Laboratory & Analog Studies
Overview
Laboratory and analog studies test polygraph methods in controlled experimental settings, typically using mock crime paradigms where participants are randomly assigned to commit a simulated crime or remain innocent. These studies provide clear ground truth and allow researchers to isolate specific variables that affect polygraph accuracy.
The mock crime paradigm, pioneered by David Raskin and colleagues at the University of Utah in the 1970s, remains the primary method for validating new polygraph techniques. While critics argue that laboratory studies lack the emotional intensity of real investigations, meta-analyses have shown that well-designed mock crime studies produce accuracy rates comparable to field studies.
Key factors that affect laboratory study quality include: the motivation structure (whether participants face real consequences), the realism of the mock crime scenario, the experience level of the examiner, and whether the study uses a between-subjects or within-subjects design.
Research Landscape
All 79 Studies
Choice blindness without deception: failures to notice false-feedbacks persist in explicit detection tasks
Gabriel Vogel, Philip Pärnamets, Lars… ·
Choice blindness persisted even when participants were explicitly instructed to detect manipulations, though explicit warnings reduced the effect. Stimulus discriminability…
System Analysis of Experimenter-Determined and “Free” Lie-Producing Behavior
A.V. Uchaev · Psikhologicheskii zhurnal
The study revealed systematic differences in psychophysiological patterns and behavioral organization between experimenter-determined and autonomous lie-producing behavior, with implications for…
On the Influence of Sleep Deprivation on the Results of Polygraph Testing
Małgorzata Mickoś; Marek Leśniak · European Polygraph
Sleep deprivation of 24 hours did not significantly reduce polygraph detection accuracy in a concealed information test, and energy drink…
Distinguishing true from false confessions using physiological patterns of concealed information recognition – A proof of concept study
Linda Marjoleine Geven · Biological Psychology
True confessors showed larger physiological responses to correct versus incorrect answers, while false confessors exhibited no differential responding, successfully distinguishing…
Seven- and eight-year-old children’s deception in the conflict situation
Ryoichi Watanabe ·
Seven- and eight-year-olds with second-order theory of mind successfully modulated deception based on social context, while six-year-olds showed selective deception…
A Not So Bogus Pipeline: A Study of the Bogus Pipeline Effect And Its Implications for Polygraph Testing
Elizabeth Elliott · Polygraph & Forensic Credibility Assessment: A Journal of Science and Field Practice
The bogus pipeline effect remained robust even when participants believed the lie detector was only 75% accurate, challenging assumptions that…
Memory detection: the effects of emotional stimuli
Nathalie klein Selle · Biological Psychology
Emotional stimuli enhanced CIT detection efficiency using skin conductance (ROC 0.84 vs. 0.75 for neutral stimuli), representing a substantial 9-point…
The Concealed Information Test is susceptible to misleading information
Volz, K., Bahr, L., Heinrichs,… · Journal of Forensic Sciences
Misleading information presented after encoding completely eliminated the CIT effect across all three physiological measures (skin conductance, respiration, heart rate),…
The effects of truth–lie base-rates on deception detection accuracy in Korea
Hee Sun Park, Timothy R.… · Asian Journal of Communication
Detection accuracy is a predictable linear function of truth-lie base rates, with accuracy increasing as honesty becomes more prevalent. This…
Examining Sender and Judge Variability in Honesty Assessments and Deception Detection Accuracy: Evidence for a Transparent Liar but No Evidence of Deception-General Ability
Timothy R. Levine · Communication Research Reports
More variance was observed in senders than judges; data suggested the existence of an unusually transparent liar but found no…
The Amount of Information Remembered by the Perpetrator in the Context of the Application of the Guilty Knowledge Technique in Criminal Investigation – a Pilot Study
Marcin Tarabuła; Michał Widacki · European Polygraph
The pilot study examined perpetrator memory for crime details, contributing to understanding of how information retention patterns affect GKT applicability.…
In vino veritas? Alcohol, response inhibition and lying
Suchotzki, K., Crombez, G., Debey,… · Alcohol and Alcoholism
Alcohol significantly impaired response inhibition (longer stop-signal reaction times with higher BAC) but had no effect on the cognitive costs…
The Comparison Question Polygraph Test: A Contrast of Methods and Scoring
Charles Robert Honts; Racheal Reavy · Physiology & Behavior
