items, comparable in various attributes (associative strength, utility, dollar value, etc.) to the boxed items. '!hese novel items were: (1) "W1PASS," (2) "DIAM)N!)," (3) "CASSEITE," (4) "BEIL," (5) "B)()K," (6) BRACElEI'," (7) "RADIO," (8) ''MEDM...'' '!he novel words were like the chosen word in size, intensity, duration of exposure, etc.

'!he 18 to 26 ERPs for each sirgle word were averaged into a separate computer :rnert¥:>ry buffer. In addition, we obtained average to all novel words. '!hese average ERP wavefonns were printed on paper after each run. '!he computer also stored the waves on floppy disk. Off-line analysis involved two procedures: (1) a series of 175 ms-long wave segment averages was obtained for all sequential segments between 400 and 700 ms poststimulus presentation. (In paradigms comparable to this in the use of verbal stimuli and recognition IUel'OC)ry, the P300 wave is usually fourrl to occur at about a 550 ms latency; e.g., Fabiani et al., 1986). '!he IOC>St positive average is recorded as the late positive wave anplitude. (2) '!he average anplitude between 400 and 700 ms is recorded as the dependent measure. '!he fonner method tends to correct very conservatively for latency jitter; the latter method has been reported to produce anplitude measures which correlate well with factor-scores in principal component analysis (Pritchard. et al., 1986). All anplitude measures were derived by subtraction from the pretrial Effi baseline sanple.

Ten subjects, all nonnal urxiergraduates, were run in the experimental condition as described above. six control subjects were run exactly as described above (Le., they chose items from the box) except that they never saw their chosen words durirg the ERP recordirg session; an experimenterchosen novel item ("RUBY") was entered instead.

Upon visual inspection of averaged ERPs, it was clear that all but one subject in the experimental condition showed distinct positive peaks in waves within the 400-700 ms segment in the averaged response to chosen words. '!he average responses to novel words were flat durirg the critical time band. '!his was also true of all average ERPs in the control condition. Some exanples are shown in Figures 1 and 2. '!hese figures represent the two types of late vertex positive responses we obsenred to chosen stimuli in

260



this study: In Figure 1, there appears to be a distinct single peak in the critical t.ilne bam. In Figure 2, there is a broad area showin] positivity. Five experilnental subj ects were of the type shown in Figure 1, four were of the type shown in Figure 2. statistical analysis confinned visual inspection: '!he mean of the average amplitude measures for chosen stimuli in experilnental. subjects differed fram a comparable mean of average amplitudes in these subjects at beyon:l the p<.001 level of significance in a repeatedmeasures (correlated, 2-tailed) t-test. (Since there were 8 measures per subject for novel VlOrds but only I for chosen VlOrds, the novel word measure chosen for analysis fram the Nth subject to be nm was the Nth VlOrd in the set of novel VlOrds. N was reset to I after the first 8 subjects were nm.) In the one experilnental. subject who, in effect, "beat the test" on info:rmal visual inspection criteria, the actual positive amplitude to the chosen item was larger than the amplitude of 7 of 8 responses to novel stimuli. (strategies for resistin] the test will be considered in a forthcoming paper.)

FIGURE 1

Averaged ERPs, for one experilnental subject, to the novel word "RADIO" (top trace, N=20), the novel word "DIAM:>ND" (secon:l trace, N=22), the chosen word "CAMERA" (third trace N=21), am to all novel words (bottom trace, N=179). Positivity is up. '!he bracket below the third trace begins at 400 IDS.

poststimulus am en::lures to 700 IDS. '!he height of the sides of this in:licator correspon:ls to 3 V. stimulus onset is coincident with trace onset.

lW",

, ......... .. '\\

'., -,\:.

''''''''~':<'.': ..... < .... :.\ . .'.~\ .• :.,...;, .... ~;\,. /:.' •. '::/:<'.\",~ ,~.)<\.,..".\ .. '--___ -I 'v,'l

261


ERP as a Method of Lie Detection

FIGURE 2

Exactly as in Figure 1 except for a different subject with the N values from the tq> down bei.rg 19, 21, 21, arrl 179 respectively. Also, a different chosen word ("PHONE") was used.

DISa.JSSION

'!he present paradigm makes it possible to detect whether or not a given item is especially familiar to a subject in same way. SUch items could be stolen items, private or classified documents, weapons, faces of missi.rg persons, or of line-up suspects, am so on. the present use of the P300 wave to irrlex CXJgnitive vertlal recognition is based on work by others including Fabiani et ale (1986). '!hese studies differ from the present one in at least two related ways: (1) '!he previous studies were not configured specifically as deception detection paradigms. (2) Both novel words arrl previously seen words in the previous studies were never repeated within the ERP collection nm: Le., the average ERP to previously seen words was an ERP average of responses to a series of all different words; the average to novel words, was likewise an average of response to all different novel words. '!his latter paradigm may not be suited to field procedures for detection of deception since it is usually a si.rgle item (the murder weapon, the stolen item, etc.) which is involved in a real crime.

262



Finally, the present paradigm cor:re.spc:>OOs to what is known in the lie-detection ccmmmity as "guilty-knowledge" test (Lykken, 1959), as opposed to the nore frequently utilized "control question" test (Reid & Inbau, 1977). '!here is no reason why the latter teclmique cannot be utilized with ERP irxlicators, an::l we are presently researching such an approach. Both new methods, while premising, are presently in a primitive stage of develc.pne.nt an::l in need of refinement as well as field validation.

References

D.mcan-Jdmson, C.C., & Donchin, E. (1977). On quantifying sw:prise: '!he variation of even-related potentials with subjective probability. Psychophysiology, 14, 456-467.

Fabiani, M., Karis, D., & Donchin, E. (1986). PJOO an::l recall in an incidental meroc>:ry paradigm. PsychophYSiology, 23, 298-308.

Kleinmuntz, B., & Szucki, J.J. (1984). Lie detection in ancient an::l modern times. American Psychologist, 39, 776.

Lykken, D.T. (1959). '!he GSR in the detection of guilt. JOUITlal of Applied Psychology, 43, 385-388.

Pritchard, W.S., Brarrlt, M.E., & Barratt, E.S., (1986). Analyzing event-related potentials: '!he utility of high an::l low pass filtering in iInproving the relationship between various amplitude measures an::l principal components analysis factor scores. Psychophysiology, 23, 166-172.

Reid, J .E. & Inbau, F .E. (1977). Truth an::l deception, the polygraph tech~ (2m ed.) • Baltinore: Williams an::l wilkins Co.

Saxe, L., Dougherty, D., & Cross, T. (1985). '!he validity of polygraph testing. American Psychologist, 40, 355-366.

sutton, S., Braren, M., Zubin, J., & John, E.R. (1965). Evoked-Potential correlates of stiInulus uncertainty. Science, 150, 1187-1188.

* * * * * *

263


IMPROVING roLYGRAIH TRAINING AND RESEARCH S'I'ANIl2\RIE: A REroRI' 'ill '!HE DEPARIMENT OF DEFENSE

BY '!HE DEPARIMENT OF DEFENSE IOLYGRAFH INSTI'IUI'E SIUDY GRaJP

By

Gordon H. Barlarrl, Ph. D., Chainnan MeJnbers:

Heidi Herlx>ld-wootten, Dr. rer, nat. Martin T. Orne, M.D., Ph.D.

William Yankee, Ph. D. Consultants :

David Dinges, Ph.D. '!homas F. Wootten, Cdr, USN (Ret.)

SUImnary of the Maj or Findings arrl Reconunerrlations

'!he Study Group was tasked to evaluate the capability of the Deparbnent of Defense Polygraph Institute (IbDPI) to meet the needs mandated by Congress. To this end the Group evaluated all aspects of IbDPI arrl makes the following findings arrl reconunerrlations.

1. '!he IbD Polygraph Institute is an outstanding polygraph institute arrl has an excellent record of training polygraph examiners for the IbD arrl civilian federal agencies.

2. '!he IbD Polygraph Institute has exparxied its training threefold within the confines of its current facilities to meet the federal directive. '!his has severely strained the current staff arrl facilities arrl thereby may ultimately corrpromise the quality of training. '!he Study Group strongly recornrnerrls that additional facilities be built.

3. '!he IbD Polygraph Institute provides a high level of training by having each student corrluct practice polygraph examinations on as many as fifty volunteer soldiers. '!hese learning experiences are useful for making students familiar with polygraph equipment arrl field procedures. However, the results of this training should be objectively measured by the Institute to assess the effectiveness of each student, the effectiveness of the training methods, arrl to detennine the most effective polygraph procedures. '!his will require significant changes in the roles of both students arrl faculty in these exercises.

4. It is essential that the Institute develop a strong arrl continuing polygraph research effort. '!his would not only facilitate the inplementation of program evaluation of the kirrl outlined above, but also permit the Institute to continually assess novel arrl promising technology relevant to inproving the detection of deception. Without an active ongoing research

'!his final report was submitted to the Defense Deparbnent on April 7, 1987.

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Defense Training and Research

conp:ment, it will not be possible for the DoD Polygraph Institute to meet the Co~ional ma.rrlate to assess the effectiveness of the detection of deception in security screeni.rg as well as in criminal investigation or to appropriately upgrade the training and practice of polygraphy within the federal government.

5. '!he Institute's training program should be developed along the line of a professional school (analogous to law, medicine or dentistry, rather than either a vocational school, such as mechanical arts, or an academic program, such as Doctor of RriIOSOJ;ily degree in Arts or Sciences). As a professional school, DoDPI can include a high level of academic instnlction while at the same time assuring sophistication in practical skills and technical expertise regarding polygraphy. Same faculty members should be recruited from sources outside the pool of Federal polygraph examiners to minimize intellectual inbreeding. A date should be set after which all faculty members should have master's or doctoral-level degrees. '!he psychology and physiology blocks of instnlction should be taught by full time members of the Institute faculty qualified in those disciplines to allOYl better integration into the curriculum. Students should be graded academically in the academic instnlction.

