History of Polygraph Development

Evolution of the Polygraph

• Key elements of the modern polygraph were first conceived in the late 1500s.
• Galileo invented the pulsiogium to calculate human pulse rate, though it wasn't used for deception detection.
• Daniel Defoe (1730), the novelist behind "Robinson Crusoe," believed pulse readings were the most reliable method for detecting criminals.
• Giovanni Lancisi's 1728 study linked emotion and mental functions.
• Lancisi believed emotions stemmed from thought and varying heart action.
• Lancisi concluded that the mind's characteristics came from bodily structure and physical changes.
• Stephen Hales (1733), an English clergyman, measured blood pressure and pioneered the sphygmomanometer using horses.
• In 1907, Dr. James Mackenzie described "The Ink Polygraph" for medical use, similar to blood pressure-pulse and respiration recorders.
• Angelo Mosso reported in his experiments that breathing patterns changed under stimuli and that caused variations in blood pressure and pulse rate.
• Mosso's research included blood circulation, breathing patterns, and the effects of stimuli.
• Angelo Mosso experimented with plethysmography and how fear affects the heart/breathing.
• Mosso also developed the first sphygmomanometer in 1895.
• A plethysmograph measures volume changes in an organ or the entire body, often due to blood or air fluctuations.
• Hugo Munsterberg (1908) at Harvard used word association to diagnose guilt, which helped the lie detection studies in the US.
• Dr. William Moulton Marston, is credited with inventing an early lie detector in 1915 with the discontinuous systolic blood pressure test.
• Dr. John Augustus Larson (1921) developed the first portable polygraph at the University of California, Berkeley.
• Luigi Galvani (1791) discovered the galvanic skin reflex while experimenting with electricity on frogs.
• Galvani laid the foundations for neurology/neurophysiology and inspired "Frankenstein".
• Vittorio Benussi (1914) studied breathing patterns for lie detection, focusing on the inhalation/exhalation ratio, with the use of pneumograph device.
• Harold Burtt partially confirmed Benussi's deception detection theory.
• Burtt outlined three deception detection methods: word association, inspiration/expiration, and systolic blood pressure.
• In 1938, Leonarde Keeler added the psychogalvanometer which is a third physiological component that measures changes in galvanic skin resistance during questioning and in doing so, it signals the birth of the polygraph as we know it today.
• In 1939, Leonarde Keeler patented the prototype of the modern polygraph, the Keeler Polygraph, and he became known as the father of polygraph.
• John E. Reid, a lawyer, developed the Control Question Technique (CQT) in 1947, he became known as the "father of Controls".
• Reid's Control Question Technique inserted a surprise control question in the relevant/irrelevant technique.
• Dr. William Moulton Marston included experiment to record the respiration and time of subject’s verbal response.
• Emil Heinrich du Bois-Reymond (1818-1896), a German physiologist, co-discovered nerve action potential and developed experimental electrophysiology.
• Jean Martin Charcot studied hysteria, believing it was a hereditary neurological disorder.
• Charcot used hypnosis to study hysterics, but not to cure them; he earned the nickname "the Napoleon of the neuroses."
• In 1879, Dr. Marie Gabriel Romain Vigouroux researched the electrodermal response to lying behavior.
• Vigouroux believed a subject's electrical skin response changed when being deceptive during questioning.
• Charles Féré found that a galvanometer could measure momentary skin resistance decreases in response to various stimuli, including visual and auditory ones (1888), by passing a low electric current between two electrodes placed on the skin.
• Féré discovered the skin became a better conductor of electricity in the presence of external stimuli.
• In 1890, Ivan Tarchanoff discovered that changes in electrical potential could be measured without an external current, with various stimuli causing galvanometer deflection.
• Georg Sticker suggested using the first galvanograph component for detecting deception.
• Sticker (1897) suggested electrodermal activity should be used to detect lies.
• Richter first proposed endosomatic activity (EDA), also known as eletrodermal activity.
• Electrodermal activity (EDA) is a common method for measuring physiological arousal.
• EDA refers to the changes in the electrical properties of the skin due to sweat gland activity.
• Christian Hans Stoelting founded the Stoelting Company, a manufacturer/distributor of research instrumentation.
• Cleve Backster founded the CIA's polygraph unit shortly after World War II.
• Backster founded the world's longest-running polygraph school
• Backster developed the Backster Zone Comparison Technique (ZCT).
• Dick Arther refined the Reid Control Question Technique and it then became known as Arther'sTechnique.
• Dr. Dale E. Olsen and John C. Harris completed a software program called PolyScore in 1993 while they were statisticians at Johns Hopkins University.
• Dr. Joseph Kubis contributed to the computerization of the polygraph.
• David Raskin and John Kircher introduced the CPS, which is a computerized polygraph system, by Stoelting Company in 1991.

Historical Accounts in the Philippines

• The polygraph was first introduced in the Philippines in 1945 by the Crime Laboratory of the Military Police.
• Mr. Jose Navarro and Conrado Dumlao were sent to the U.S. for polygraph training.
• In 1950, Mr. Agustin Patricio was sent by the National Bureau Investigation to train at the Keeler Polygraph Institute.
• Lawyer Manuel C. Roura succeeded Mr. Patricio as chief of the Polygraph Division of the NBI Crime Lab.
• Ernesto Lucena, Ms. Tessie Logan and Artemio Panganiban Jr. were personnel trained in Polygraph.

Polygraph Usage Worldwide

• Japan started developing polygraph technology between 1920-1930 and uses Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) for deception detection and also began making their own polygraph instruments.
• Russia started developing polygraph technology in 1920 for lie detection and has two polygraph instrument manufacturers.
• China started developing polygraph technology in 1940 and began importing technology from the USA and started a research program in 1991.
• India started developing polygraph technology in 1948, it was not recognized until 1974 but now it is recognized in Indian courts.
• Israel started developing polygraph technology in 1959.
• Polygraphs are used by the national police and secret service Mossad.
• Israel has over 100 experts in polygraph and forensic psychophysiology.
• South Korea started developing polygraph technology in 1960.
• South Korea has approximately 123 registered psychophysiological forensics experts.
• South Korea made their only purchase of computerized polygraph instruments in 1994.
• Canada started developing polygraph technology in 1978 and also opened its first school for a polygraph on the Canadian Police College around the same year.
• Canada has its own manufacturer of computerized polygraph instruments known as "Limestone Technologies'.

Explore the evolution of the polygraph. From Galileo's pulsiogium to Defoe's pulse theory, trace the key developments. Learn about Lancisi's emotion-mind link, Hales' blood pressure work, and Mackenzie's 'Ink Polygraph'.