Alcohol and the physiological detection of deception: arousal and memory influences

Eighty male volunteers participated in an analogue study of the effects of alcohol intoxication at the time of a crime on the physiological detection of deception using control question and guilty knowledge techniques. Sixty-four of the subjects committed a mock crime and half of these were intoxicated during the crime. Sixteen subjects committed no crime and served as innocent controls. We found that intoxication at the time of the crime had no significant effect on polygraph test outcomes, although it did affect anticipatory arousal before the crime and subsequent memory for crime details. Manipulations designed to influence memory for crime details and arousal during the crime had differential effects for the two polygraph tests. On the guilty knowledge test, primed subjects who rehearsed specific details following the crime were more detectable than unprimed subjects. On the control question test, primed subjects were also more detectable, but only when arousal during the crime was high.

Emotion in the criminal psychopath: startle reflex modulation

Startle-elicited blinks were measured during presentation of affective slides to test hypotheses concerning emotional responding in psychopaths. Subjects were 54 incarcerated sexual offenders divided into nonpsychopathic, psychopathic, and mixed groups based on file and interview data. Consistent with findings for normal college students, nonpsychopaths and mixed subjects showed a significant linear relationship between slide valence and startle magnitude, with startle responses largest during unpleasant slides and smallest during pleasant slides. This effect was absent in psychopaths. Group differences in startle modulation were related to affective features of psychopathy, but not to antisocial behavior per se. Psychopathy had no effect on autonomic or self-report responses to slides. These results suggest an abnormality in the processing of emotional stimuli by psychopaths that manifests itself independently of affective report.

Emotion in the criminal psychopath: startle reflex modulation

Startle-elicited blinks were measured during presentation of affective slides to test hypotheses concerning emotional responding in psychopaths. Subjects were 54 incarcerated sexual offenders divided into nonpsychopathic, psychopathic, and mixed groups based on file and interview data. Consistent with findings for normal college students, nonpsychopaths and mixed subjects showed a significant linear relationship between slide valence and startle magnitude, with startle responses largest during unpleasant slides and smallest during pleasant slides. This effect was absent in psychopaths. Group differences in startle modulation were related to affective features of psychopathy, but not to antisocial behavior per se. Psychopathy had no effect on autonomic or self-report responses to slides. These results suggest an abnormality in the processing of emotional stimuli by psychopaths that manifests itself independently of affective report.

Antegrade selective coronary angiography via the transseptal approach in a patient with severe vascular disease

We describe a case of a woman with severe vascular disease in whom retrograde access to the aortic root was limited by both aortoiliac and axillary disease. Transseptal catheterization was performed in anticipation of percutaneous aortic valvuloplasty. Selective antegrade angiography was successfully performed using catheters introduced through the transseptal sheath.

Use of antianxiety drugs as countermeasures in the detection of guilty knowledge

To evaluate whether antianxiety drugs enable guilty subjects to appear innocent on polygraph tests, we compared the effects of diazepam, meprobamate, and propranolol on the outcome of a guilty knowledge test (GKT). Seventy-five undergraduate students were evenly divided among one innocent and four guilty groups. Subjects in each of the guilty groups received either one of the drugs or a placebo prior to the administration of the GKT and after viewing a videotape that depicted a burglary as seen from the perspective of the burglar. The results showed that drug status had no influence on the outcome of the GKT. Innocent subjects who coincidentally obtained high scores on a recognition memory test covering details of the mock crime tended to obtain higher guilt scores on the GKT.

A comparison of field and laboratory polygraphs in the detection of deception

This study compared the effectiveness of field and laboratory polygraphs in discriminating guilty and innocent subjects tested using the Control Question Technique (CQT). Subjects were 48 prisoners examined regarding a mock theft in a peer threat context; physiological responses were recorded simultaneously on a Lafayette field polygraph and a Sensor Medics laboratory polygraph. Overall hit rates were essentially the same whether classifications were based on quantitative measures from the laboratory polygraph or on numerical scores from the field polygraph (i.e., 73% and 79%, respectively), and in both cases the best discriminating measures were electrodermal activity and indices of respiration suppression. Further analyses revealed that errors of classification were mostly due to the failure of the available measures to differentiate between relevant and control questions for innocent subjects. These results indicate that the CQT is susceptible to false positive errors when subjects are tested under field-like circumstances, a problem that is not likely to be eliminated by refinements in instrumentation and scoring.

