Micro Expressions: Detecting Lies in the Face and Eyes

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Lying has been a problem since societies were first formed. Some people are great liars, others are not. But, whether someone is a good liar or not, one-tenth of a second is all it takes for subtle changes known as micro expressions to appear and disappear from a person’s face. These micro expressions are a sign of emotion. The people who read these micro expressions are human lie detectors. Although. police have machines such as the polygraph test, which measures body temperature and voice tone to help them detect when people are lying, micro expressions are far more reliable. Micro expressions are more useful to police than polygraph tests because, polygraph tests only detect spikes in emotion, there is little scientific evidence about accuracy, and micro expressions are proven to help people further scientific research.

In the first place, the polygraph test can only detect spikes in emotion unlike micro expressions. Micro expressions are more useful to police because polygraph tests are unreliable; polygraph tests cannot tell which emotion is being felt by the person, they cannot tell why an emotion is being felt, and micro expressions cannot be controlled by people like polygraph tests can. To begin, polygraph tests cannot tell which emotion a person is feeling. Paul Ekman is one of the few scientists who researches micro expressions. He wrote a book called The Polygraph as a Lie Catcher, in this book he addresses the worldwide debate of whether the polygraph is an accurate lie detector. Ekman says, “Remember that the polygraph test is not a lie detector. It only detects emotional arousal” (251). The polygraph test cannot accurately detect the specific emotion a person is feeling; someone may be feeling nervous and the po...

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