The premise behind lie detection of any sort, including fMRI, always struck me as inherently false. The premise is that some unique biological or neurological response occurs when lying that will not occur under other circumstances. Polygraph machines are a great example. We call them “lie detectors” but they detect no such thing. Instead they detect increases in stress and arousal. For instance, the questioner asks “Have you ever stolen anything from an employer?”

Now someone who has may very well become stressed when asked this question, especially since they believe that this device they’re hooked up to has magic powers. So their heart rate increases, their blood pressure rises, they sweat a bit, because that’s what happens when you become stressed.

But suppose someone who has never stolen anything is asked the same question. She might start thinking about the time she was once falsely accused by a co-worker, or maybe she knows someone who has and she didn’t report it, or maybe she’s worried about the times she thought about stealing, even though she never actually did. All these thoughts can trigger the same physical reactions because they’re all stressful thoughts.

So one person is lying and the other is telling the truth, but the magic machine records the same physiological responses.

And it’s the same with micro-expressions. Frankly, I think Dr. Ekman’s work is fascinating and has a lot of solid science behind it. But micro-expressions can only reveal what emotional state the subject is experiencing. The reasons behind that emotional state can only be inferred, and that means its subject to human error because, frankly, it’s nothing more than a guess.

But here’s where it gets interesting: None of this is shocking when you explain it to people. Everyone seems to “get” this premise, many even understand it already. But they still believe lie detection is possible because of that old dodge: “If you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

In other words, we believe in lie detectors because we believe that honest and morally righteous people have psyches that aren’t constantly plagued by guilt, fear and worry. Or to put it another way, fear and self-doubt are moral failings, and that anyone who experiences these emotions cannot be trusted.

And that’s strange? We trust the unperturbed mind as somehow both more honest and more respectable, even though none of us actually lives up to that ideal. A person that feels no guilt, who has no worries about their morality of their behavior or thoughts is considered by society to be an indicator of honesty and integrity.

But you know what psychologists call a person that feels no guilt and has no worries about their morality? Psychopaths.

Tim Roth- I’ll take anything he’s in any day.

I spent many an hour listening to the Skeptoid podcasts myself.

I put it to my own research. I asked a friend, Emily, to sit and let me film and interview her. I set up my, iPhone, camera and began talking to her about subjects I knew she was averse to and asked her to convince me she loved these things.

I thought, while watching her, that I’d seen microexpressions. I put the video into my computer and went to the areas where the microexpressions were present.

Sure enough- they were there. Full on expressions of disgust when she talked about loving the smell of cigarettes. Emily is a staunch non-smoker.

I slowed it down to 30 frames per second and found that the onset took one frame the expression took another and the offset took another frame. Literally 3 out of the 30 frames. In other words, 1/10th of a second.

I took Ekman’s METT and SETT online trainings and read his book, “Telling Lies,” and I must say that these are truly an apparent manifestation of emotions.

When the personality lies, the face conveys the truth. Now- this isn’t, of course, the case for all. I believe Ekman stated that some 60% of people have microexpressions when lying.

The problem that many people are having is what Ekman calls, “Othello’s Error.”

Simply put, “Othello’s Error,” is when we see an expression and label it with causality. When Othello had heard that his wife cheated on him he went straight to murder her. When he found her, extreme fear came upon her face. This gave Othello all the evidence he needed, she was caught red-faced for what she had done. Unfortunately she had remained faithful and the fear he saw was a fear of not being believed.

Seeing a microexpression or a subtle/partial etc. expression tells the viewer only THAT AN EMOTION HAS BEEN EXPERIENCED and not why. That’s where they are having such problems at the TSA- too many people are falling into Othello’s error.

People who believe that by watching 1 episode of the Lie To Me show makes them better at detecting lies will find out they’re not as soon as they try to apply what they “think” they know in the complexity of the real world.

The objective of the study was to see if people who watch Lie To Me are influenced by that show into believing they can now do what that detective does. Unfortunately WE ARE, but it’s not because of that particular show. I can predict that the people who watch ER, Grey’s anatomy, or any hospital based series would “think” they have more medical knowledge than average. Or even CSI type shows where followers “think” they could analyze a crime scene more accurately and that finding that microscopic drop of blood under the hair of that buried body after 35 years is just how things happen every day. Or even OPRAH and DR. PHIL with followers believing they are more “in touch” with their emotions then their spouse who doesn’t watch these show.

Even in real life examples, incomplete first aid training for example proves to be dangerous and adding to the risk or mistreatment by those trainees who would act upon their “little” knowledge in complex real life injuries.

Facts:
1- Facial expressions show the 7 basic emotions of human beings: Sadness, happiness, anger, contempt, fear, surprise, or disgust
2- Facial expressions are universal: they don’t change from one person to another
3- Micro-expressions are these same expressions only faster and briefer
4- A lie is saying something against what we know, think or feel. Example: I’m so happy for you (while showing an expression or micro-expression of sadness or anger)
5- Detecting a lie is not the same as knowing the reasons behind it: reasons like shame, guilt, fear, insecurity, politeness, or ill will to state a few.

Conclusion: If we detect a micro-expression on someone’s face, we can deduce exactly what it means but its reasons may be less obvious than we think. So let’s not jump to conclusions quickly.

Just like in Lie To Me where most of the show is about finding out WHY that expression emerged and not IF it did.

Still a big fan