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 PHILADELPHIA (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Up until now, polygraphs have been the gold standard for detectives when questioning potential criminals. Now, groundbreaking research may provide an innovative way to expose lies deep within the brain.
Polygraphs work by measuring changes in the body like blood pressure and sweating. While they're up to 90-percent accurate, truth-tellers can still fail, and good liars can pass them.
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Physical responses occur when lies are formed in the brain. Using a functional MRI, radiologist Scott Faro, M.D., and his team looked at what areas of the brain were active during deception. "If we're actually looking at the primary source, that's going to be a much harder area to hide within an individual," says Dr. Faro, from Temple University Hospital Philadelphia.
Dr. Faro had 11 people take part in a mock crime. Some were asked to lie about it, while others told the truth.
 He says, "This represents areas in the brain, and red dots are specific areas that demonstrate activation when one was lying. We also had areas of activation with certain individuals within the hippocampus, which is the area of emotional response."
Twice the number of areas in the brain were active in the people who were lying than in those who were telling the truth. Dr. Faro says much more research is needed, but the MRI lie detector test has far-reaching potential. "I think eventually it will develop into the judicial system where we can see some high-level crimes potentially be sought-after for this technique."
 And, Dr. Faro says because this monitors brain activity, it's highly unlikely that dishonest people could pass it.
Dr. Faro says the next step is to study a much larger group of participants using a variety of mock crimes. He says the research is extremely detailed. The next phase will likely take three to five years.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
If you would like more information, please contact:
Jordan Reese
Public Relations
Temple University Hospital
3401 N. Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19140
(215) 707-5083
reesej@tuhs.temple.edu
http://www.templehealth.org/radiology
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