Scott Newman knows when someone is telling a lie. With the help of an infrared camera, this young inventor — now a sophomore at Virginia Tech — can see even the faintest blush, a telltale sign that the truth is being concealed.
"The actual invention is just a new use of existing technology," said Newman, who got the official patent for the idea of using infrared as a kind of polygraph device in January 2005. "It's pretty simple, really."
During his senior year at Yorktown High School, Newman came up with the idea as part of a science project. With his patent now secure, Newman is now trying to market the concept as a potential aid to anyone who might need to sort the wheat from the chaff.
"When you lie, your face flushes, but it's not as visible as when you blush," said Newman.
The saying goes that necessity is the mother of invention but, in Newman's case, the catalyst for his idea was a national tragedy, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Sitting in his kitchen with his parents later that year, Newman said, he began pondering what he could do to help aid the growing push to tighten national security. He pitched the idea to his father, who works for NASA, and Newman soon found himself testing it at the Goddard Space and Rocket Center in Maryland.
USING A $30,000 government-issued infrared camera, Newman turned the employees there into his own personal guinea pigs. He tested 15 men and women with ages ranging 30 to 60, quizzing them in front of the camera's lens to see if his hypothesis held true. Lo and behold, it did.
"I told them to first answer truthfully and then to tell lies," said Newman. "Not only did it detect when they lied but after lying, it also detected the change in temperature when they went back to telling the truth. Looking at both transitions could be very useful."
Newman got a provisional patent for his idea before leaving Yorktown when he attended the International Science Fair in Louisville, Ky. But to secure a full patent and safeguard his invention, he needed some extra help. That is when his former next-door neighbor, Robert Burns, an attorney with Finnegan Henderson — one of the world's largest intellectual property law firms — stepped in to guide him through the process. The firm took his case pro bono.
"OUR FIRM has a long-standing record of pro bono activities like this," said Burns, who pointed out that it can often take an inventor up to three years to gain a full patent. "We like giving back to the community. Scott is a very bright and knowledgeable young man and, especially after 9/11, we've been interested in the kind of project he undertook."
Newman's patent — number 6,837,615 according to federal record — is now on file with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. It can be viewed online at www.uspto.gov.
Newman admits that some things could throw off his infrared gizmo, such as a medical condition, but, he said, no form of lie detection is 100 percent effective.
"The real benefit is that it's a noninvasive form of lie detection," he said. "You could use it on somebody without them knowing that they are being monitored."
Newman, who is now studying electrical engineering, said the firm's assistance was vital to getting his idea off the ground.
"They've been invaluable partners," he said. "It was hugely generous of them to take up my case in the first place."
Just what the future holds for Newman's invention remains to be seen.
"Obviously, it's something that has been proven effective," Newman said. "But I'm still on step one of one thousand in terms of getting this into actual use."
THE MOST COMMON form of technology used in lie detection is the polygraph. Body heat and blushing, according to Darryl DeBow, director of the Virginia School of Polygraph, are significant factors measured by the devices. The change in body temperature when someone lies — what DeBow calls galvanic skin response — is part of the nervous system's natural reaction to the fear of being caught. And, he said, much of the time it is beyond a person's control.
"Because you're in fear of being caught, your body releases adrenaline," DeBow said. "That's what causes the change in galvanic skin response and an increase in the activity of your nervous system."
The body's reaction to telling a lie, DeBow said, is based on the interplay of a person's sympathetic nervous system — that which excites a person and prepares one for stress — and the parasympathetic nervous system, which calms a person down. DeBow, a 10-year veteran polygraph specialist, said the nervous signals when someone is telling a lie can vary from person to person, but understanding how the body reacts gives technicians in his field a number of ways to reveal them.
"After a person is done telling a lie, when they feel that the questioning is over, you can see the parasympathetic response, too — the drop in activity as the body tries to calm them down."
Contrary to popular belief, DeBow said, psychotic and sociopathic personalities are no more adept at lying than anyone else. They just react to telling lies in a different way.
"A psychopath will have almost the opposite reaction," said DeBow, who has focused much of his work on interviewing sex offenders after release. "They'll get a sense of exhilaration."
Yet the spark for the body's increase in activity, DeBow said, is in the mind. A person knows when he or she is making up a story.
"Imagine that you have this long film in your mind with everything you've ever done and said on it," said DeBow. "When you lie, there's a conflict in your mind between what you know is there and what you're saying, and your body knows it."
Outside of using a polygraph, DeBow said, visual cues are often just as revealing.
"A person can exhibit a sympathetic response in the eyes unconsciously," DeBow said. "Our eyes will go a certain way to recall information but the direction those eyes go when they tell a lie can be different than when telling the truth."
DeBow added just how a person's eyes react under interrogation is different from person to person. The trick, he said, is to ask them tame questions first, questions they will not lie about, and observe the way they move when they answer. The next step it to track any changes as the questioning continues.
"Every individual is different," DeBow said. "A lot of it has to do with from what part of the brain, right side or left side, they are trying to recall something."
Newman said he is now searching for a company to either help develop his potential product or lease the patent from him. He could also sell the idea.
"But that's the least likely thing I would do," he said.