A History of Lie Detection

Abstract

The use of the galvanometer, or psychogalvanometer, for detecting deception, is of comparatively recent date; although Galvani, the Italian physiologist, after whom the modern instrument is called, published his paper on animal electricity in 1791. Following Galvani, other workers developed the idea and made extensive and complex revisions of apparatus. Probably the earliest suggestions for the application of psychogalvanic reactions to forensic problems came from Sticker, in 1897.99 Sticker was convinced that a strong emotional connection was responsible for the phenomenon: