Kokoro Scanner monitors your pulse to tell if you're telling fibs

Home »Kokoro Scanner monitors your pulse to tell if you're telling fibs

Kokoro Scanner monitors your pulse to tell if you're telling fibs

Posted by sciencetech-blog on Wednesday, December 3, 2014 Label:

comments

Soon you won't need to rely on Jeremy Kyle to reveal whether your friend or lover has been telling untruths.

An affordable lie detector, named the 'Kokoro Scanner', is worn on the forehead and changes colour based on the wearer's heart rate.

It first monitors the pulse to establish a baseline, and then compares this to any changes in heart rate - this in turn reveals whether the wearer is panicking about having to conceal the truth.

Crunch time: The 'Kokoro Scanner' is worn on the forehead and changes colour based on heart rate

The toy shows green if the person's pulse is normal, suggesting that they're telling the truth, yellow if they may be lying, and red if the device thinks they are definitely lying.

Created by Tokyo-based toy company, Takara Tomy, the scanner is supposed to be a cheaper version of a polygraph machine.

A polygraph works on the assumption that the body reacts involuntarily to the stress of lying.

It measures reactions such as changes in skin conductance, pulse rate, blood pressure, and breathing while the subject is asked a series of questions.

Truth or dare? Created by Tokyo-based toy company, Takara Tomy, the scanner is supposed to be a cheaper version of a polygraph machine. The device costs £28 ($45) and comes with a set of 15 questions written out on cards ranging from relationships to secret fantasies

CAN YOU EVADE A LIE DETECTOR TEST?

Lie detectors, used by law enforcement agencies around the world, work on the assumption that parts of a person's brain will respond involuntarily to certain cues.

But last year scientists discovered that a significant proportion of people are able to suppress their brain activity that related to remembering, making them appear innocent and helping them to evade detection.

Researchers from the universities of Kent, Magdeburg and Cambridge alongside the Medical Research Council devised an experiment where candidates committed a mock crime, after which they were questioned while experts monitored their brain activity.

Their findings have implications for the professionals who rely upon brain activity lie detector tests when questioning criminals.

Japan, India and the US use the technique that is based on the assumption that it is impossible to control activity deep in the areas of the brain used for memory.

The team behind the study said their results show the technique is 'of limited value' and suggested that investigators using lie detectors in their inquiries should not work on the assumption that a person's brain activity is completely beyond their control.

Using a number of sensors attached to the body, physiological changes can be used to determine whether someone is telling the truth.

The Kokoro Scanner, however, only monitors changes in pulse using infrared rays.

The device costs £28 ($45) and comes with a set of 15 questions written out on cards ranging from relationships to secret fantasies.

Last year, researchers found that a significant proportion of people are able to suppress their brain activity that related to remembering.

The US study claimed that this would make them appear innocent due a lie detector test and help them evade detection.

Under pressure: The toy shows green if the person's pulse is normal, suggesting that they're telling the truth, yellow if they may be lying, and red if the device thinks they are definitely lying

Put the internet to work for you.

Turn off or edit this Recipe

sciencetech-blog