Potential noncontact tools for rapid credibility assessment from physiological and behavioral cues

Credibility assessment is a perennial and increasingly urgent problem in light of escalating international security threats. New tools such are needed for rapid, noninvasive and possibly unobtrusive detection of deception and hostile intent. This paper reports five novel instrumented approaches to credibility assessment being investigated in a multi-institution research program. These instruments do not require physical contact with humans and can reliably measure veracity from physiological and behavioral indicators. Data were collected via an experiment, which required participants to commit a mock crime and then be interviewed by a trained interviewer. During and following the interviews, multiple instruments measured physiological, cognitive and behavioral responses of interviewees to determine which automatable features accurately differentiate truthtellers from deceivers. Details concerning the instruments and the experimental method used to test them are shared.