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Can Liars Really Control Their Facial Expressions?

The University of Buffalo has released more evidence that liars under intense scrutiny cannot suppress their facial expressions of emotion.  Recently, the reliability of microexpressions in lie detection has come into question.  ABC has reported on the perceived validity of microexpressions and their use by the TSA.

The scientific truth is that there are seven universal facial expressions of emotion.  These expressions can and do appear on a person’s face as microexpressions and are very helpful in detecting deception as verified by Dr. Matsumoto in the article “Evaluating Truthfulness and Detecting Deception”, which appeared in the June issue of the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin.

The article cites renowned facial expert Mark Frank, who has spent two decades studying the faces of people lying in high stakes situations.  The study published earlier this year in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, examines whether subjects could suppress facial actions like eyebrow movements or smiles on command while under scrutiny by a lie catcher.

Carolyn M. Hurley, PhD, lead author of the study and Frank, co- author of the study, found that these actions can be reduced, but not eliminated, and the suppression of one element of expression resulted in reduction of all facial movement, regardless of their implications for veracity.

This new study “Executing Facial Control During Deception Situations” found that although liars can reduce facial actions during intense situations such as questioning, they can’t suppress them all.

“As a security strategy,” Frank says, “there is great significance in observing and interpreting nonverbal behavior during an investigative interview, especially when the interviewee is trying to suppress certain expressions.”

An interesting side note is that most of the participants believed that they had controlled all of their facial movements during their interrogations.

What are your thoughts on the veracity of microexpressions in truth accuracy aka deception detection?

Let the Truth Be Told!

Is deceit an intrinsic part of the human emotional condition?

No doubt, it has become an accepted part of human culture.  From the little white lies we tell our kids everyday , ‘yes Santa Clause is real and you have to be sleeping for the tooth fairy to come’, to the exaggerated facts on our resumes, lying has become a part of human social nature.

TV shows as well as literature from the Bible to Shakespeare are filled with exaggerations, contradictions and sometimes bold face lies.   Lying seems to be a lucrative business.

Has a piece of human nature become public enemy number one?  Well, in a word, yes!  However, we don’t just want to be able to recognize deception, we want to stop it before it even occurs, we want to battle human nature and win.

According to Nature Magazine, the U.S Department of Homeland Security has developed a Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST) designed to spot a criminal before they commit a crime.  In essence, to stop deception before it comes to fruition.  We blogged about this technology in its infancy and it was very interesting to say the least.

Similar to a lie detector, which is not admissible in many courts of law throughout the world, FAST measures a series of physiological indicators such as heart rate, steadiness of gaze etc. In effect judging a person’s “state of mind” while they walk down an airport corridor.

There are significant differences from the polygraph and FAST.  FAST uses non-contact sensors and does not depend on active questioning of the subject.  This new device has undergone preliminary testing in an undisclosed location in the northeast.

However, many researchers point out that the “normal anxieties of travel” are enough to raise the heart rates and stress levels of most people.

What are your thought/opinions on this new “science”?

Extra Sensory Perception

As technology continues to advance at such a fast pace, we are inundated with creative ways to see and understand the world and people around us.

NewScientist has just released information on MIT’s Media Lab’s newest project – emotion recognition glasses.

No doubt this would be beneficial for many social situations and would probably avoid social gaffes as the article suggests.

However, will this impede upon the social “white lie” that everyone has partaken in at least once in their life?  Do we really want to show every emotion? Or are some emotions meant to be kept secret?  If they weren’t, wouldn’t humans have evolved to be mind readers without the aid of technology?

In the NewScientist article, the author erroneously states that Paul Ekman’ s seven universal emotions as the foundation of the theory of lie detection has been debunked (which is not true) but later posits facts that substantiate the theory.

Microexpressions are concealed emotions.  The seven universal facial expressions are proven to be congruent across cultures. Microexpressions are unconscious exhibits of a conflict between what is being said and what is known by the speaker to be factual.  These expressions do not necessarily equate to a lie but do suggest a need for greater concentration on the subject that allowed those inconsistencies.

These new glasses developed by Rana el Kaliouby , research scientist at MIT Labs, Rosalind Picard, an electrical engineer and Simon Baron- Cohen from the University of Cambridge, are based on different criteria than the seven basic facial expressions of emotion and focuses more on the following expressions:  agreeing, confusion, thinking, concentrating and perhaps the most important one for social reasons, disagreeing.

According to PC World , these MIT researchers began studying this technology to aid in amplifying  emotional signals for autistic patients.

The software, amazing as it is, has a percentage rate of 64%, which is more accurate than the average human but only by about 10%.  The prototype has a camera, the size of a grain of rice, which is wired to a computer.  In turn the glasses relay the emotional information to the wearer via an ear piece and a blinking red or green light.

What are your thoughts on these new glasses?