Mock crime experiment with 250 paid participants contrasting probable-lie and directed-lie CQT variants. Found substantial main effects of guilt in…
The Vasomotor Response in the Comparison Question Test
Michael C. Gougler · Polygraph
Vasomotor responses were found to be highly useful in discriminating deception, with large main effects of guilt detected by both…
Using pretest data to screen low-reactivity individuals in the autonomic-based concealed information test
Matsuda, I., Ogawa, T., Tsuneoka,… · Psychophysiology
Pretest screening significantly improved the diagnostic value of the mock-crime CIT, though it led to a substantial number of undiagnosed…
Towards the Detection of Deception in Interactive Multimedia Environments
Hugo Plácido da Silva, Ana… · Lecture Notes in Computer Science
The study successfully demonstrated deception detection using non-intrusive off-the-person sensors in an interactive game-based environment, providing useful guidelines for future…
Emotional arousal modulates the encoding of crime-related details and corresponding physiological responses in the Concealed Information Test
Juliane Peth; Gerhard Vossel; Matthias… · Psychophysiology
Emotional arousal during crime encoding modulates both the retention of crime-related details and the corresponding physiological responses measured by the…
Memory instructions, vocalization, mock crimes, and concealed information tests with a polygraph
Michael T. Bradley; Fahreen J.… · Perceptual and Motor Skills
Guilty participants who incidentally encoded crime details without explicit priming showed significantly lower memory, detection scores, and detection rates compared…
The impact of family climate on Romanian youngsters’ physiological reactivity to violent video stimuli measured by the polygraph
Mihaela Chraif · Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences
Youngsters growing in negative family climates showed statistically significant differences in physiological reactions (measured by polygraph) when exposed to violent…
The Use of Physiological Measures to Detect Deception in Juveniles
Ronald A. Craig; David C.… · Polygraph
Examined CQT application with juvenile populations. Found that physiological measures can effectively detect deception in younger examinees, expanding the evidence…
Strength of Memory Encoding Affects Physiological Responses in the Guilty Actions Test
Gamer, M., Kosiol, D., Vossel,… · Biological Psychology
Culprits showed differential forgetting of peripheral (but not central) crime details, maintaining stable GAT validity across a 2-week delay, while…
Can intuition improve deception detection performance?
Albrechtsen, J. S., Meissner, C.… · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Intuitive processing produced 10-15% improvements in deception detection accuracy across two experiments, with participants viewing brief 15-second clips or performing…
Effectiveness of pupil diameter in a probable-lie comparison question test for deception
Webb, A. K., Honts, C.… · Legal and Criminal Psychology
Pupil diameter demonstrated significant predictive validity for deception (r = 0.61), performed comparably to traditional skin conductance measures, and showed…
Air Force Modified General Question Test Validation Study
Senter, S., Waller, J., Krapohl,… · Polygraph
The AFMGQT produced total and definitive accuracy rates that significantly exceeded chance levels for both truthful and deceptive participants in…
Déjà vu! The effect of previewing test items on the validity of the Concealed Information polygraph Test
Geert Crombez · Psychology, Crime & Law
Previewing CIT test items with examinees prior to the formal examination did not reduce the physiological differentiation between guilty and…
Effect of two types of control questions and two question formats on the outcomes of polygraph examinations
Horvath, F., Palmatier, J.J. · Journal of Forensic Sciences
Nonexclusive control questions achieved significantly higher accuracy rates (85% for guilty, 91% for innocent) compared to exclusive time-bar control questions…
Effectiveness of the Air Force Modified General Question Test Format
Stuart M. Senter; Andrew Belvin… · Polygraph
Validated the USAF-MGQT format with total accuracy of 83.8% and definitive accuracy of 84.9%. Demonstrated effectiveness of the military’s standard…
Electrodermal and phasic heart rate responses in the Guilty Actions Test: Comparing guilty examinees to informed and uninformed innocents
Heinz Werner Gödert · International Journal of Psychophysiology
Informed participants (both guilty and innocent-aware) showed equivalent SCR and heart rate deceleration patterns to crime-relevant items, indicating that the…
Individual Differences in Comparison Question Anxiety
Michelle C. Phillips; Jennifer M.… · European Polygraph
Individual psychological differences significantly affect comparison question anxiety levels, potentially impacting test validity and interpretation.
