All In The Mind

Many scientists distrust the traditional lie detectors, like the polygraph with its wires and electrodes stuck to the skin, and say they never reliably reveal a liar. But now companies are marketing voice stress analysers and even brain scanners to do 'truth verification'. BBC science journalist Roland Pease investigates whether the new technologies are any better than the old ones. For copyright reasons, this week's podcast and online edition is an alternative from our archives, The Private Life of a Brain Surgeon.

There is no transcript of the BBC broadcast available this week. The transcript and audio of the podcast and Radio Australia edition is linked to above.

Guests

Steve Laken
President and CEO
Cephos Corporation
http://www.cephoscorp.com/

Professor Chris Frith
Wellcome Department of Cognitive Neurology
University College London
http://www.icn.ucl.ac.uk/Staff-Lists/MemberDetails.php?Title=Prof&FirstName=Chris&LastName=Frith

Dr Sharon Leal
Psychologist
University of Portsmouth, UK
http://www.port.ac.uk/departments/academic/psychology/staff/title,50515,en.html

Professor Francisco Lacerda
Department of Linguistics
University of Stockholm
http://www.ling.su.se/staff/frasse/frasse.html

Adrian Webb
Head of Corporate Communications
Esure.com Insurers, UK

Dr James Harnsberger
Speech Specialist
University of Florida
http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/jharns/jharns.htm

Further Information

Podcast & Radio Australia edition: The Private Life of a Brain Surgeon
Due to BBC copyright reasons, the podcast and Radio Australia edition of All in the Mind this week is different to what went to air on ABC Radio National.

All in the Mind blog with Natasha Mitchell
You can comment on the program on the blog, or here on the program page directly too - it's easy - just look for Add Your Comment above.

Discovery - the BBC World Service's weekly science program
This week's broadcast, Would I Lie to You, was originally broadcast on the BBC's Discovery program.

Brain Scan Lie-Detection Deemed Far From Ready for Courtroom (Wired, June 2010)
Alexis Madrigal covered the court case for Wired Magazine.

Nemesysko
Israeli company marketing Layered Voice Analysis (LVA)

Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London

Publications

Title: Swedish authorities embroiled in furore over academic freedom
Publisher: Nature, 16 February 2009
URL: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090216/full/news.2009.99.html

Title: Charlatanry in forensic speech science: a problem to be taken seriously
Author: Anders Eriksson and Francisco Lacerda
Publisher: International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law, December 2007.
URL: http://www.scribd.com/doc/9673590/Eriksson-Lacerda-2007

Presenter

Natasha Mitchell

Producer

Corinne Podger/Natasha