6. Once the most urgent dernarrl for increased numbers of examiners has been satisfied, the course should be exparrled to present a broader scope of polygraph and academic subjects, such as increased errphasis on psychophysiology and social-psychological factors, conditional probabilities with high and 10Yl base rates for deception, decision-making strategies, and the guilty knowledge test. '!he practia.nn should also be exparrled to allOYl application of the additional classroom infonnation.

7. '!he Institute should seek. affiliation with a major university. In addition to offering the basic training course, the Institute should work with the university to create a Master's degree program and a doctoral program in academic disciplines relating to the detection of deception. '!hese programs should be offered to experienced federal examiners who are selected for polygraph research positions or senior polygraph quality control or policy-making positions, as well as to graduate students from academia who are not polygraph examiners but are interested in pursuing research in that area.

mrROIXJCrION

In 1982 DoD proposed that its use of the polygraph be exparrled to include aperiodic camterintelligence (CI) screening of DoD personnel who have access to highly sensitive infonnation. Ircplementation of this proposal was delayed by congressiOnal concerns about the accuracy of the polygraph in screening situations, the quality and training of the examiners who would conduct the tests, and possible infringements of such tests on the rights of those who would be required to take a polygraph examination. '!he Office of Technology Assessment reviewed the scientific literature in 1983. '!heir report concluded that there were not sufficient data to detennine hOYl accurate the polygraph is, especially in screeni.rg situations where a 10Yl base rate for deception would be expected to cause extensive false positive

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Defense Training am Research

errors. DoD issued a report in 1984 which also concluded that there was not sufficient scientific evidence to estimate the polygraIil's acx::uracy in security screenirg; but the DoD report pointed out that - part from the issue of the acx::uracy of chart interpretation - the use of the polygraJ;i1 technique resulted in <i:>taining security infonnation not available through other means, am that its prestnned effectiveness in the detection of deception serves as a deterrent to potential spies.

Con:Jress authorized DoD to use the polygraIil for certain security screenirg prrposes on a pilot basis with appropriate congressional oversight. '!he pilot program was limited to 3,500 counterintelligence-scope examinations in FY 1985, 3,500 in FY 1986, am 7,000 in FY 1987. Because these ceilin;s were beyorrl the capability of the DoD polygraph resources, DoD directed the Anny to serve as executive agent for polygraph training for DoD c::catp)I1eI1ts am other non-DoD federal agencies, am to exparrl its trainin:J facility at Ft. Md::lellan to aCCOltllOOdate 108 students annually. On April 15, 1986 the PolygraJ;i1 Examiner Training Course of the u.s. Anny Military Police School becane the Department of Defense Polygraph Institute (DoDPI). '!here were two primary prrposes of urqradlnJ am exparrling the program at DoDPI. One was to meet the requirement for increased polygraph security screenirg without sacrificin:J training starrlards. '!he other equally inp>rtant p.n:pose was the creation of a DoD polygraph capability for assessin:J am i.Irprovin:J the acx::uracy of the polygraph in all DoD applications.

SOOPE, MEIHOIE, AND SCXJRCES USED BY '!HE DoDPI SlUDY GROUP

'!he p.n:pose of this study group was to evaluate the adequacy of the Defense PolygraIil Institute am to make recanune.rmtions conce:rning possible i.Irprovements. '!he group began its work by reviewin:J pertinent policies am reports, incl\.ldin:J DoD Regulation 5210. 48-R, DoD Polygraph Program, dated January 1985; Anny Regulation 195-6, Department of the Anny Polygraph Activities, dated 1 September 1980; am the GAO Briefin:J Report on DoD's Trainin:J Program for PolygraIil Examiners, dated December 1985.

'!he group devoted a week (March 30 through April 4, 1986) for an onsite visit to Ft. Md::lellan to inspect the DoDPI. '!he group was briefed by Mr. Ronald Decker, the chief instnlctor am by Mr. John Schwartz, an instru.ctor at the Institute. Meetin;s were held with OOL McFarlam, Assistant Cc:mnalxlant, USAMPS, am with I.lI'C Westerrlick, Chief of the Resource Management of the Department of Evaluation am st:an:Iardization (roES), USAMPS. Fhysical facilities of DoDPI, incl\.ldin:J the Resource Center at USAMPS, were examined. Dlrin:J the week, in-depth irrlividual interviews of all DoDPI faculty members were carried out. F\lrther, nost of the students atterrlin:J the class that was then in session were interviewed, as was a member of the USAMPS Directorate of Evaluations am Starrlards (roES), who was irrleperrlently evaluatin:J the polygraIil course at that time. '!he group was given full access to the lesson plans for every class; these am the Program of InstJ:uction were carefully assessed. At the conclusion of the on-site inspection IG stem, Ccmnandant of the US Anny Military Police School, was briefed.

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Defense Trai.nil'g an:l Research

After leaving Ft. McClellan, the chainnan of the study group interviewed polygraIil managenent an:l quality control personnel fran the Anny (both MI an:l CID), Navy, Air Force an:l the National Security Agercy. Follow-up interviews were also c:orrlucted with several of the students after they had graduated an:l assumed their duties as examiners. '!his approach provided the ~rtunity to evaluate the school fran the perspective of the students an:l faculty, as well as the ern user.

HISIDRY OF '!HE mSITlUl'E

'!he Anny polygraIil school was fonned in 1951 as part of the Provost Marshal General's School at Ft. Gordon, Georgia. Originally interned to train Anny persormel as polygraph examiners, the course was subsequently expcm:led to accept students fran all of the U. s. Anned services an:l some nornnilitary federal agencies. !)]ring its 36-year history, the school has trained approximately 1,250 examiners, an average of about 35 per year. '!he school's orientation was toward criminal investigation, with the result that the CIA an:l NSA, whose prilnary need was for polygraphic screening, trained their examiners elsewhere. '!hus, about half of all federal polygraph examinations were corxlucted by graduates of the Anny polygraph school. within the realm of criminal testing, the Anny polygraph school earned a reputation of being perl1aps the finest polygraIil school in the world.

In the late 1960' s the polygraph school was reassigned to the U. S. Anny Military Police School (USAMPS) at Ft. Gordon, which took over the functions of the Provost Marshal General's School. '!he polygraph course was relocated to Ft. McClellan, Alabama when USAMPS m:wed there in 1975. With the exp0-nential increase necessitated by the marrlated security screening examinations, the school expcm:led its trai.nil'g in this area as it became the Department of Defense PolygraIil Institute (DoDPI) in 1986. '!he Institute remained at Ft. McClellan, an:l the Anny was designated the executive agercy to support the Institute on behalf of DoD.

'!he Institute is now interned to teach three 14-week courses per year, each of which has up to 36 students, for a maxinn.nn annual output of 108 examiners; this is a three-fold increase in its student load. In addition, DoDPI also offers annually two 3-week advanced courses and a refresher course.

!)]ring its history, the Institute pioneered in assilnilating the various concepts an:l techniques that had proven useful in the field. '!he Institute has st.arrlards an:l practices that exceed those of many polygraph schools. For exanple, IIDSt polygraIil schools have 7-week courses, while the Institute's course lasts 14 weeks. While IIDSt schools provide few practice examinations in IOOCk crime situations, 30 to 50 such examinations are provided students at the Institute. '!he Institute has long taught all major test techniques, an:l sought to teach an urrlerstan:ling of the strengths and lilnitations of each. '!he Institute helped institutionalize mnnerical chart scoring techniques. '!he Institute continues to playa major role in providing a IOOdel for the teaching of polygraIily an:l in upgrading st.arrlards within the polygraIil canmunity.

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Defense Trainil"g arrl Research

'!he educational IOOdel used at the Institute is that of a vocational trainil"g center. '!he entilasis to date has been on the assimilation of the tedmical arrl procedural skills necessary to corrluct polygraph examinations. '!his is a consequence of the origins of the polygraph tedmique: it was developed pragmatically by users who were interested in practical results. It was not until the 1960' s that serious scientific research on lie detection started arrl only in the last ten years that lie detection has been recognized by the scientific camnunity as an area of legitilnate theoretical interest arrl research activity.

Recent discussions in the scientific literature regarding lie detection have raised questions dealing with the incidence of false positive arrl false negative errors in different subpopulations, the effect of various base rates for deception on error rates, arrl the role of extrapolygraphic information on the accuracy of decisions. SUch discussions have raised concerns that nust be addressed by the Institute, both in its curriculum arrl its research. '!he polygraph field starrls on the threshold of computer aided chart analysis arrl IlDre sc::pristicated methods of decision-making. Because of the tedmician approach to trainil"g, ItDst examiners have only a limited umerstarrling of these issues arrl trenjs. '!he fonnation of the Institute provides an opportunity for upgrading the polygraph field from that of the skilled tedmician to that of the true professional. An iIrportant step in that direction would be to shift the orientation from that of a vocational school to that of a professional IOOdel. Appen:iix A discusses the rationale arrl some of the inplications of the proposed change.

'!he research literature in lie detection is burgeoning. More books arrl articles on lie detection have been published in the last ten years than in the previous sixty. It is unfortunate that a number of the studies -- some corrlucted by scientists, others by the polygraph camnunity - contain serious flaws which cloud the issue. '!he root of the problem lies with the lack of scientific trainil"g by polygraph examiners arrl the lack of polygraph trainil"g by many of the researchers in academia. More realistic research paradigms are evolving for studying the polygraph's accuracy in controlled situations; new statistical tedmiques such as ROC cw:ves are uniquely suited for analyzing polygraph accuracy; arrl computer methods which require specialized trainil"g are being developed for polygraph research.