Genuine, suppressed and faked facial behavior during exacerbation of chronic low back pain

Facial activity was examined as 60 female and 60 male chronic low back pain patients responded to a painful range of motion exercise during a scheduled physical examination. Subsequently, they were asked to fake the facial response to the movement inducing the most pain or to attempt to suppress evidence that they were experiencing pain when this same movement was again repeated. Facial behavior was measured using the Facial Action Coding System. Self-reports of pain also were provided. The genuine expression was consistent with that observed in previous research, but minor differences indicated that the facial display of pain reflects differences between sources of pain, social context in which pain is induced and individual differences among patients. Considerable voluntary control over the facial expression of pain was observed, although the faked expression was more an intensified caricature of the genuine expression, and an attempt to suppress the facial grimace of pain was not entirely successful as residual facial activity persisted. Self-reports were only moderately correlated with facial behavior.

Observer judgments of acute pain: Facial action determinants

We provided a microanalytic description of facial reactions to a series of painful and nonpainful electric shocks and examined the impact of these as discrete facial cues for observer judgments of acute pain. Thirty female volunteers were videotaped and reported their discomfort in response to electric shocks after earlier exposure to one of three social influence conditions: a tolerant model, an intolerant model, or neutral peer presence. We coded the videotapes for facial activity using the Facial Action Coding System (Ekman & Friesen, 1978b), and peer judges rated them for painful discomfort. Subjects exposed to a tolerant model reported no more discomfort than did subjects exposed to an intolerant model, despite receiving more intense levels of shock, but were judged by observers to be in more pain. Analyses of facial activity yielded consistent findings: Tolerant-model subjects, though reporting discomfort equivalent to that reported in other groups, displayed more pain-related facial activity (brow lowering, narrowing of the eye aperture from below, raising the upper lip, and blinking). There was a substantial direct relation between observer judgments of distress and discrete, pain-related facial actions (mean multiple R = .74 for the various shock levels rated). These data indicate that nonverbal expression yields information about the response to noxious stimulation that is non-redundant with self-report.

Observer judgments of acute pain: facial action determinants

We provided a microanalytic description of facial reactions to a series of painful and nonpainful electric shocks and examined the impact of these as discrete facial cues for observer judgments of acute pain. Thirty female volunteers were videotaped and reported their discomfort in response to electric shocks after earlier exposure to one of three social influence conditions: a tolerant model, an intolerant model, or neutral peer presence. We coded the videotapes for facial activity using the Facial Action Coding System (Ekman & Friesen, 1978b), and peer judges rated them for painful discomfort. Subjects exposed to a tolerant model reported no more discomfort than did subjects exposed to an intolerant model, despite receiving more intense levels of shock, but were judged by observers to be in more pain. Analyses of facial activity yielded consistent findings: Tolerant-model subjects, though reporting discomfort equivalent to that reported in other groups, displayed more pain-related facial activity (brow lowering, narrowing of the eye aperture from below, raising the upper lip, and blinking). There was a substantial direct relation between observer judgments of distress and discrete, pain-related facial actions (mean multiple R = .74 for the various shock levels rated). These data indicate that nonverbal expression yields information about the response to noxious stimulation that is non-redundant with self-report.

Facial expression during induced pain

Facial expressions contribute substantially to judgments of sufferer's pain but have not been rigorously described. We obtained a detailed description of 72 female volunteers' facial reactions to the cold pressor experience, using Ekman and Friesen's (1978a) objective, anatomically based Facial Action Coding System. In addition, we examined the impact of exposure to social models tolerant or intolerant to pain. The facial actions systematically provoked by cold pressor exposure comprised a narrowing of the eye aperture from below, raising the upper lip, pulling the lip corners, parting of the lips, or dropping the jaw, and eyes closing or frequently blinking; however, there was rich individual variation in the facial displays. The reactions were most salient at onset, indicating blends of startle, adaptive reaction, emotional expression, and pain, but they declined in vigor over time, although self-report of pain continued to mount. The relation between subjective distress and facial expression was greatest at the beginning of noxious stimulation. The social models had a potent impact on verbal report and pain tolerance but not on facial expression, indicating relative independence of components within the rich range of expressive reactions of painful experience.