Although jurors are tasked as fact-finders in deciding criminal cases, the human brain is not inherently proficient in discerning truth-telling behavior. A 1991 study, for instance, revealed that Secret Service personnel were only able to detect liars about sixty-four percent of the time. Laypersons, who primarily comprise juries, fared worse, with accuracy rates no better than chance. Technology has attempted to fill this void by developing lie-detecting tests. However, from Lombroso’s 1895 pulse and blood pressure readings to Larson’s 1921 polygraph test, all existing pieces of technology have faced reliability concerns. Specifically, the scientific field of polygraph research likely will never progress far enough, as the “inherent ambiguity of the physiological measures” stifles any hope for improvement through further experimentation. To address these criticisms, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has taken center.

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