'!he solution to the problem of haphazard research lies partly in providing scientific training to selected polygraph examiners arrl partly in offering polygraph researchers from academia the opportunity to atterrl workshops or seminars on special polygraph research procedures at the Institute arrl, in selected cases, to umergo polygraph trainil"g at the Institute at government expense. '!his would help ensure that research contracts let by the Institute arrl other government agencies will result in higher quality, IlDre realistic studies applicable to government polygraph usage. '!he Institute should have a line item in its budget for trainil"g researchers in polygraph research methodology arrl polygraph examination tedmiques. It should also allocate a couple of the 108 annual student slots for researchers, arrl announce them with sufficient lead time to allow researchers to schedule their attendance.

268



Worthwhile research results which have been replicated must be incorporated into the Institute's curriculum as early as feasible. It is essential that the Institute have an or:qoin;J, effective means of screening new ideas, concepts, am instrumentation to detennine whether they should be incorporated into the curriculum. Although the Institute's research division will be intimately involved in testin;J these concepts, this winn<:Min;J is so crucial it should t.ranscerrl the Institute. '!he Polygraph Advisory Cctmnittee specified in D:>D Regulation 5210.78 should provide advice to the Institute on these matters.

PROGRAM E.VAIlJATION

'!he major difficulty con.cerni.r:q the use of the polygraph is that in life situations tnlth is not known. For this reason, D:>DPI efforts aimed at upgradir:q polygraphy have involved the teachin;J of appropriate techniques am procedures, in an effort to have students learn to reliably score am evaluate charts. However, there has been no systematic attenpt at the Institute to assess the students' competence as polygraphers. Although, as part of their training, all students at D:>DPI examine 35 to 50 irrlividuals in mock crime or personnel screening situations where ground tnlth is known, no programmatic approach has been urrlertaken at the Institute to utilize the results of these tests as a means of assessin;J student competence on the one hand am the effectiveness of training on the other.

Clearly, D:>DPI is in the fortunate position of bein;J able to assess the effectiveness of the student polygraphers over the period of their training. SUch opportunities are rare in a trainin;J situation, am the various services go to great effort am expense to provide such opportunities. Consider the training of an infantry soldier in marksmanship. He is taught how to use a rifle, how to clean am field strip it, am the proper am effective way of shootin;J a rifle. However, the proof of training is whether the soldier learns how to shoot with high accuracy. '!his does not, of course, mean that the soldier who shoots well on the firin;J rar:qe will also shoot well in combat. Great effort am in;Jenuity has been employed to create firin;J rar:qes that involve unexpected targets, uncontrolled corrlitions am anxiety-producin;J situations. '!he trainee's perfonnance is assessed in the course of training. Equally ilnportant, the quality of training is also assessed by the trainee's perfonnance. It is not enough to show that trainees cornpletin;J the program are good marksmen -- they could have been so before they began training. However, as one charts the overall ilTIprovement of trainees over time, it is possible to assess the effect of training am to detennine what kin:i of m::xllfications in training procedures are effective.

It is suggested that an analogous approach be taken at the D:>DPI for the training of students. In the past, there were no systenatic records of how well trainees learned to correctly identify deception. '!he Institute uses a go/no-go method to assess perfonnance, am the criteria involve procedural competence, but are totally unrelated to a criterion measure of skill in the detection of deception, which is of course the raison d'etre of

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Defense Trainirg am Research

such trainirg. In IOOSt life situations a meaningful criterion IOOaSUre is difficult to develop. In this instance, hCMever, it is clearly available am needs only to be utilized.

If the practice examinations are to be used to assess the competency of the students, it becames essential to know whether an error of classification is due to the student's lack of skill in chart evaluation or whether a highly competent examiner (i.e., the instnlctor) would not have cane to the correct conclusion. 'lherefore, the instructors, as well as the students, would need to be blirxi conc::ernin;J the guilty or irmocence of the examinee -a major procedural chan:Je fran the present practice. Appenlix B provides detailed suggestions about hCM the practice polygraph examinations should be structured to facilitate IbDPI's evaluation of the effectiveness of the trainirg.

In addition to providing on-going evaluation of trainirg, the Institute as a whole could provide answers about many crucial issues that would otherwise require massive research efforts. 'lhus, the infonnation that is essential to develop appropriate evaluation teclmiques will yield the database for a significant research program. For exanple, one aspect of this database will be the possibility of detennining the kirxi of backgrourrl am experiences that are IOOSt helpful to a polygrapher's ability to detect deception. 'lhese might relate to personality factors, the type of investigative experience, am even the particular agency from whence the trainee came am the opportunities to have learned skills relevant to the detection of deception prior to entering the Institute. 'lhese kirxis of data would then begin to provide an objective basis for deciding who should be trained in polygraphy.

A great many questions can also readily be addressed within the task of evaluating the student's progress and the effectiveness of the Institute's trainirg program. 'lhese include, but are not lllnited to, questions about tedmigue (such as which kirxi of question fonmllation is IroSt effective, whether control questions should or should not be discussed in detail, the utility of canputer scoring); social-psychological questions (such as whether the subject's belief in the effectiveness of the polygraph matters, the importance of being IOOtivated to deceive); am psychophysiological questions (such as whether the deception by different individuals is lOOre likely to be identified in different physiological systems, whether other novel physiological or cognitive parameters might be effective as adjuncts to existing technology) •

'lhus, the procedures that nrust be implemented to evaluate the student's progress in trainirg am the Institute's effectiveness are also those that fonn the basis of a research program designed to answer both basic am applied questions about the detection of deception. Without highly trained research personnel, the evaluation procedures will not be implemented, am without the opportunity to do research, first-rate scientific personnel will have insufficient IOOtivation to seriously consider a research position at the Institute. Considering the importance of the issues am the alIOOst trivial cost of providing both evaluation and research c::on:p:>nents (one will not ftmction without the other), it is essential that these c::on:p:>nents be established am their integrity ensured.

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Defense Trainirg am Research

It is vital that IbDPI develop an active, strong am irrleperrlent research program to assure the capability of meeting its congressional mandate. '!he Institute has the capability of becoming a major polygraIXl research institution siInilar to the National Institute of Police Science in 'Ibkyo, which has corxiucted IOOre scientific research in lie detection over the past twenty years than pertlaps any other laborato:ry in the world. '!he Defense PolygraIXl Institute has several l.ll1..ique assets for corxiucting certain types of research IOOre efficiently than can be done elsewhere.

A large rnnnber of subjects are put through IOOCk cri.Ioos am are given polygra.!Xl examinations for trainirg purposes. '!he fact that no research data are being cbtained fran those subjects is a waste of a valuable resource. '!he Institute has the capability of seIVing as an economical source of research data regarding the relative effectiveness of various test formats, scoring systems, polygraph sensors, etc., nnlch in the way that the cancer Research. Institute is able to screen large numbers of drugs each year for effectiveness.

In view of the magnitude of the research effort required to obtain answers to the broad range of questions regarding the polygraIXl, the minimum critical mass needed for the research division is at least three scientists am three support personnel. '!he director of the research division should be a scientist with a Rl. D. in psychophysiology or experimental psychology. 'IWo scientists with degrees in scx::ial am cognitive psychology, psychophysiology, or experimental psychology are needed to collect am analyze data am to supezvise contracted research. Both should be well versed in research design am methodology, statistics, am related skills. '!he research division should also include at least two research assistants am an administrative assistant.

'!here are a rnnnber of areas ilrportant to IbD which are in need of research. '!he IOOSt urgent include:

1. Detennining the accuracy of security screening examinations. Ho;"r often do false negative am false positive errors occur urrler typical base rates for deception? How can potential errors be identified? Ho;"r can the overall accuracy of screening examinations be inproved?

2. Detennining the accuracy of the polygraph tec1mique with truthful criIninal suspects. '!his is one of the IOOSt controversial issues within the scientific c::annnunity, am has inplications regarding the error rates to be expected in screening situations.

3. Detennining the effectiveness of various count:enneasures with different types of polygraIXl tests. Means of detecting am neutralizing the use of countenneasures nn.lst also be developed.

4. Detennining the IOOSt accurate method of decision-making in various types of polygraIXl testing situations. Of the several systems of numerically scoring the charts, which is the IOOSt effective for miniInizing false

271



positive errors? False negative errors? Is camputer analysis of IX>lygraph charts IlDre ac:x::urate than the decisions of the clinical examiner?

'!here are many other research topics that are of interest to the Deparbnent of Defense. '!he research function of the DoD Polygraph Institute is essential to the lolXJ rarge administration of an effective DoD IX>lygraph program, and should be considered to be of at least equal inp:>rtance to the educational function of the Institute.

In addition to the in-house research effort at the Institute, it is ilnperative that the research division have an adequate budget for grantiIXJ research contracts to qualified scientists in academia and private enterprise. '!hat is necessary in part because the number of questions that have been raised alx>ut the IX>lygraph far exceeds the initial capabilities of the research division. Contracted research would also serve as a check against the biases inherent in any in-house research program.

NEED FOR ADDITIONAL FACILITIES

DlriIXJ the group's site visit, it became obvious that the present facilities lilnit the quality of the exparxied IX>lygraph training program. '!he main buildiIXJ, even though supplemented by a temp:>rary annex, is too small for the current teachiIXJ load. '!he faculty must share the few desks available, and a number of the instru.ctors are usiIXJ the observation rooms as makeshift offices. '!he overcravdiIXJ creates unacceptable noise levels when IX>lygraph examinations are beiIXJ corrlucted. '!he classroom is inadequate for use as a lecture hall or auditorium. '!he library needs to be exparxied considerably, and there is no space available for research.

