Lie detection - From Polygraph to Brain Scan
Contact
Name
Dr. Torsten Voigt
Dr.
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Contact
Name
Larissa Fischer
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Contact
Name
Bettina Paul
Dr.
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Continuous attractivity and sociotechnical reconfiguration of lie detection
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Project
The verification a person’s statements to gain knowledge about what s/he has said or done is both a historical and a contemporary societal demand. Scientific-technological procedures which meet these desires are commonly referred to as lie detection. The most prominent artefact in this context is the polygraph, which was developed in the 1920’s and promised a new quality of lie detection. The validity of the polygraph and similar procedures was continuously challenged but despite this ongoing critique, its use in Germany was never entirely abandoned. Currently, some commentators even postulate their renaissance. This impression is being confirmed by the latest emergence of brain image-based methods of lie detection. Especially in forensic discourses, they are seen as highly potential as they promise to enable a more valid detection of deception because of their neuroscientific based procedures. These claims initiated a new debate about the reliability of lie detection in the context of criminal and civil trials. Regardless of the undeniable societal relevance and importance of this topic, there are no empirical studies for the German context that analyze in which societal realms lie detection practices are actually conducted, in which concrete contexts of actions they are being executed and which expectations and promises are connected to their use. To date, no systematic, sociological analysis of lie detection and its usage in different contexts in Germany exits which is especially true for its sociotechnical contextualisation.
This project will provide the first comprehensive overview and analysis of lie detection practices in Germany. It will reconstruct the history of lie detection and its contemporary areas of application in Germany. Furthermore, embedded in the research programme of technography, the project aims at studying which specific expectations are associated with these devices in the different contexts of application and what role the used instruments play concerning their technological-material peculiarity. Finally, the project will analyse which reciprocity between the old polygraphic procedures and the new brain image-based technologies of lie detection can be found, in what ways both legitimate or discredit each other, to be able to reveal current and emerging developments. In general, the project contributes to the analysis of biotechnological innovations und the referring societal implications and to the empirical reconstruction of sociotechnical contexts of interaction.
Project Publications
Egbert, S., Paul, B. (2016): Devices of lie detection as diegetic technologies in the ‘war on terror’. In: Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, online first, doi: 10.1177/0270467616634162.
Fischer, Larissa (2020): The idea of reading someone’s thoughts in contemporary lie detection techniques. In: Laurens Schlicht, Carla Seemann und Christian Kassung (Hrsg.): Mind Reading as a Cultural Practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 74-96.
Fischer, Larissa, Bettina Paul und Torsten H. Voigt (2019): Wahrheit unter dem Vergrößerungsglas. Vorstellungen von Subjekt und Technik in der Rechtsprechung zur Polygraphie. In: Zeitschrift für Soziologie 48 (5-6): 418-434. Doi: 10.1515/zfsoz-2019-0029.
Heinemann, T. (2016): Die neurowissenschaftliche Suche nach dem Bösen. In: psychosozial 39, 144, 10-25.
Heinemann, T. (2014): Gefährliche Gehirne: Verdachtsgewinnung mittels neurobiologischer Risikoanalysen. In: Kriminologisches Journal 46, 3, 184-198.
Paul, Bettina, Larissa Fischer und Torsten H. Voigt. (2020): Anachronistic Progress? User Notions of Lie Detection in the Juridical Field. In: Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 6, 328-346. Doi: 10.17351/ests2020.433.
Paul, Bettina, Larissa Fischer und Torsten H. Voigt (2019): Wahrheit detektieren. Polygrafie zwischen Technikskepsis und Maschinenglauben im Kontext der Justiz. In: Mittelweg 36. 28(5), 84-109.
Paul, B., Egbert, S. (2014): Lügendetektion per Neuroimaging – Visuelle Verdachtstechnologien als soziotechnische Ensembles. In: Kriminologisches Journal 46, 3, 153-167.
Heinemann, T. (2012): Populäre Wissenschaft: Hirnforschung zwischen Labor und Talkshow. Göttingen: Wallstein.
