Truth and consequences (original) (raw)

Nature volume 394, pages 33–34 (1998) Cite this article

A Tremor in the Blood: Uses and Abuses of the Lie Detector, 2nd edition

Plenum: 1998. Pp.333 $28.95, pound17.55

David T. Lykken provides a fascinating insight into the common abuses of this potentially important scientific tool. His main message is that lie detection techniques, apart from his own ‘guilty knowledge technique’, of course, are fundamentally flawed, prone to high error rates, and every year result in several miscarriages of justice. This is a big blow to the advocates of the most common techniques, such as the ‘control question test’. The book is written by an eminent scientist for non-scientists, including lawyers, policy-makers and those who feel aggrieved by the injustice of having been wrongly classified as deceptive after allegedly failing a test. The first edition of the book appeared in 1981 (McGraw-Hill).

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  1. the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, University of London, SE5 8AF, London, UK
    Gisli H. Gudjonsson

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  1. Gisli H. Gudjonsson

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Gudjonsson, G. Truth and consequences.Nature 394, 33–34 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/27826

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