The Idea of Reading Someone’s Thoughts in Contemporary Lie Detection Techniques

Abstract

The idea of reading other people’s thoughts is closely related to that of unveiling whether someone is telling the truth or not. Materialized in actual technologies, this concept has changed its shape several times, and the polygraph is one variation that has lasted a long time. The continuity of polygraph testing in Germany is remarkable, not least because these procedures are highly controversial in the scientific domain and in legal practice. In this chapter, Fischer analyses relevant court decisions and interviews with researchers in the field of lie detection in Germany, which are examined from the perspective of science and technology studies (STS). She shows how lie detection both in the judicial context and within neuroscience is associated with an obscure understanding of thought-reading as a fundamental feature of human sensory faculties.