It has been IX>inted out (GAO reIX>rt, 1985) that a new buildilXJ may not be justified because the colXJreSS any year may tenninate the requirement for the current level of IX>lygraph training. Obviously, training requirements will fluctuate to some degree from one year to the next. HOW'ever, for reasons that are detailed in Appendix C, the requirement for trainiIXJ IX>lygraph examiners is likely to remain at levels significantly higher than they have been in the past. It seems unlikely that the training requirement will be reduced, to 1983 levels. HOW'ever, even if that were to occur, the requirement for scientifically acceptable research remains. Quality research requires a laboratory containing proper recording equipment, computers, and adequate space for the research staff to analyze the data. IengtheniIXJ the basic course and providiIXJ additional advanced and specialized courses also increases the need for a larger facility.

StrolXJ leadership, adequate scientific support, and independence of the Institute will be essential to create the kind of program that over ti1ne will provide the needed answers about the effectiveness of the IX>lygraph, alx>ut the effectiveness of the training, and about the scientific bases urnerlyiIXJ the use of the IX>lygraph for the detection of deception, which the colXJreSS, the Deparbnent of Defense, and the scientific community have lolXJ desired.

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REFERENCES

1. Scientific Validity of Polygraph Testing: A Research Review and Evaluation - A Technical MenK>ram.um (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 0l'A-'IM-H-15, November 1983).

2. '!he Accuracy and utility of Polygraph Testing. Departnv:mt of Defense, Washington, D.O., 1984.

3. '!he IX>D Security Review Cctmnission. Keeping the Nation's Secrets: A Report to the Secretal:y of Defense by the Commission to Review IX>D Security Policies and Procedures. Office of the Secretal:y of Defense, 19 November 1985.

4. united states General Accounting Office. Briefing Report for the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Anned Services, United states Senate. IX>D's Training Program for Polygraph Examiners. December 31, 1985. File number GAOjNSIAD-86-33BR.

Introduction

APPENDIX A '!HE aJRRIaJIIJM

'!he Institute's polygraph course consists of 530 hours, of which al:x>ut 35 percent are classroom instru.ction and the rernaimer is practical exercises. '!he classroom portion is organized around four major subjects: polygraph theory and administration (3 to 4 percent of the total course), polygraph management and administration (5 to 6 percent), polygraph examination procedure (20 percent), and the evaluation of mental and physical fitness of the examinee (5 to 7 percent) .

It is reccmnended that the Institute shift toward a more professional model, for reasons explained belOVI. '!he amount of instruction on the legal aspects of polygraph, psychology, anatomy, and physiology is about right, if the lecture material is properly selected for examiners, which is not yet the case. '!here are a number of classroom subj ects that should be introduced into the curriculum or expanded. Increasing the amount of academic instruction will give the Institute's graduates a broader understanding of the issues involved in the detection of deception. '!he additional classroom instruction should not be accomplished at the expense of decreasing the time spent in practical exercises, for the number of practice sessions is one of the major stren;Jt.hs of the Institute. Rather, the duration of the course should be exterrled to accommodate the additional instruction. '!here is no predetennined ratio of academic and practical exercises that should be achieved. '!he ideal ratio should be detennined empirically.

Revision of the Lesson Plans

Dlring the on-site visit, the study group inspected the lesson plans. '!he group was unable to recannnend detailed changes in the pans, as the plans consist of thousarrls of pages, and the recannnended changes would be legion.

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Defense Tra:inin;J am Research

'Ihe lesson plans need to be fully revised to brinJ them up to proper academic stamards arx'i brin:J them up to date. Although many of the changes would be of an editorial nature, it was obvious that there are also major changes in entnasis that should be made UTrler the guidance of the polygraPl advisory ccmnittee.

Teachirg nethcrls

'!he first foor weeks of instruction is devoted primarily to lectures, supplemented with harrlout materials arx'i videotapes. 'Ihe last ten weeks are based on le.nni.m by doin:J. Except for the videotapes am two topics that have a progranm:rl text, no other educational technology is beinJ utilized.

'Ihe Plysiology am psychology blocs appear to be taught as disciplines distinct fran polygraPl nethodology. 'Ihey are taught by guest lecturers fran a neamy university. Perhaps because those lecturers have had no experience in corrluctinJ polygraPl examinations, the students found it difficult to relate the material to polygraPlY. 'Ihe problem of relevance is c::orrpourrled by the fact that the guest lecturers are unavailable durinJ other portions of the course, making it hard for their material to be integrated into the actual polygraPl examinations.

'Ihese topics should be taught by a psychologist am a psychophysiologist who are intimately familiar with the issues am techniques of polygraPlYas well as their own discipline; ideally, they should be fullti.ne members of the Institute's faculty. In addition to presentinJ videotapes arx'i charts fran actual cases to illustrate appropriate psychological am Plysiological teachin:J points, appropriate lecture material from psychology can be referred to when it is observed by the psychologist in the videotapes of the pretest inteI:views durin:J the practicums. Similarly, the psychoPlysiologist can point out relevant illustrations observed in the polygraPl charts obtained during the practictnnS. 'Ihis would sen:ve to relate the topics to polygraPl examinations in meaningful ways.

'Ihe teachin:J of chart interpretation would be enhanced through the use of reproductions of polygraPl charts from actual examinations, such as the FBI uses in their polygraPl tra:inin;J courses at the Academy in Quantico. Videotapes of live cases would be useful. Tra:inin;J tapes using professional actors portraying problem situations might also be used. 'Ihey could incorporate instant replays am portray alternative neans of harrlling problems. 'Ihe Institute should make greater use of the audio/visual instructional facilities available at Ft. McClellan.

Grading Procedures

Because of the ArrrrJ's enqilasis on tra:inin;J-by-doing, the grading system at the Institute is the go/no-go system. ruring the practical exercises, each student is infonned of what the main purposes of that day's practiClml are. If the student does not perfonn the task or tasks properly, he gets a no-go. Foor no-go' s result in dismissal from the Institute.

ruring the initial portions of the practiClml phase, the learninJ tasks are small arx'i discrete, such as filling out the polygraPl consent fonn or

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pItting the polygrap-t into operation properly. Towards the em of the course, the go/no-go tasks are nore c::anplex, such as c::orrlucting a proper polygrap-t examination. It is c:x::mtDn for the students to have 'bNo or three no-go's by the time the practicum enters its final Iilase. '!hose students feel thenselves to be un::ier considerable pressure, since a fourth no-go results in dismissal. rrbey urxierstarrlably feel that any system is unfair that would cause a student to flunk out of the Institute when the earlier no-go's were given for actions that in retrospect seem inherently trivial: failure to wash the observation-room mirror prior to the test or failure of the examiner to inmediately sign the consent fonn certifying that he witnessed the examinee's signature. Irrleed, many of the students interviewed by the study Group expressed the belief that the Institute was using the no-go system to pIt the students un::ier pressure, which they resented as tmjust.

rrbe go/no-go system is a good system for vocational trainin;J. It is not an appropriate method for evaluating classroom work, hOW'ever. At present, the Institute uses only the go/no-go system, am does not grade classroom work at all. rrbe Institute should consider reducing the lecture schedule fran eight to six hours per day, while increasing the required reading assigrnnents. rrbe Study Group suggests that classroom work be evaluated am graded using stan::lard academic criteria.

rrhe Professional Model

rrbe Institute's trainin;J program should be developed alorg the line of a professional school (analogous to law, medicine or dentishy, rather than a vocational school, such as mechanical arts). As a professional school, DoDPI can include a high level of academic instruction while at the same time assuring sophistication in practical skills am technical expertise regarding polygraph examinations. rrbe professional model recommended for the Institute requires that the Institute seek affiliation with a major university am adhere to the academic guidelines required by that institution. At present, four of the Institute's faculty members have a Master's degree, am all of the remaimer are earning it. rrbe professional model would probably require all faculty members to have a Master's degree or better. If the professional model is adopted, students atten:ting the Institute would earn credits applicable toward a graduate degree. Affiliation with a university would also facilitate the development of a curriculum leading to advanced degrees in disciplines relating to lie detection. rrhat would be a necessalY step in the development of the detection of deception as a professional occupation.

Ierpthening the basic course and offering additional courses

rrbe shift toward a nore academic model requires the extension of the classroom portion of the course. rrbe main reason for expanding the course is that the am::>Ul1t of info:rmation published by the scientific connnunity has increased exponentially in the last ten years. New issues have been raised which student examiners nn.lSt be made aware of. Scientific discussions regarding lie detection are at a higher level of sophistication than ever before.

275



'!he research literature in lie detection is likewise burgeoning. Ten years ago, researchers were trying to detennine the accuracy of the polygraIil. '!he anount of info:rmation now available has rerrlered the phrase "accuracy of the polygraIil" ambiguous because it is too general. '!he discussions now revolve around issues such as the ratio of false positive to false negative errors, the degree of confidence one can have in polygraph outcx:rnes with various base rates for deception, am the types of errors to be expected with identifiable subpopulations such as suspects, victilns, an:i job awlicants.

It is clear that the tine has c:orre to incorporate this exparrled body of knowledge into the polygraIil training course. '!he specific ~es to be made am the precise lergth of the exparxled course should be decided upon in consultation with the PolygraIil Advisory Conunittee an:i the polygraph OVersight Committee (DoD Directive 5210.78).

'!he Institute should continue to offer a refresher course as long as there is a need for it. It should also offer a variety of advanced courses, however, to train federal examiners in polygraph techniques that were not taught when they were originally trained. Although federal examiners attend various training seminars to keep abreast of advances, those seminars are exclusively lecture-oriented. '!here remains a genuine need for a practicum-type course in which federal examiners can learn new test concepts am techniques such as the guilty knowledge test, the positive control question test, am the directed lie control question. Classroom presentations in these techniques would be supplemented by practical exercises to allow the examiners to practice the methods in analog situations that carry no real-world consequences for errors. Perl1aps two weeks should be devoted to each of these topics, to ensure that examiners would be fully proficient in them upon return to their agencies.