Science Communication
"The politics of progress", Session Hosts am 19.08.2020 at the EASST / 4 S joint Conference 2020: Locating and Timing Matters: Significance and Agency of STS in Emerging Worlds, Prague Aug 18-21.2020 (virtual conference)
"Anachronistic Progress? User Notions of Lie Detection in the Juridical Field in Germany", lecture at EASST / 4 S joint Conference 2020 on 19.08.2020: Locating and Timing Matters: Significance and Agency of STS in Emerging Worlds, Prague Aug 18-21.2020 (virtual conference)
"Modern Lie Detection Systems as Double Future Devices", lecture (with Simon Egbert) on 14.11.2019 at the International Workshop: Scenarios and the Politics of the Future des Cluster of Excellence: CLICS der Universität Hamburg (Veranstalter*in)
"Detecting Intentions: The Value of STS for Elucidating Conceptual Shifts in Truth Verification“, lecture at the 4S-Konferenz in New Orleans on 5.9.2019: "Innovations, Interruptions, Regenerations"; Panel: STS and Security Studies: "Expertise, Infrastructures and Practices"
"Wahrheit unter dem Vergrößerungsglas - Über die Bestimmung von Technik, Körper und Subjekt in der deutschen Rechtsprechung zur Polygraphie", lecture on 25.4.2019 at the Erfurt University , Max Weber Kolleg, conference: "Wahrheitspraktiken".
"Wahrheitspraktiken", conference host (with Bernhard Kleeberg and Laurens Schlicht) 25./26.4.2019, Erfurt University, Max Weber Kolleg, conference: "Wahrheitspraktiken".
"Ein soziotechnischer Blick auf Verfahren der Wahrheitsverifikation", lecture on 23.1.2019 in the course „Wissensgeschichte der Angst“ / HU Berlin (organiser: Laurens Schlicht)
Fischer, Larissa, Bettina Paul and Torsten H. Voigt. 2018. Wahrheit aus der Maschine, in: Stapferhaus (ed.): Fake. Das Magazin. Lenzburg: Stapferhaus, 85-87.
"Doing Deception – theoretische und empirische Perspektiven auf das Zustandekommen von Lügen, Fälschungen und Betrügereien“, Panel organisation (with Christian Thiel/ Augsburg), on 26.9.2018, at the DGS conference 2018, Göttingen.
"Über die soziotechnische Konstitution der ‚Lügendetektion‘ in Praxis und Forschung", lecture on 26.9.2018, at the DGS conference 2018, Göttingen.
"Sociotechnical Vision and Visibility in Security related Truth Verification", lecture on 27.7.2018 at the EASST Conference 2018: Making Science, Technology and Society Together: Conference at the University of Lancaster.
"Scrutinizing (bio-)technological truth assessments", Session Hosts, 27.7.2018 at the EASST Conference 2018: Making Science, Technology and Society Together: Conference at the University of Lancaster.
"Ein soziotechnischer Blick auf Verfahren der Wahrheitsverifikation", lecture on 02.5.2018 at the HafenCity University, lecture series „Technikkulturen“ by Prof. Dr. Regula Valerie Burri.
"Nodes of Sociotechnical Vision and Visibility in Security-related Truth Verification Research“, lecture on 23.3.2018 at center for interdisciplinary research (ZiF) in Bielefeld, in the working group: visual criminology.
"'Ich sehe was du denkst'- Zum Wahrheitsanspruch des Bildes in der Lügendetektion." Lecture on 11.12.2017 at Hamburg University, lecture series: "Daten, Algorithmen, Kontrolle der Zukunft. Big Data in der digitalen Gesellschaft - Anwendungen und Zweifel"
"Visualizing lies: The relevance of imaging technologies in modern lie detection", lecture on 1.9.2017 at the 4S conference in Boston, Panel: Visual (In)sensibilities"
"Die soziotechnische Neukonfiguration der Lügendetektion". Lecture on 14. 7. 2017 at the DGS section conference at TU Darmstadt: "Wissen Macht Technik"