Facilitating memory‐based lie detection in immediate and delayed interviewing: The role of mnemonics

We experimentally investigated how different mnemonic techniques employed in an interview conducted immediately after an event affected truth tellers' and liars' responses when they were interviewed again after a 2‐week delay. We also compared how verbal accounts changed over time within truth tellers and liars, and how consistent both groups were. Participants (n = 143) were shown a mock intelligence operation video and instructed either to tell the truth or lie about its contents in two interviews, one of which was immediately after watching the video and the other after a 2‐week delay. In the immediate interview, they were asked to provide a free recall and then asked to provide further information via one of three mnemonics: context reinstatement, sketch, or event‐line. In the delayed interview, they were asked to provide only a free recall. Truth tellers reported more visual, spatial, temporal, and action details than did liars both immediately and after a delay. Truth tellers experienced more of a decline in reporting details after a delay than did liars, and this decline was affected by the mnemonic used. Truth tellers thus showed, more than liars, patterns of reporting indicative of genuine memory decay. Liars produced patterns of a “stability bias” instead. Truth tellers and liars were equally consistent between their immediate and delayed statements.     

A portable pupilometer system for measuring pupillary size and light reflex

A new pupilometry assessment system was evaluated as an instrument for potential use in basic research and clinical studies of addictive drug use in humans. The system is portable and can be used as a peripheral device with a variety of IBM-compatible personal computers. The pupilometer electronically measures the pupil diameter with infrared sensors and has the ability to stimulate the pupil with a programmable pulse of light and to record the resultant papillary response. The present report compares the static pupil-diameter measurements obtained with this infrared pupilometer and those obtained photographically in a bench-top and in a clinical setting. The infrared pupilometer was also used to record the light reflex of the pupil in research subjects after administration of various morphine-related drugs. The results indicate that static pupil-diameter measurements made with the infrared pupilometer compare favorably with the photographic measurement. The ability of the infrared pupilometer to record the light reflex may provide an additional means of quantitatively measuring drug action.