A History in Deception :The Scientist [2007-05-01]


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A History in Deception The polygraph-developed in the 1920s by John Larson, a Berkeley, Calif., policeman with a PhD in physiology-relies on the notion that people get nervous when they lie. A subject is strapped to a chair by wires and cuffs on his arm, chest, and fingers, and the "lie detector" marks his vital signs in squiggles on paper or a computer screen. If he shows signs of an accelerated heart rate, increased