Development of a graduate program in lie detection

In addition to the basic, refresher, and advanced applications courses, the Institute should also develop Master's and doctoral-level professional programs dealing with lie detection within established disciplines such as psychophysiology, experimental psychology, forensic science, or criminal justice in conjunction with a major university. '!his is necessary to train selected federal examiners for polygraph research or other positions of greater responsibility within polygraphy, as indicated in the section below on career developnent. '!hese programs would be almost entirely academic in nature, am many thus not seem to be important for polygraph examiners. However, these programs are necessary for the professionalization of the polygraph field am for its acceptance within the scientific conununity. Graduates of these programs would be proficient in research methodology . '!hey would be intimately familiar with the scientific issues regarding lie detection. '!he perspectives gained by completing them would be very beneficial to senior examiners who save as quality control officers, who must testify as experts in court or before congress, or who must make policy decisions regarding federal use of the polygraph. '!hey are essential for the Institute's faculty members.

276



career development

Another necessary step for professionalization is the development of a career progression plan for federal polygraIXl examiners. At present there are few opportunities for advanc::eloont within the polygraJil field. Most examiners are viewed as technicians, however skilled, am may thus be locked into a confining, repetitious job with little possibility for c.han;Je as long as they remain examiners. '!his is especially tnle of those examiners conductin;} security screening examinations. '!he National Security Agerr;y firrls it necessary to rotate their examiners to nonpolygraIXl positions after three or four years because of the high burn-out rate.

'!he Institute is in a unique position to assist the OVersight Conunittee to create a model career development plan. SUch a plan might include systematic rotation of examiners within the polygraph section of an agerr;y in order to acquire experience with different types of examinations, attendance at advanced training courses at the Institute to receive fonnal instnlction am practice in test techniques they don't routinely use, exc.han;Jes of experienced examiners between agencies to broaden the examiners' experience am perspectives, the means for skilled examiners to earn merit bonuses for exceptional perfonnance, opportunities to earn graduate degrees in a discipline directly related to lie detection am conduct research either at the Institute or within their own agencies, am assigrnnent of senior examiners to supervisory, quality control, am administrative positions within the polygraIXl field. It is vital, however, that gifted examiners have the opportunity to be prarroted to high pay grades while remaining active examiners. career opportunities for federal examiners must be rewardin;} enough to prevent skilled examiners from quittin;} in favor of private practice.

APPENDIX B EVAlliATION OF '!HE PR<XiRAM

In order for the practice polygraph tests at DoDPI to be useful as meaningful criteria of polygraIXl competence at detectin;} deception am of the adequacy of Institute trainin;} procedures, the followin;} conditions need to be inI>lemented:

(1) . '!he mock crime or mock security tests must be set up in a way that the soldier volunteers are interested am highly motivated to succeed in their task of appearin;} innocent. Equally ilrportant, it is necessary that the soldiers who are not deceptive be highly involved in the situation am very concen1ed lest they appear to be deceptive. '!his will require the development of compellin;} scenarios that result in similar overall levels of enx>tional arousal durin;} the polygraIXl tests between those irrlividuals who are rarrlomly assigned to guilty as opposed to innocent conditions.

(2). It is essential that the trainee be tnliy blind to the "guilt or innocence" of the volunteer subject. Moreover, it is also essential that the instnlctor workin;J with the trainee be blind as to the status of the subject, since it is all too easy for instnlctors to unwittin;}ly conununity what they know to be tnle.

(3). '!he polygraIXl would then be administered, scored am numerically 277



evaluated by the procedures taught at the Institute. In addition to the students' scorin:J am ratin:J of the record, the instru.ctor, who is equally blin::l to the subject's status, would also be required to go through this exercise in::lepernently, am at least one classmate who was not present at the examination wou1d in::leperrlently evaluate the chart as well. SUch a procedure wou1d provide the trainee with infonnation about how accurate his judgnent was in this particular test. 'lhe instnlctor's decision would detennine whether an experienced polygrapher would have been able to identify the tnle state of affairs urrler circumstances that had lead a trainee to an incorrect conclusion, or whether this might have been an instance where the polygraph tec:hnique wou1d have failed to identify tnlth. Finally, the trainee cohort who also scores the record would provide infonnation about the extent to which students learn to score with high reliability, am to assess whether they are roak:irXJ a judgment based upon the physical observation of the subject or based primarily upon the polygraph chart. Dependin:J upon the Institute's needs am the evolving infonnation about the accuracy of students and faculty, these procedures would be altered to yield maximally useful infonnation.

( 4) . Each student' s perfonnance at these practice exercises would be assessed over time. It is entirely possible that some students with extensive interrogation background may be almost as effective in detection deception from the very beginnin:J as they are after the training. It is important to detennine the extent to which other students actually improve in their ability to detect deception due to their training and experience in the practicrnn.

Once such an evaluation system is in place, it will be possible within three or four graduating classes to develop paraneters that will pennit the use of practice tests as criteria for graduation. It would also facilitate the developnent of additional training that would help students who were not othet:Wise inprovin:J in the use of the polygraph in the practicrnn. While the logic of such an approach is self-evident, the importance of the infonnation for the evaluation of the program cannot be overemphasized.

APPENDIX C

'!HE NEED FOR NEW FACILITIES PARI' I: '!HE !HYSICAL FACILITIES

'lhe Institute building was originally a smoke generator repair shop. It undeJ:Wel1t major IOCXtlfications to brin:J it up to the standard required for polygraph instnlction. It consists of one office, one classroom, a polygraph repair/storage room, eighteen examination rooms, nine observation roams, and a bathroom. Each instnlctor's observation room is located between two examination rooms, allowin:J him to monitor two students. 'lhe examinations roarns have two 'IV cameras, one aimed at the subject and examiner, the other at the polygraph chart. 'lhe instnlctor's observation room contains two split-screen 'IV monitors and videorecorders. 'lhe instnlctor is able to advise the student durin:J the examination by means of an earphone in the student's ear. 'lhe students are encouraged to review the videotapes of their examinations to supplenent the critique made by the instnlctor.

278



A t:e.Itporcu:y annex has been added adjacent to the main building. '!he annex contains three offices, a large central rocan used for briefirg the troops used in the practical exercises, am two bathrooms.

'!he main building contains a number of deficiencies, SCJ[OO of which were beirg remedied durirg the site visit. Problems already identified am beirg corrected will not be discussed in this report. '!here remain, however, six major unresolved problems with the present building: (1). Only 18 students can comuct examinations at any given time. (2) . '!here is inadequate office am administrative space. (3). '!he noise level in the corridors is too high durirg the day, disruptirg the polygraph examinations. (4) . '!he main lecture classrocan is inadequate. (5). '!he librcu:y requires upgrading. (6). It contains no research. laborato:ry. '!hese problems are discussed separately below.

(1. ) lack of examination rooIlS

Each class is interned to have 36 students. since there are only 18 examination rooIlS, only half of the students can comuct examinations at any time. Until additional examination rooIlS can be provided, the Institute has att.enpted to cope with this harxiicap by initiatirg a double shift system durirg the practical exercise phase of the course. '!he first shift is from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.; the secorD shift is from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. Instructors normally work with either one shift or the other, but occasionally an instructor nrust work double shifts.

'!he double shift has created hardships in schedulirg the Anny troops used as examinees. '!he troops often are undergoirg basic training, am are up each monring by 5 0' clock. '!hose used as examinees on the night shift tern to fall asleep durirg their polygraph examination. '!he double shift system is viewed by faculty am students as a t:e.Itporcu:y expedient necessitated by an urgent national security requirement. It is beirg asstnned that it would last only until a new buildirg could be built as rapidly as possible. It is likely that the morale of both students am faculty would fall if the situation had to be continued long-tenn, which could Only degrade the quality of the training.

(2). lack of administrative am office space

'!here is presently one office in the main building am three offices in the tenporcu:y building to be shared by a total of 32 people: the director, his secreta:ry, the research. director, a 7-person administrative section, the director of the instructional staff, two branch chiefs, am 19 instructors. 'Ihroughout the site visit, the main office seemed to be constantly in turmoil because of overuse. In addition to ser:virg as the joint office of the actirg director am the chief of the screening branch, it had one of only two tel~ones then available for the entire Institute. It also contained the Institute's librcu:y of polygraph jow:nals am articles, which also contributed to the interruptions of office routine. '!he high traffic in the main office am excessive demarrl on this facility caused innumerable distractions from the necessa:ry work of the Institute staff.

279



'!he director's secretary was located in an adjoining room devoted primarily to instrument repair, maintenance, am bulk storage. She did not have a desk to work at, which made it difficult to store her working supplies am severely ~ her effectiveness. While the confusion was no doubt exacerbated by the presence of at least four different inspections in progress the week the site visit group was there, it is obvious that the present administrative facilities are totally inadequate.

'!he instnlctors must use their monitoring roams as offices. '!his causes a hardship because the monitoring roams, about the size of a bathroom, were never designed for office work. '!hey are filled with video monitoring am control equipnent which does not leave room for wordprocessors or typewriters, telephone, am filing cabinets. Nor can the instructors take care of their papeJ:WOrk in their off duty hours, as their office/monitoring rooms are shared with instru.ctors on the other shift.

'!he overcrowding can only degrade the quality of instruction am training at the Institute despite the enthusiasm am high morale of the faculty am students. If the Depart::roont of Defense Polygraph Institute is to remain the world's forenost polygraph training center and gain renown for polygraph researc:h, it nrust be designed to foster academic and scientific excellence. 'Ihat requires, among many other things, an atmosphere in which students am researchers can concentrate free from tun'lK>il am intenuptions, such as that fOlll'rl at the FBI academy at Quantico or the Defense language Institute.

