NEW BRUNSWICK/PISCATAWAY, N.J. For the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, people who lie to interrogators are of paramount concern. Research to quickly and accurately detect lying is being funded by a $3.5 million grant from Homeland Security to Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
Rutgers computer scientists are studying how a person's subtle body movements shoulder shrugging, hand gestures or slight changes in facial expression may indicate that a person is being deceptive. The goal is to capture these nonverbal cues on camera, have a computer analyze them and deliver immediate input on the subject's likely truthfulness to an interrogator.
Researchers foresee their techniques helping immigration officers screen people more quickly and confidently at border crossings and ports of entry. The techniques could also bolster security for buildings such as embassies and help law enforcement personnel do more thorough interrogations.
"Looking for what we call 'microexpressions' and 'microgestures' associated with deception would be a major leap over today's polygraph technology, which is time-consuming and requires professional administration," said Dimitris Metaxas, computer science professor and director of the university's Center for Computational Biomedicine Imaging and Modeling (CBIM). "Even under the most controlled conditions, lie-detector tests based on body physiology are roughly 50 percent reliable.
"On the other hand, we believe gestures and expressions are a lot harder for someone to mask, and don't vary significantly among races and cultures," he said. "Microexpressions may easily escape notice by human observers, but they can be reliably picked up on camera and quickly detected by computer, giving interrogators new tools to do their jobs confidently."
Metaxas is building on his earlier research into computer modeling of facial expressions and the dynamics of body organs a beating heart or blood flowing through
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Contact: Carl Blesch
cblesch@ur.rutgers.edu
732 932 7084 x616
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
30-Aug-2005
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