New measures improve the accuracy of the directed-lie test when detecting deception using a mock crime
Brandon G. Bell; John C.… · Physiology & Behavior
New physiological measures improved the accuracy of directed-lie tests when detecting deception in mock crime scenarios. The study addressed previous…
The Comparison Question Test: Does It Work and If So How?
Heinz Offe; S. Offe · Law and Human Behavior
Investigated the theoretical mechanisms underlying CQT effectiveness. Examined the role of comparison questions in calibrating physiological responses. Provided experimental evidence…
Psychophysiological and vocal measures in the detection of guilty knowledge
Matthias Gamer; Hans-Georg Rill; Gerhard… · International Journal of Psychophysiology
The study provided one of the first rigorous laboratory tests comparing traditional psychophysiological measures against commercial VSA technology like TrusterPro.
The Effects of Motivation on the Detection of Deception in CQT
William George Iacono; Christopher J.… · Psychophysiology
Examined how participant motivation levels affect CQT accuracy. Found higher motivation produced larger physiological differences between truth and deception, supporting…
Effects of prior demonstrations of polygraph accuracy on outcomes of probable-lie and directed-lie polygraph tests
Bernhardt, P.C. · ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
The stimulation test with effective feedback increased probable-lie test accuracy to 90% and directed-lie test accuracy to 83%. Probable-lie tests…
Effects of outside issues on the control question test
Honts, C.R., Amato, S.L., Gordon,… · Journal of General Psychology
Outside issues had a strong differential impact on innocent participants, dramatically moving their scores toward deception by more than one…
Estimating the validity of the guilty knowledge test from simulated experiments: The external validity of mock crime studies
Carmel, D., Dayan, E., Naveh,… · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied
Realistic mock crime procedures produced lower recall rates and weaker GKT detection efficiency compared to standard procedures where participants were…
Group and individual accuracy in deception detection
Ernest S. Park, Timothy R.… · Communication Research Reports
Small group judgments were more accurate than individual judgments when detecting lies but not when identifying truths, indicating an asymmetric…
The Effects of Augmented Physiological Feedback on Detection of Deception
Robert M. Stern, John C.… ·
Augmented physiological feedback decreased habituation rates and improved discrimination between innocent and guilty participants, with effects persisting across multiple test…
Who killed my relative? Police officers' ability to detect real-life high-stake lies
Vrij, A., Mann, S. · Psychology, Crime & Law
Police officers performed no better than chance at detecting the high-stakes lies. Accuracy was unrelated to confidence, age, or professional…
The Discussion of Comparison Questions Between List Repetitions Is Associated with Increased Test Accuracy
Charles Robert Honts · Polygraph
Demonstrated that between-chart discussion of comparison questions significantly improved CQT accuracy. This procedural refinement became standard practice in modern CQT…
A Comparison of PDD Accuracy Rates: CISP vs. TES Question Formats
DoDPI Research Division Staff · Polygraph
Compared two screening test formats used in US intelligence community. Found both formats achieved significant detection rates, with differences in…
A Comparison of Psychophysiological Detection of Deception Accuracy Rates
Andrew Belvin Dollins · Polygraph
The TES format achieved 83.3% guilty detection accuracy compared to 55.6% for CSP-PLC and 58.6% for CSP-DLC formats, representing a…
Deception and nondeception in guilty knowledge and guilty actions polygraph tests
Vance Victor MacLaren · Journal of Applied Psychology
Innocent witnesses tested on the GKT were misclassified as guilty at a rate of 76%, compared to only 24% under…
The Control Question Test in Polygraphic Examinations with Actual Controls for Truth
Vance Victor MacLaren · Perceptual and Motor Skills
The modified CQT with truthfully answered control questions correctly identified 86% of guilty subjects and 83–89% of innocent subjects, demonstrating…
