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I would claim that the two exhibits you're describing are great
illustrations of GSR and how it can be used to detect emotions, but they
aren't "polygraphs" in the way the general public tends to use the term,
because they aren't claiming to detect lies.  I also don't think they are
"polygraphs" in the sense that the original question proposed.  I think
poly-graph probably technically just means you are recording multiple
physiological measures at once, but for all practical purposes it's come to
mean lie detection.  Psychologists also tend to refer to what you describe
as GSR rather than a "polygraph" because of the same connotations and
because GSR is a more accurate description of what you're measuring.  GSR
and the other physiological measures are the "science" piece of the
"pseudoscience" of polygraphs as lie detectors.  GSR is a great and very
interesting measure and I think it has a strong role in the science museum.


My concern is that as soon as you attach the concept of "polygraph" to what
you are doing with GSR, even if you never say anything about lie detection,
you lend public credence to the idea that we can accurately detect lying
through physiological measures.  I think often what we are detecting is not
lying but the fear of being accused of lying, which sometimes goes along
with lying and in some of the more striking interesting cases does NOT.  The
classic example is the psychopath, who isn't bothered by the idea of lying
(and also doesn't have much of a physiological reaction to things like being
around other people who are screaming in pain or trembling in fear - and
thus no problem torturing and killing people) and who is often not all that
bothered by the idea of being caught either (psychopaths will try to avoid
getting caught, but this isn't necessarily something that evokes fear).
Thus many of the underlying problems of the psychopath (that he or she
doesn't feel empathy or guilt or the variety of emotional responses to
interpersonal relationships that the rest of us feel) also make him or her
less vulnerable to detection by way of the polygraph.  Big problem.

Suzanne Mallery

-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Diana Issidorides
Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2007 11:41 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Polygraphs in museums



ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
****************************************************************************
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Hi Wendy,

At NEMO, we have two excellent (and popular) polygraph exhibits based  
on GSR measurement, both developed by the Experimentarium in Denmark.

1. In "Measure your Emotions", visitors place their index and middle  
finger on a metal holder that registers GSR while they look at  
different pictures on a computer screen. They are then shown how  
their GSR reacted to each picture and which picture produced the  
highest GSR response.

2. In Read my Mind (for two visitors), an 'interrogator' questions a  
'suspect' whose fingers are similarly placed on a metal holder  
measuring GSR. 'Suspect'  is asked to write down (a) 9 numbers and  
think of one of them, or (b) 5 birthdays (one of which is his/hers,  
or (c) 5 names of people (one of which s/he's in love with), and to  
concentrate his/her thinking on that.  The interrogator then reads  
aloud the items, while concentrating on the needle of the device  
which registers GSR. It is quite easy to see what suspect is thinking  
of, cause the needle gives a higher reading when interrogator reads  
aloud the item that the suspect has in mind!

Both these exhibits are robust and work well. I suggest you contact  
Nils Hornstrup at the Experimentarium if you want more information.

[log in to unmask]

Good luck,

Diana

- -
Dr. Diana C. Issidorides
Senior Scientist & Exhibition Developer
Science Center NEMO
P.O. Box 421
1000 AK Amsterdam
The Netherlands
T: +31205313119
[log in to unmask]
www.e-nemo.nl

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