(3). Excessive noise levels

A major c:x:IIplaint registered by both students am faculty is that noises from the corridor are easily heard within the examination rooms. Too often it is so noisy in the corridor that the student examiners nrust internIpt their exams in order to ask the noisemakers to leave or be more quiet. '!his problem stems from two sources. One is the overcrc:1lJding described above. With so many persons working so closely together, there are bound to be conversations occurring in the corridors outside the examination rooms despite constant remairrlers to be quiet. '!he second factor is that the building is constructed of cirrler blocks, which do little to attenuate the sOlll'rls of nonnal activity. D.lring our inspection of the examination rooms, we noted how readily conversations in the corridor were heard within the exam rooms. All practical efforts nrust be made to soundproof the examination rooms as well as the corridors.

It is significant that the staff and faculty reported that students on the night shift learned more am perfonned better than those on the day shift. Students am faculty attributed this difference to the fact that on the night shift there was less noise am fewer distractions or disruptions; the faculty were able to concentrate on instructing, am the students on learning. D.lring the day there was no much noise am other interruptions that the quality of the academic envirornnent was degraded. 'Ihat, in turn, is directly attributed to the overcrowding of the Institute am the lack of office space, particularly for the administrative section.

( 4. ) Inadequate classroom

280



'!he main classroan in the building was never designed with educational requirements in min:l. It consists of a large room in which IOOtal tables have been arran;Jed in rows, one behi.rrl the other. '!he chairs are upholstered m:>lded IOOtal chairs. A slide projector is located behi.rrl a partition in the roan or on a starn in the rear of the room. In either case the operatirg noise of the projector is heard. by the students. '!he room also contains a projection screen, blackboards, am two TV m:>nitors attached to the walls for showirg pre-recorded videotapes. '!he lightirg is inadequate, particularly on the blackboard. '!he concrete flcx>r has been covered with vinyl squares.

While this type of classroom was adequate in the 1940'S am '50's, it is below today's starrlards, am starrls in stark contrast to the facilities that have long been available at the FBI academy. With classes of up to 36 students, the classroom should be an amphitheater in which the rear rows are elevated to allow all students to see the instructor am teachirg aids without effort. '!he seats should allow enough freedom of movement for the students to remain comfortable throughout six to eights hours of classes. '!he flcx>r should be carpeted to minimize extraneous noise. '!he slide projector, movie projector, am TV playback equipment should be permanently housed in a separate projection room with all controls am light switches operable by the instructor from the podium. '!here should be closed circuit TV capability so that the students can obseIve examinations beirg comucted live in selected examination rcx::nns.

(5.) Library facilities

Another area in which IbDPI nrust be significantly improve is in the Institute's librru:y. '!he presence of an extensive librru:y is one of the m:>St basic requirements for any academic/teachirg institution. '!his requirement is of paramount importance when scientific research is to be conducted at that instruction. '!he American Polygraph Association requires that all polygraph schcx>ls maintain a librru:y for use by the students. '!he librru:y nrust contain at least the last two years of the jow:nal Polygraph. '!his minimum requirement is well below the starrlards that should be expected of IbDPI. If the Institute is to be among the finest polygraph institutions in the world, its librru:y nrust be commensurate. It should be greatly exparrled to include all books am journals relatirg to lie detection, includirg every issue of Polygraph ever published. Money nrust be budgeted for exparrling the acquisitions am maintainirg the librru:y. All acquisitions should be listed am cross-referenced on a computerized catalog. In order to allow students free access to the materials in the librru:y without jeepardizirg hard-to-replace archives, liberal use should be made of xeroxed copies for student use, am multiple copies of commonly-used items should be maintained.

'!he current IbDPI librru:y suffers from the crowUed conditions at the Institute. It consists of a book case in the office of the actirg director. '!here is no Plysical am few administrative controls over the librru:y materials; there is no librarian. '!he materials are uncataloged am are left largely unatterned. '!hat results in a significant pilferage problem. this could be minimized by allocatirg m:>ney for the journals to be hardbourrl, assignirg a staff nember to 5e1:Ve as librarian, establishirg adequate

281



Iilysical am administrative control over the libnu:y materials, inventorying the materials prior to graduation, am making graduation contingent upon the return of all checked out materials.

(6. ) Research Iaborato+y

'!he current tW.lding has no space for a research laboratory. Scientific research is extrenely difficult to do without proper polygraIbs for obtaining the proper Iilysiological infonnation, instrumentation recorders for storing that infonnation, computers to process it, am office space for the researchers to analyze the data am report the results. If D:>DPI is to conduct credible & effective research, the research division must have sufficient equipnent am space in which to work. For the recommended roininann of three researchers am three assistants, that would be four offices, two laboratories, a storage roam, am the associated research am administrative equipnen.t.

PARI' II: ~ NEED FOR A NEW FACILITY'

'!he need for a new tW.lding to house the Institute is based upon three premises. First, the requirement for the number of examiners to be trained has increased dramatically in the last three years. Secorrl, it is recommerrled that the lergth am number of polygraph courses taught by the Institute be increased. 'Ihird, the addition of a major research responsibility to the Institute's mission requires additional space to house the research laboratory am staff. '!he secorxi am third factors are discussed elsewhere in this report; the duration of the need for increased numbers of examiners is discussed below.

'!here is some question as to how long the requirement for conducting 7,000 security screening exams may continue to be authorized by congress. If the requirement is abolished in the near future, D:>D would not need as many examiners as currently projected. It could then be argued that it is not necessary to replace or exparxi the present building. While it is beyorrl the scope of this group's assigrunent to argue in favor of a contraction, abolition, or expansion of the use of the polygraph for security screening by the gove:nnnent, it would be short-sighted if this report did not address this issue, as it affects the recommended changes in the Institute in order for it to meet the current directive.

First, the uncertainty about the size of the security screening required by the gove:nnnent after FY 1987 has raised questions about the necessity of constructing a larger, better Institute facility. '!he stillwell Conunission recently recommended:

"Request the Congress to supplant the year-by-year approach to the conduct of counterintelligence-scope polygraph examinations by giving authority for the Secretary [of Defense] to develop a coherent am gradually expanding program, with stringent quality controls am subject to congressional oversight." (p.10)

With the urrlerstarrling that this study group cannot recommend whether the polygraIil program be exparrled or not, the group strongly errlorses the

282


Defense Trainin:f arrl Research

stillwell Ccmnission' s rec::cmnermtion that corgress act to establish a longtenn polygraph program. The lack of a clearly defined requirement for the mnnber of new examiners to be trained after FY 1987 creates an elem:mt of uncertainty in plannin:J the Institute's requirements.

If the level of polygraph usage in security screenirg does not remain the same, there are several in:lications that the trainin:f requirements are more likely to increase than to decrease. To be as conservative as lX>SSible when addressin:j this problem, therefore, the group assumes that the present status will continue imefinitely; that is, that the DoD will continue to require 7,000 security screenirg polygraph examinations annually in addition to the other requirements of the military services arrl NSA, arrl that there will be a continuin:J need to train examiners at current levels for use by other federal bureaus arrl departmants.

Prior to the inauguration of the security screenirg program, the DoD polygraIil needs were bein:j met with the annual trainin:f of about 40 new examiners per year. Some of those were bein:j trained to increase the govennnent's polygraIil capabilities, especially the FBI (startin:j in the late 1970's) arrl the Secret Se:tvice. others of the new examiners were replacin:j experienced examiners bein:j lost through reassignment or retirement. Obviously' the more examiners there are, the greater the mnnber that will be lost through attrition. For example, if the mnnber of federal polygraIil examiners is doubled, then, eveJ:Ything else bein:j equal, the number of examiners who will be lost through retirement or reassignment will also be doubled, arrl the trainin:f requirement for new examiners to maintain the status quo will be doubled as Well.

In the case of security screenirg, however, there is reason to believe that the attrition rate is higher than that fourxi in criminal investigation. Criminal cases have a certain amount of uniqueness; no two cases are exactly alike. Moreover, the satisfaction stenuning from solvin:j a major crime through the confession of the guilty person is so rewarding that most polygraIil examiners wish to remain in polygraph work as long as possible. On the other ham, security screenirg does not offer much variety. The questions asked of each person are much the same, arrl the pretest interview has a terrlency to become monotonous. To compound the problem, most of the admissions that are made durin:j the post-test interview likewise terrl to be routine. Only rarely could an examiner expect to solve a major security case by interrogation.

Many examiners specializin:j in screenin:j thus terrl to burn out within a few years arrl must be replaced. Although the Anny CID has more polygraph examiners than does NSA, the NSA examiner replacem:mt rate is several times higher than that of the Anny CID. Most of the CID attrition occurs through retirement, whereas NSA fims it necessary to rotate the examiners out after three to four years because of burnout. Because of the increasin:j numbers of federal examiners specializin:j in security screenin:j, future replacem:mt requirement will almost certainly be higher than in the past.

It could be argued the buildup in polygraph capability experienced by the FBI in the late 1970's arrl early 1980's arrl by the Secret Se:tvice was a one-time Iilenomenon arrl that future needs to train examiners for new

283


Defense Tra:ininJ am Research

polygra.{il slots will be reduced. Although there no doubt will continue to be sate fluctuation in the requirenent to train examiners for new polygraph positions fran one year to the next, the study group does not consider this argument to be tenable.

'!he history of the polygraph both within arx:1 outside of the federal government del1lOnstrates a stron:.J trerrl toward increased usage of the technique both by organizations that had not previously had an in-house polygraIil capability am by those that already have staff examiners. '!he number of federal agencies that have staff examiners has increased over 50 percent in the last 5 years. Although JOOSt of the new federal users presently have rather IOOdest polygrarb programs, it would be unrealistic to expect that they will not increase their use of the polygraph as they gain experience with it. '!he number of DoD certified examiners increased from 100 in 1980 to 153 in 1983. Similarly, the number of examinations conducted by DoD increased 35 percent in the two years ending in 1982 (the 1983 figures have not been published).

