| Reporter: |
To tell the truth. A revolutionary device that
may be a breakthrough for law enforcement. |
| |
This is the CBS Evening News |
| Connie Chung: |
Good evening, I'm Connie Chung sitting in
tonight for Dan Rather. A critical question for a jury to decide
in any criminal case is who is lying and who is telling the truth. Law correspondent, Rita
Braver reports tonight on a new device that may help determine which is which. |
| Reporter: |
In a small suburban Washington Mall down a
narrow hallway enter the Human Brain Research Laboratory, birthplace of a new system that
could revolutionize crime detection. |
| Dr. Farwell: |
This really doesn't test guilt or innocence.
It tests knowledge |
| Reporter: |
Dr. Lawrence Farwell, PhD in Biological
Psychology |
| Dr. Farwell: |
What this head band will do, will be to pick
up the electrical signals from the brain. |
| Reporter: |
Then the subject watches a series of words or
pictures and Farwell says this computer will automatically determine any image the
subject's brain recognizes, even if he has denied knowing it. |
| Dr. Farwell: |
But the brain would say "Yes, I DO
recognize it." There would be a MERMER which would indicate that that was information
relevant to him. |
| Reporter: |
If the brain knows the information, the
computer graph looks like this, with the two top lines parallel. If not, the two bottom
lines match. Farwell says, for example, the system could be useful in the World Trade
Center case. The suspect's brain recognizes details only the bomber could know. |
| |
 |
| Dr. Farwell: |
Then we would know that he was involved. If he
didn't recognize it, we could tell definitely that he wasn't. |
| Reporter: |
Because this system test the brain's
knowledge, it's different from standard lie detectors, which measure a suspect's stress
level. And some criminal experts believe that unlike lie detectors, evidence from the new
system could some day be admissible in court. |
| R. Braver: |
Both the FBI and the CIA have worked with the
new system and both say it could be the "brain wave of the future." Rita Braver, CBS News at the FBI |
