A staple of crime television shows is the image of a suspect sweating nervously in an interrogation room as the detectives use a polygraph test to decide whether the suspect is innocent or guilty. The polygraph, frequently shown on these television programs as a surefire way to determine a person’s guilt, is more popularly known as a “lie detector,” given its objective to catch people in a lie. But is the lie detector as accurate as we’re led to believe by pop culture? In short: “lie detector” might not be the best nickname for the polygraph.
Polygraphs measure the perspiration, pulse rate, and other physiological factors of the person who is being tested. In this way, polygraph tests are accurate at measuring what they’re supposed to be detecting: nervous excitement. When a person is undergoing a polygraph test, the administrator of the test begins by asking two types of control questions: questions which the person is expected to answer truthfully and questions which the person is expected to answer with a lie (often the administrator will ask the subject to write down a number and then ask “Did you write 1?” “Did you write 2?” and so on to solicit the desired responses). This way, when the administrator of the test asks more relevant questions later on, the subject’s physiological reactions can be compared with the reactions to the control questions in order to determine whether or not the subject is telling the truth.
However, it’s possible for people to make themselves react in a more excited way even when answering questions truthfully. If the control questions do not accurately show how the person reacts when lying, it is more difficult for the administrator to definitively decide whether or not the person is lying when answering relevant questions. So, while the polygraph might be effective at measuring physiological factors associated with being nervous, that does not necessarily mean it is always able to differentiate between a person lying and a person telling the truth.
Knowing that it is possible to manipulate the results of a polygraph test makes the polygraph as a lie detector fairly unreliable on its own. In addition, the polygraph is measuring physiological factors that are associated not just with lying but also with being nervous—a common feeling one might experience when being interrogated. That is why in recent years police officers have strayed from fully relying on polygraph tests as definitive proof of a person’s innocence or guilt. Overall, it is important to consider the chance for error when examining the results of a polygraph test, but it is possible to catch a person in a lie.