It should also be noted that the military services nrust increase the number of their examiners to meet new security screening requirements unrelated to the 7,000 screening exams mandated by congress. All military personnel receiving assignments to NSA are to be screened on the polygraph by their parent service prior to noving to their new assignment. Although this is a new policy (previously, military personnel had been exempted from the NSA requirenent for polygraph examinations of new personnel), it has already proved useful in providing significant counterintelligence infonnation.

* * * * * *

284


axJNI'ERMEASURE S'IUDY:

CHEMICAL INI'ERFERENCE WI'lH DRY EIECI'RODE <XlNTAcrs

By

Patricia A. Fleming anj Ella lDgan

Objective. It has been reported that certain canunon CCIlYIl1'el:'Cial substances applied to the skin may interfere with skin resistance recording anj thus be an effective countenneasure to the GSR.

Definition of a GSR Reaction. '!he drift upward on the galvanograph pattern is caused by a decrease in the subject's skin resistance, which t:hrows the established circuit out of balance, modifies the electric current flow through the magnetic field surrourxti.ng the pivot-mounted coil, anj produces a clockwise or upward movement of the recording pen.

'!he drift downward on the gal vanograph pattern is caused by a reversal in the subject's resistance, toward the original baseline, thus brining the circuit back to or toward balance again, and producing a counter-clockwise or downward movement of the pen.

Instnnnent. '!he instnnnent used was a stoelting polygraph m:xlel 22500, e.rrploying a gal vanograph which records skin resistance changes, on a kymograph chart moving at 6 inches per minute. '!he electrodes are dl:y plates, attached to finger pads with Velcro.

Materials Used, Fhase I.

1. Mennen Deodorant a) no chemicals listed on container

2. Secret Anti -Perspirant a) zirconyl hydroxychloride b) aluminum hydroxychloride c) alcohol 0.7%

3. Old Spice stick Deodorant a) no chemicals listed on container

4. Oil of Olay Harrlcream a) no chemicals listed

5. Weldwood White Glue a) no volatile solvents

6. Alcohol a) to clean finger tips, electrodes, and pin

Previous printed in Polygraph Review 2 (2) (October 1976): 14-20. 285


Countenneasure study

7. straight Pin a) to create a stimulus

Procedure, Ihase I.

Cllart I (One SUbject)

1. Positioned. electrodes on subject's finger tips.

2. 'fum power switch from off to on.

3. Adjust the sensitivity, which remained. constant.

4. Balance the Galvanometer to the subject.

5. SWitch at manual-centering position.

6. Run chart for nonnal pattern.

7. Apply stimulus.

8. stop instrument, and apply Mennen Deodorant.

9. start instrull'ent, and nm chart for nonnal pattern.

10. Apply stimulus.

11. Stop instrument, clean finger tips and electrodes, and apply Secret Anti -Perspirant.

12. start instrull'ent and nm chart for nonnal pattern.

13. Apply stimulus.

14. Stop instrument, clean finger tips and electrodes, and apply Old Spice stick Deodorant.

15. start instrument, and nm chart for nonnal pattern.

16. Apply stimulus.

17. Stop instrument, clean finger tips and electrcx:les, and apply Oil of Olay Harrlcream.


19. Apply stimulus.

20. Stop instrument, clean finger tips and electrodes, and apply Weldwood White Glue.


286


Countenneasure Study

22. Apply stimulus.

Discussion of Phase I. '!he reactions to the stimulus was the greatest when there was no chemicals on the finger tips.

When a plain deodorant was applied, the reactions to the stimulus was still in a high zone.

When an Anti-Perspirant deodorant and a stick deodorant were applied the reactions were in the medium zone.

When harrl cream was applied the reactions were back in the high zone.

When white glue was applied the reaction was in the lOW' zone, but still detectable.

'!here is evidence that certain substances will interfere with the gal vanograph recording. HOW'ever, the interference is not significant enough to remove the possibility of detecting a deceptive patten1i even when glue was applied. When the glue was applied to the finger tips, there was still a recording of the reaction to the stimulus, although it was a lOW' one. A deceptive reaction urxler this condition might be lWre difficult to detect, hOW'ever, the reduction in sensitivity would not be selective, but would remain constant throughout the examination. Although white glue was used last, the reduction in recorded reaction is probably not entirely due to an adaptation to the stimuli, since a large reaction was obtained in the next to last position, when harrl cream was used.

Materials Used, Phase II.

1. Right Guard Decx:iorant Spray a) no chemicals listed

2. Old Spice Anti -Perspirant Spray (D.lal-Action) a) aluminum chlorhydroxide

3. Ultra Ban Anti-Perspirant (Lotion) a) aluminum chlorhydroxide

4. Valupak Mucilage (Glue) a) no chemicals listed

5. Testors Cement (for plastic models) a) taluol b) oil of mustard c) allyl isothicyanate

6. OJpont Dlco Cement a) allyl isothiocyanate b) oil of mustard

7. &ylon Rubber Cement a) no chemicals listed

287


Reacllon

I n em

Baseline


CHART I

14

111!!!llljlj ~~~~~~~~~~H ............

. 1111111111·

~~;;~~~~H~; .:.:.:.:.:.: =:=:=:=:=:=: ...........• ............ :.:.:.:.:.:. :::::::::::: •..........• 6 8 ...........• ...........• . ...........• ................... -..... :: :::: ::: ::::::::: :::::: ........................ ........... _ .......... . :.: .:. :.: .: .. :.:.:.:.:.: ...........•............ 5 2 :::::::::::::::::::::::! . ::::::::::::::::: ::::::: .:_:.:.; .. 1. :.:.:.:.:.: ...... :...... :.:.:.::::: . . :.:. :.:. :.::.:.:.:.:.:. =:= ... ::= •• =:=:.::.:.::.::::.=: :::::: ::::::::::::::: ::: :::::: :::::::::::: ::: ::: :::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::: ........... . ........................ . .......... . :::::::::::::::::::::::: 2 7 :::::::::=:: :.:.:.:.:.:.::::::;::::: . . .......... . ::::::::::::.:.:.:.:. :.: ':. :.::::: :::::::::: :::: ..... :-... : .::.:.: .:.:.:. . ...................... . ... : ... :................ 1 8 .... : .................. . . :...................... . :.: .......... :.:.:.:.:.: ::::::::::: ::::: ::::: :::' ............. :::::::::::::.:.:.:.:.: . ........ :.: .. :.:.:.:.:.: .............. :.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.: 1 1 :::: :::::: :::::::::::: :::::::::: ::: :::::::::: :~:::: ::::::: . . :.:.:.:.:. ::.:.:.:.:.: ", .. :.:.: .:.: :.:.:.:.:.: ............ -.......... . :::::::::::::::::::::: ~::::::::::: :::::: ::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::: ::::::::::: :::: :::::: :::::::::::::: :::::: :::::::.:.:.:. :.: -:.:.:.:.:.: :.:.:.:.:.: :::::: ::::::.: .:.:. :.:: =--: .... ::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ................................. - -- ...... ~ . -......... .

1 2 3 4 5 6

1. No chemical

2. Mennen Deodorant

3. Secret Anti Perspirant

4. Old Spice Stick Deodorant

5. Oil of Olay Hand Cream

6. Weldwood White Glue

288


Coun1:enleasure study

8. Neet Hair Rem:wer a) calcium. thiCXJlycolate

9. Alcohol - to clean fin:Jer tips, electrodes am. pin

10. straight pin - to create a stimulus

Procedure, !base II.

<llart II, Average of Five

1. Position electrodes on subject's fin:Jer tips.

2. 'l\lrn power switch from off to on.

3. Adjust the sensitivity accordin:Jly.

4. Balance the Galvanometer to the subject.

5. SWitch at manual-centerin:J position.

6. Run chart for nonnal pattern.

7. Apply stimulus.

8. stop instrument, am. apply Right Guard Deodorant.

9. start instnnnent, am. run chart for nonnal pattern.

10. Apply stimulus.

11. Stop instnnnent, clean fin:Jer tips am. electrodes, am. apply Old Spice Anti-Perspirant.


13. Apply stimulus.

14. Stop instrument, clean fin:Jer tips am. electrodes, am. apply Ultra Ban Anti-Perspirant.

15. start instrument, am. run chart for nonnal pattern.

16. Apply stimulus.

17. Stop instrument, clean fin:Jer tips am. electrodes, am. apply Valupak MUcilage.


19. Apply stimulus.

20. Stop instrument, clean fin:Jer tips am. electrodes, am. apply 289



Testors Cement.

21. start instnnnent, anj nm for nonnal patten1.

22. Apply stilmllus.

23. stop instnnnent, clean finger tips anj electrodes, anj apply Wpont D.lco Cement.

24. start instnnnent, anj nm chart for nonnal patten1.


26. stop instnnnent, clean finger tips anj electrodes, anj apply Krylon Rubber Cement.

27. start instnnnent, nm chart for nonnal patten1.


29. stop instnnnent, clean finger tips anj electrodes, anj apply Neet Hair Remover.

30. start instnnnent, anj nm chart for nonnal patten1.


32. Stop instnnnent, clean finger tips anj electrodes.

33. start instnnnent, nm chart for nonnal patten1 no chemicals.


Discussion of Phase II.

It appears quite evident that application of some substances on the skin causes interference with the galvanograph pattern. However, it was apparent that the interference was not significant in blocking, or removing the possibility of detecting a deceptive pattern.

'!he strongest blocking agents were cements, but even when these were applied there were reactions. '!he hair remover also appeared to block reactions, although this was contrary to what was expected. As countenneasures, the cements had the disadvantage of being readily detectable as they fonned a visible crust.

In conclusion, there is evidence that certain connnercial products do interfere with the recording of skin resistance reactions with polygraph instnnnents that employ dry electrodes. None of the products conplete blocked the reactions. Cleaning with alcohol was effective in removing them.

