128 research outputs found
fMRI Lie Detection Validity and Admissibility as Evidence in Court and Applicability of the Court’s Ruling to Polygraph Testing
"On 18 June 2008, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Dr.
Lorne Allan Semrau, a clinical psychologist, and in a Second Superseding
Indictment fi led later that year charged him with sixty counts of healthcare
fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C & 1347, twelve counts of money laundering in
violation of 18 U.S.C && 1956 and 1957, and one count of criminal forfeiture.
After a twelve-day jury trial Dr. Semrau was convicted of three counts of
healthcare fraud, and was acquitted on the remaining counts. Dr. Semrau appealed
his conviction in United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit,
U.S. v. Semrau, 693 F.3d 510 (6th Cir. 2012)."(...
The Connection between Score Threshold, Rate of Inconclusives and Minimum Number of Charts Required for Decision of Truth or Deception
"A comprehensive study on Validity and Reliability of Detection of Deception
conducted by D.C. Raskin, G.H. Barland, and J.A. Podlesny (1978) for the
National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice that included
fi eld studies and laboratory experiments concluded that the optimal score
threshold using the Utah Zone Comparison Technique format was a fixed
threshold of +/-6 which would result in an accuracy rate from 88 to 90 percent
with an inconclusive rate of approximately 9 percent. Further, the study shows
that as the scores increase, there is a moderate increase in accuracy reaching
approximately 98 percent, particularly from +/-9 to +/-12, but at the expense
of an increase in inconclusives. Furthermore, in the Matte, Reuss 1989a fi eld
study, tables 10a1, 10a2, 10b1, 10b2 and 10c show that as the scores increase
the probability of error decreases, hence an increase in accuracy.
"(...
Critique of Meta-Analytic Survey of Criterion Accuracy of Validated Polygraph Techniques
"A Meta-Analytic Survey of Criterion Accuracy of Validated Polygraph Techniques
was conducted by an Ad-Hoc committee at the direction of the Board
of Directors of the American Polygraph Association to review and analyze
the status of the scientifi c literature on psychophysiological veracity examinations
using the polygraph and evidence in the form of published research
supporting the various polygraph techniques. Th e fi nal 113-page report was
published in Polygraph, Journal of the American Polygraph Association, Volume
40, Issue 4, 2011. Th is Meta-Analytic Survey was chaired by Michael
Gougler with Raymond Nelson as Principal Investigator and Donald Krapohl,
Mark Handler, Pam Shaw, and Leonard Bierman as committee members."(...
Minimum Number of Polygraph Charts Required to Reach a Conclusion of Truth or Deception in Psychophysiological Veracity Examinations
"For many years, the American Polygraph Association’s standards of practice
required that a minimum of two polygraph charts containing the same test
questions had to be collected before a conclusion of truth or deception could
be rendered. Th e assessment of the validity of any psychophysiological veracity
test is based on the assumption that the test consistently measures the
same properties."(...
Effect of Habituation to Least Threatening Zone Questions of the Most Threatening Zone Comparison Questions in Psychophysiological Veracity Examinations
"During the past 39 years of conducting psychophysiological veracity (PV) examinations,
this author observed a phenomenon wherein the responsivity of
the confi rmed deceptive and truthful examinees remained constant and often
increased with each chart collected on the relevant questions if deceptive or
the control questions if truthful.
Th is author suspected that the reason for this occurrence was due to the truthful
examinee’s habituation to the relevant questions and the deceptive examinee’s
habituation to the control questions, as a result of their psychological set
being focused on the tests questions having the greatest threat to their security."(...
Limited response to Marcin Gołaszewski's Conclusions From the Meta-Analytic Survey of Criterion Accuracy of Validated Polygraph Techniques
"A lengthy article entitled “Validated Techniques and Scoring Models for
PDD Test Data Analysis – Conclusions from the 2011 APA Report” authored
by Marcin Gołaszewski and published in European Polygraph, Volume 6,
Number 4(22), 2012, listed eight polygraph techniques as having been approved
as validated techniques by the American Polygraph Association."(...
