Vitas Saldžiūnas

Vitas Saldžiūnas is a Lithuanian polygraph examiner who worked with the VIP Protection Department of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania. A private examiner, he has carried out criminal investigations with polygraph since 1992, bringing over three decades of field experience to his research contributions. He has authored approximately 30 scientific articles in Lithuanian, English, Polish, and Russian on polygraph technique, establishing himself as a prolific contributor to European polygraph literature.

Saldžiūnas's research contributions focus on practical field examination techniques and test development. His work has explored event knowledge tests (EKT), developing tactical approaches for applying these protocols in criminal investigations including murder cases. He has investigated electrodermal activity patterns during field examinations, examining phenomena related to skin conductance that may indicate deception or the use of countermeasures. Other significant contributions include studies on alibi verification, number tests, memory traces, and the formulation of efficiency metrics for polygraph examinations. His 2015 study on selecting optimal conditions for polygraph examinations addressed critical factors including examinee physical and mental state, habituation effects, and motivation—variables that directly impact examination reliability in real-world settings.

Saldžiūnas worked primarily within the Lithuanian polygraph community, forming a productive research partnership with Aleksandras Kovalenko, with whom he co-authored the majority of his publications and a book titled "Lie Detection with Polygraph" (2015). He also collaborated with international colleagues including Vladimir Knyazev and Kalin Gaidarov from neighboring Eastern European countries. His work consistently appeared in European Polygraph, the primary scientific journal serving the European polygraph community. Saldžiūnas contributed to advancing polygraph practice in Lithuania during a period when the country was developing its post-Soviet legal and forensic infrastructure, helping to establish scientific standards for psychophysiological examination in criminal investigations.