A field study of the fallibility of polygraphic lie detection

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.