Setting the Record Concerning the Differences Between the Matte Quadri-Track and the Backster Zone Comparison Techniques
"There has been some question within the polygraph community regarding whether the
Matte Quadri-Track Zone Comparison Technique with its innovative changes were
original or merely a copy of the Backster Zone Comparison Technique from which the
MQTZCT emanated. The published documents provided herein, clearly show that the
MQTZCT reduced the Truth Cut-Off scores in its conclusion table six years before the Backster ZCT implemented its Truth Cut-Off score reduction. Th e MQTZCT
also retained the value of the Cut-Off scores in each chart, rather than diminish their
value with each chart as in the Backster ZCT. Furthermore, it also ameliorated Backster’s
“Either-Or” Rule, with the Matte “Dual Equal Strong Reaction” Rule, effectively
inhibiting the successful use of countermeasures. Th e MQTZCT introduced the Fear
of Error Control Question for comparison with the Hope of Error Relevant Question as
a means of addressing the Othello Error (Ekman Dec. 1986). Th e MQTZCT used the
Stimulation Test in conjunction with the MQTZCT, contrary to Backster’s rejection
and non-use. Th e MQTZCT also eliminated Backster’s superfl uous question regarding
prior polygraph tests, and subsequently also eliminated Backster’s drug question."(...
Effect of the Stimulation Test Administered Before and After the First Relevant Chart of the Control Question Test
"During the pretest interview of a psychophysiological veracity (PV) examination,
every effort is made to allay any fears the innocent examinee may have
regarding the accuracy of the results of the examination, by explaining the
scientific principles involved in the test, the sophistication of the polygraph
instrument, and the complete objectivity of chart analysis through a numerical
quantifi cation system or computer algorithm. However, the best pretest
interview by the most competent polygraphist may sometimes fail to convince
an examinee of the accuracy and reliability of the PV examination."(...
Structural snapshots of Escherichia coli histidinol phosphate phosphatase along the reaction pathway.
HisB from Escherichia coli is a bifunctional enzyme catalyzing the sixth and eighth steps of l-histidine biosynthesis. The N-terminal domain (HisB-N) possesses histidinol phosphate phosphatase activity, and its crystal structure shows a single domain with fold similarity to the haloacid dehalogenase (HAD) enzyme family. HisB-N forms dimers in the crystal and in solution. The structure shows the presence of a structural Zn(2+) ion stabilizing the conformation of an extended loop. Two metal binding sites were also identified in the active site. Their presence was further confirmed by isothermal titration calorimetry. HisB-N is active in the presence of Mg(2+), Mn(2+), Co(2+), or Zn(2+), but Ca(2+) has an inhibitory effect. We have determined structures of several intermediate states corresponding to snapshots along the reaction pathway, including that of the phosphoaspartate intermediate. A catalytic mechanism, different from that described for other HAD enzymes, is proposed requiring the presence of the second metal ion not found in the active sites of previously characterized HAD enzymes, to complete the second half-reaction. The proposed mechanism is reminiscent of two-Mg(2+) ion catalysis utilized by DNA and RNA polymerases and many nucleases. The structure also provides an explanation for the inhibitory effect of Ca(2+)
Foremost Changes in Polygraph in Last 100 Years
"When I attended the Backster School of Lie Detection in New York City in January-
February 1972, there were fi ve primary polygraph techniques in use at that
time. Namely, the Relevant-Irrelevant Technique, the Reid Technique, the Arther
Technique, the Marcy Technique, and the Backster Zone Comparison Technique.
Th e changes that followed in the next forty years were signifi cant, and too extensive
for discussion in this paper, hence the interested reader is directed to the voluminous
textbook (Matte 1996), updated with a Supplement (Matte 2002–2012),
available at amazon.com."(...
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