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Analytical Interviewing

When law enforcement use microexpressions as an interviewing/interrogation technique it is called “Analytical Interviewing”.

United States police officers, TSA workers, and the FBI have all been using microexpressions to detect deception for quite some time.  Science has come to distinguish this from merely reading body language and gestures.  Although, those types of techniques are helpful in trying to detect deception they are not quite as beneficial as reading microexpressions.

Good liars can control lots of their output when being questioned or when under duress.  However, science is continually proving that they cannot control everything all of the time especially their microexpressions.

Things like a slight pursing of the lips, an unnoticed scrunch of the nose or a subtle shoulder shrug are all clues that what the speaker is saying somehow does not match what they know to be true.

According to BBC News, British police officers will soon be employing the same interviewing techniques as their American counterparts.

Detective Constable Tony Collins an expert from the National Crime Faculty is quick to point out, “You can’t just look at someone’s face and tell that they are lying.  This is just an indicator that something is not right.  It show they’re not comfortable with the line of questioning.”

The article points out that the seven basic facial expressions of emotion cross cultural boundaries and microexpressions are a quicker version of these facial expressions of emotion.

Mr. Collins doubts that British officers will adopt other policing techniques used in the U.S., but recognizes that analytical interviewing is an important step in interview techniques for Britain.  He affirms, “Their whole reason for interviewing suspects is to get a confession – ours is to get to the truth.”

Related articles

Can Liars Really Control Their Facial Expressions? (humintell.com)
The Efficacy of Training to Recognize Microexpression of Emotion (humintell.com)

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Lie To Me

Humanity has been programmed to believe that lying is unnatural and bad.  While it can be very harmful, is it really unnatural?  Human beings lie all the time.

Take a look at the video “Necessary Lies” with writer and orator Ian Leslie.  It was reported on in Wired and delineates the myths about lying, gives surprising statistics and insightful commentary on human as well as primate manipulability and predictability.

“Lying isn’t a bug in the human software [but] is a defining characteristic of our species and fundamental to all human societies,” Leslie purports.  He goes on to note that we [individuals] believe our own lies to be harmless white lies and simultaneously see other people’s lies as terrible, harmful and even malicious.

His insights come from research and discussions with psychologists, neuroscientists as well as anthropologists.

Leslie makes the bold statement that no society can function without lying and lies.  He even suggests that they are necessary and in some cases desirable.  He points out that according to social scientists; lying and truth telling exist in equilibrium.

What do you think about Leslie’s points? Do you agree?

Click here to view the embedded video.

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?