A comparison of psychophysiological detection of deception accuracy rates obtained using the counterintelligence scope polygraph and the test for espionage and sabotage question formats
DoDPI Research Division Staff · DoDPI Research Reports
The study found that traditional CSP format had unacceptably low guilty detection rates of only 43.2% compared to 94.9% innocent…
Validity of an Expanded-Issue (Modified General Question) Polygraph Technique in a Simulated Distributed-Crime-Roles Context
John A. Podlesny · Journal of Applied Psychology
The expanded-issue MGQT successfully differentiated guilty participants (thieves and accomplices) from innocent participants at above-chance accuracy levels, while confidants with…
Awareness of crime-relevant information and the Guilty Knowledge Test
Bradley, M. T., Rettinger, J. · Journal of Applied Psychology
The study achieved perfect or near-perfect detection rates with a hierarchical physiological response pattern (guilty > informed innocent > uninformed…
Effectiveness of Control Questions Answered ‘Yes’: Dispelling a Polygraph Myth
Charles Robert Honts; David C.… · Forensic Reports, 5, 265–272
Challenged the assumption that “yes” answers to control questions reduce test accuracy. Found no significant accuracy difference between yes and…
Electrodermal differentiation of deception: potentially confounding and influencing factors
Vincent, A., Furedy, J.J. · International Journal of Psychophysiology
Voice latency and skin conductance both increased for difficult biographical questions, but only skin conductance showed the deceptive > honest…
A comparison of field and laboratory polygraphs in the detection of deception
Christopher J. Patrick; William George… · Psychophysiology
Overall hit rates were essentially the same for laboratory polygraph quantitative measures (73%) and field polygraph numerical scores (79%), with…
Psychopathy, threat, and polygraph test accuracy
William George Iacono · Journal of Applied Psychology
Psychopathy did not confer any advantage in defeating the CQT — guilty psychopaths were detected just as easily as guilty…
Studies of the accuracy of security screening polygraph examinations
Gordon H. Barland; Charles Robert… · DoDPI Research Reports
Security screening polygraphs showed disturbing asymmetry with 94.9% accuracy for innocent examinees but only 43.2% accuracy for guilty examinees, creating…
The validity of detection of deception for multiple issues
Barland, G.H., Honts, C.R., Barger,… ·
Guilty subjects were identified as deceptive to at least one crime 67% of the time (93% excluding inconclusives), but the…
Choice and the Detection of Deception
M. T. Bradley · Perceptual and Motor Skills
The study demonstrated that examinees' voluntary choices regarding cooperation significantly influenced physiological detection patterns, with cooperative choices potentially attenuating electrodermal…
Directed Lie Comparison Questions in Polygraph Testing
Lawrence N. Driscoll; Charles Robert… · Psychophysiology
Laboratory comparison of directed lie vs. probable lie formats. Found DLC produced fewer false positives while maintaining detection of deception,…
Machiavellianism and CIT Accuracy
Michael T. Bradley; K.K. Klohn · Psychophysiology
Found that subjects high in Machiavellianism showed different response patterns during CIT. Demonstrated that personality characteristics can influence detection accuracy,…
Psychopathy and Polygraph Detection of Deception in a Prison Population
David C. Raskin; Robert D.… · Psychophysiology
Tested 48 inmates (half high psychopathy). Overall 88% accurate, 4% wrong, 8% inconclusive. No significant differences between psychopaths and nonpsychopaths,…
Alcohol and the psychophysiological detection of deception
Bradley, M.T., Ainsworth, D. · Psychophysiology
Alcohol intoxication during the mock crime (encoding phase) significantly reduced detection accuracy on both Control Question Test and Guilty Knowledge…
CQT Lab Accuracy with Community Participants
Avital Ginton; Netzer Daie; Eitan… · Journal of Applied Psychology
Used community rather than student volunteers for increased ecological validity. Found accuracy rates comparable to field studies, supporting generalizability of…
A Validation and Reliability Study of the Counterintelligence Screening Test
Gordon H. Barland · 902nd Military Intelligence Group
The study provided the first scientific validation of directed lie control questions and the CIST format under controlled conditions.