290


Reaell on

6.3 :::::::::::: :.:.:.:.:.:. :::::::::::: ............ ::::::::::::

Countentvaasure Study

CHART II

In em. (av era D e 0 I fi we )

mmmm :.:.:.:.:::: 3 3 ............ 3 2 . m~H~~~m .. 2: ~. :::::~:::::: 2 3 2. 5 ~~HH~m;~ :.:.:.:.: .:.:.:. :.:.:.:;-.: .: ..... :. . .:.:.:.:.:.: .:. :.:.:. :.:

~~mmmmmmm~~~mm~m 1. 7 mm~m~~ mmmm 1. 7 mmmm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . .... . ........... . . . . . . 1 5 ..... . :::::::::::.:.: .:. :.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.: .. :::::.: .:.:.: .:. :.:.:.: .:.:.: .:::::.:~:;:;::::: . .:.:.:.:.::: ••••••••••• :.:.:.:.:.: .:.:.:.:.:.:. ::.: .:.: .:.:.:.: .:.:.:.:. :.:.:.: ......... :.:. :.: •••••••••• .:.: .:. :.: a •• :.:.:....................................................... 4 ........... -:.: ............................... . ::::: :::: ::: ::::::: ::!:! :!::: ::!:::!::::::::!::: ::!:!: !:! :!: . ::: ::::: :::::::::::::::~:::::::: :::::::::::;:::!:::!:!: ::!:::::::::.:.:.:.:.:.! .:. :.: .:.:.::.: .:.:. :.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.; :;:;: .:. :.: :.:. ::::::: ::.:.:.:.:.: .................... -:.:.:.:.:.: • . :. :.:.:.:.::!::::::::::!:::!:::: :::.:.::: :::::::::::::: :::: :.:.:.:.:::. ::::!.:.:. : .• :.::!::::::.:.:.:.:.:. :.:.:. :.:::: ::!:::!:: Bas e II n e ~.= ..... ~ .= •..•. -•........•..•.• ~.: -:..: ......•.....•....•.... =.:.: .: •.• : ••••••••••• -:.~.-..... -............ ................. .

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

l. No chemical

2. Right Guard Deodorant

3. Old Spice Anti-Perspirant

4. Ultra Ban Anti-Perspirant

5. Valupak Mucilage

6. Testors Cement

7. Dupont Duco Cement

8. Krylon Rubber Cement

9. Neet Hair Remover

10. No chemical

291


Abstracts

Electrodenoal

Jose M. Martinez-Selva, Francisco Roman, Francisco A. Garcia-Sanchez, and Jesus Gcmez-Amor. "Sex Differences and the Asyrranetry of Specific and Non-specific Electrodenual Responses." International Journal of Psychophysiology 5 (1987): 155-160.

Electrodenoal corrluctance responses were recorded bilaterally on 15 males and 15 females in which 80-dB tones were used to create reactions. Ambidextrous and left-harDed persons were excluded from the study. Males showed more asymmetry than females in both the reactions and non-specific electrodenoal responses, with larger skin corrluctance responses on the left harD. Females had less asymmetry and had larger responses on the right harD. '!he authors concluded that sex differences are an inportant variable in the study of electrodennal asymmetry.

'Ihese f:in:.tings may have significance in field testing in regard to the placement of electrodes.

For reprints or corresporxlence on this topic write to J .M. MartinezSelva, Departamento de Psicologia General, Universidad de Murcia, Spain.

Verbal and Pictorial stimuli

Gershon Ben-Shakhar and Itamar Gati, "Connnon and Distinctive Features of Verbal and Pictorial stimuli as Detenninants of Psychophysiological Responsivity." Journal of Experi1nental Psychology 116 (2) (1987): 91-105.

SUbjects were given a COll"pO\.lI'rl pictorial and verbal stimuli involving schematic faces with beard, glasses, and a hat, plus descriptions of people in tenns of occupation, city of residence, a hobby, and a personality trait, which they were to Inel1'Drize. '!he tests employed a modified version of the infonnation detection paradigm. skin corrluctance responses were measured during the subsequent presentation of a sequence of test stimuli. Each sequence included a critical stimulus in each of two pictorial and two verbal experi1nents. Authors hypothesized that the electrodennal responsivity to the critical stimulus would reflect the degree it matches the relevant one.

'!he results irxlicated that when the critical stimulus was identical to the relevant stimulus, responsivity was maximal. Neutral stimuli produced minimal responsivity, and critical stimuli that only partially matched the relevant one produced intennediate levels of responsivity. '!he monotonic relation between the degree of match and responsi vity supports a proposed model which assumes that each stimulus in the sequence is being compared with the relevant stimulus by a feature-matching process.

For reprints or corresporxlence concenU.ng the article, write to Gershon Ben-Shakhar, Department of Psychology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91905, Israel.

292


Abstracts

Questionirg and Psychology

Gisli H. Gudjonsson, "Historical Backgrourrl to SUggestibility: How Interrogation SUggestibility Differs From other Types of SUggestibility." Personality and Individual Differences 8 (3) (1987): 347-355.

'!he paper reviews the classical literature on suggestibility and points out that "interrogative suggestibility" has lilnited relationship to the traditional definitions. '!he studies of suggestibility ahve not measured susceptibility to leading questions. While IOOSt definitions of suggestibility include sc::ma sort of uncritical acceptance of the stimulus, implying lilnited critical judgment, the definitions do not fit interrogative suggestibility because they do not involve a questioning procedure within a closed social interaction; the questions are concerned with past experiences and events; and it has a strorg uncertainty c::anp::>nent which relates to the cognitive processing of the irxli vidual.

Tranquilizers-Meprobamate and Alcohol

G.A. Lienert and W. Traxel. "'!he Effects of Meprobamate and Alcohol on Galvanic skin Response." Journal of Psychology 48 (1959): 329-334.

'Ihirty clinically nonnal male liberal arts students at the University of Marburg, Gennany, were subjected to a word-association test of 16 words, projected on a screen. All of the words were selected for eI1¥)tional content. Separated into three groups, these groups were subsequently tested with a series of eI1¥)tionally laden sentences. In the second test, one group of ten was given alcohol, one group given meprobamate, and one group given a placebo. '!he Meprobamate dose was 800 ng. and the ethyl alcohol dose was 20 ccm., both administered half an hour before the sentence-association test.

Assuming that the placebo group represents nonnal GSR-perfonnanee, the GSR perfonnances of the meprobamate and the alcohol group may be cc:arpared with those of the placebo group as to the median scores of GSR reactions to the eI1¥)tional sentences. '!he parametric matched-pairs signed-rank test of Wilcoxon irxlicates significant differences at the .05 level between the placebo group and the meprobamate group as well as between the placebo and the alcohol group. No difference was found between the meprobamate and the alcohol group. FUrther statistical tests concerning the dispersion of the median GSR-scores irxlicate that the differences within the median scores of irxlividual subjects are lower in meprobamate and alcohol than in the placebo group. '!he significance of the difference in dispersion was tested by a non-parametric test for correlated sanples derived from its parametric analogue. '!he difference in dispersion between the alcohol group and the placebo group was found to be significant at the .05 level. '!he corresponding difference between the meprobamate group and the placebo group had only been significant at the .10 level of confidence.

'!he results irxlicate that meprobamate as well as alcohol decrease emotional reagibility as measured by GSR. Both agents may be accepted as tranquilizing chugs. '!he research also supported the idea that subjects

293


Abstracts

with high enotional reagibility are tranquilized lOC)re by mep:rcbamate am alcd10l than persons with low enotional reagibility.

Evidence

I:rvin:] Crespi, "SUrveys as Legal Evidence." Public c:pinion Quarterly 51 (1987): 84-91.

'!here are cxx::asional circumstances when polygraph related cases may irwolve the admissibility of su:rvey results. For example, in refuting the ~ decision, it is useful to enter into evidence the Gallup Organization's SUrvey of Members of the American Society for PsychophysiolcX]'ical Research Conc::erniIg their Opinion of Polygraph Test Interpretation." (December 1982)

In this article, Crespi discusses the difficulties encountered in introducing su:rvey results am explaining the difference in the legal methods in establishing tnrt:h. '!he author explains that a su:rvey does not establish relevant or value as evidence. '!he:rules of evidence am precedents are discussed. Although the precedents are specifically related to trademark litigation, the article is valuable in considering other situations.

For copies of reprints, write to Professor I:rving Crespi, Department of Marketin:], Baruch College, City University of New York.

Eyewitness

vicki L. Smith am Fhoe.be C. Ellsworth, "'!he Social PsycholCXJY of Eyewitness Acx::uracy: Misleadin:J Questions am Communicator Expertise." Journal of Applied Psychology, 72 (1987): 294-300.

In two studies they examined the effect of questioner expertise on the error rates of subjects who were asked misleadin:] versus 1mbiased questions. A total of 105 introductory psycholCXJY students watched a videotaped clip of a bank robbery am were then questioned about the crime. '!he questioner was represented to subjects as either highly knowledgeable or complete naive about the events the subject witnessed. One half of the subjects in each expertise corxlition were asked misleadin:] questions, am the other half were asked 1mbiased questions. In the knowledgeable questioner corxlitions, misleadin:] questions were associated with error rates significantly higher than those obtained with the 1mbiased questions (p<.05). In the naive questioner corxlitions, equivalent error rates for both types of questions were obtained (ns). '!hese results irxticate that misleadin:] questions decrease witness accuracy when the questioner is asstm'ed to be knowledgeable about the crime, but have no effect on accuracy when the questioner is asstm'ed to be naive.

Copies of reprints am correspomence about the research should be addressed to vicki Smith, Department of PsycholCXJY, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.

* * * * * * 294


Documents

Peter - MemberClicks · es to decision making in other psydloloqical tests. Semi-objective rrumeri ... to go to an office for instnx:tiens. When they arrived at this office the half