A field study of the fallibility of polygraphic lie detection

Abstract

With the increasing use of polygraphic lie detection in the United States and United Kingdom it has become a matter of urgency to assess the accuracy and reliability of the technique. The main purpose of the present report, therefore, is to extend our earlier mock theft lie detection study¹ from the laboratory to the field. Again, as in the previous study, our findings show high false-positive and false-negative rates among polygraph interpreters. These data, with their unacceptably high error rates, agree with the conclusions reached in a recent US Congress Office of Technology Assessment report² which reviewed the scientific validity of the polygraph. Hence, we conclude that the validity and reliability of polygraphic interrogation has yet to be established.