Studies of the Galvanic Skin Response as a Deception Indicator
Edward W. Geldreich · Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science · 1941
Numerous studies and investigations have been made of the use of certain psychophysiological reactions for the diagnosis of deception. Reviews of this work are plentiful. (5, 6, 7) Such psychophysiological reactions as breathing changes, systolic blood pressure changes, finger and hand tremors, galvanic skin responses, cardiac and pulse changes, and word associations have been investigated. But of the various psychophysiological reactions which have been studied for this use, the galvanic skin response seems to have been regarded as the least reliable indicator. Yet, when lie detection is demonstrated in the classroom with the use of instruments, the galvanometer and the Wheatstone Bridge are brought into play. Even the laboratory manuals suggest the valid use of the galvanic skin response as a deception indicator, but a search of the literature presents no evidence either discounting or validating the use of the skin galvanic response for lie detection. The efficacy of the technique has been supported only in the non-scientific journals such as the Literary Digest and the Forum. PURPOSE The present investigation presents no evidence of the validity of the G.S.R. as a deception indicator in actual criminal cases; rather the investigation was designed to discover the validity of the G.S.R. as a deception indicator in controlled laboratory situations. The work presented here is a part of a larger program seeking to determine the limits of the application of the G.S.R. as an indicator of deception. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of the study of the fatigue-adapted G.S.R. as compared with the nascent response when used as a deception indicator.