Accuracy demonstrations, threat, and the detection of deception: Cardiovascular, electrodermal, and pupillary measures
Bradley, M. T., Janisse, M.… · Psychophysiology
Detection accuracy on the Control Question Test increased systematically with demonstrated polygraph effectiveness (dose-response relationship), while the Concealed Information Test…
Electrodermal Lability and Concealed Information Detection
William M. Waid; Martin Theodore… · Psychophysiology
Found that electrodermally labile subjects were more frequently detected in CIT tasks, while electrodermally stabile subjects were less detectable. Individual…
The responding of normals, alcoholics, and psychopaths in a laboratory lie detection experiment
Hammond, D.L. · Dissertation Abstracts International
No differences in detectability of deception were found among normal individuals, alcoholics, and psychopaths, challenging assumptions that psychopaths could evade…
Trait Anxiety and Skin Conductance in CIT
Martin Giesen; Michael A. Rollison · Psychophysiology
Found that high trait anxiety “guilty” subjects responded more strongly in mock-crime CIT than low-anxiety subjects. Demonstrated that personality variables…
CQT Mock Crime Laboratory Study
Laura I. Rovner; David C.… · Psychophysiology
One of the earliest CQT mock crime studies from the Utah group. 72 student volunteers randomly assigned to guilty/innocent conditions…
Effects of Level of Socialization on Electrodermal Detection of Deception
William M. Waid · Psychophysiology
Deceptive subjects who evaded polygraph detection scored significantly lower on the CPI Socialization scale (r = .45, p < .05),…
Validity of CQT in Laboratory Mock Crime Study
Laura I. Rovner; David C.… · Psychophysiology
One of the Utah group’s foundational mock crime experiments with 72 volunteers. Established the Federal Zone of Comparison technique validity…
An Experimental Investigation of the Relative Validity and Utility of the Polygraph Technique and Three Other Common Methods of Criminal Identification
Widacki, J., Horvath, F. · Journal of Forensic Sciences
Polygraph testing achieved the highest accuracy with 18 of 20 correct decisions (90%), 1 incorrect decision (5%), and 1 inconclusive…
Wartość diagnostyczna badania poligraficznego i jej znaczenie kryminalistyczne
Widacki, J. ·
Polygraph examination produced 18 correct identifications out of 20 cases (90% accuracy rate), tied with graphological analysis for the fewest…
An Evaluation of Field Techniques in Detection of Deception
Barland, G.H., Raskin, D.C. · Psychophysiology
The study achieved 81% correct classification excluding inconclusives. Electrodermal (skin resistance) measures proved most discriminating, followed by cardiovascular and respiration.…
The Validity of the polygraph technique with children
Stanley Abrams · Journal of Police Science and Administration
Children below age 11 demonstrated only 63% GKT polygraph accuracy (near-chance), while those aged 11 and older achieved 91% accuracy…
The validity of the polygraph with retardates
Stanley Abrams · Journal of Police Science and Administration
The polygraph produced physiologically interpretable and diagnostically valid results with individuals with intellectual disabilities, suggesting that cognitive limitations do not…
An experimental study of field techniques in lie detection
Barland, G. H. · Department of Psychology, University of Utah
The zone comparison control question technique successfully differentiated guilty from innocent subjects, with electrodermal (skin conductance) measures proving to be…
“Please Don't Talk to Anyone about This Experiment:” Disclosure of Deception by Debriefed Subjects
Edward Lichtenstein · Psychological Reports
Disclosure rates were alarmingly high: 16.7% of participants disclosed confidential information in immediate face-to-face interviews, while 78.9% disclosed when contacted…
Manipulation of contrast between differential GSR responses through the use of ordered tasks of information detection
Israel Lieblich · Psychophysiology
Sequential ordering of information detection tasks significantly modulates the contrast between differential GSR responses to relevant and neutral stimuli, demonstrating…
Validity of the guilty-knowledge technique: the effects of motivation
Davidson · Journal of Applied Psychology
The GKT achieved 92% accuracy for guilty subjects and 100% for innocent subjects, with perfect specificity and no effect of…
Effects of realistic stress and procedural interference in experimental lie detection
Kugelmass, S., Lieblich, I. · Journal of Applied Psychology
GSR detection remained robust under realistic stress and was far superior to heart rate analysis, but blood pressure cuff inflation…
The effects of verbal responses on the laboratory detection of deception
Martin Theodore Orne · Psychophysiology
Subjects instructed to say 'no' to each question were most frequently detected via GSR, while those required to produce word…
Effects of heightened motivation on the detection of deception
Martin Theodore Orne · Journal of Applied Psychology
Subjects motivated to deceive produced significantly larger skin resistance responses to critical items and were detected at rates far exceeding…