A Window to the Soul

Bob Brewin will return to What's Brewin' July 20.

In Lie to Me, the yet-to-be-a-hit TV series on Fox, Dr. Cal Lightman (played by Tim Roth) uses his insight into the human condition to determine if a person is lying -- and then solving a crime based on uncovering the prevarication. Lightman typically peers into a subject's eyes, looking for twitching and shifting pupils. Now, a computer program can do that.

Scientists at the University of Utah have developed a software program that records an individual's eye movement while the subject reads and answers true-and-false questions on a written page. The program measures, among other things, pupil dilation; how long it takes to respond to a question; how long it takes to read, and maybe reread, a question; and, of course, errors. Tests show the program is better than polygraph tests at detecting lies.

From the press release announcing the program:

The researchers determined that lying requires more work than telling the truth, so they look for indications that the subject is working hard. For example, a person who is being dishonest may have dilated pupils and take longer to read and answer the questions. These reactions are often minute and require sophisticated measurement and statistical modeling to determine their significance.

Of course, venture capitalists see the immense business potential of the program, especially in the intelligence and Defense agencies - which have loads of money to spend on fighting bad guys, which means finding out who's lying.

"The eye-tracking method for detecting lies has great potential," [Credibility Assessment Technologies President and venture capitalist Donald] Sanders says. "It's a matter of national security that our government agencies have the best and most advanced methods for detecting truth from fiction, and we believe we are addressing that need by licensing the extraordinary research done at the University of Utah."

Hat tip: Discovery News