Handwriting analysis by computer detects liars - should politicians running for office & investments experts be tested?

Can computerized handwriting analysis detect whether politicians are liars? How about investment experts to protect consumers from fraud and Ponzi schemes? Now computers can analyze handwriting differences that the human eye cannot detect and tell researchers who's lying and who's truthful.

According to the article, "The Handwriting of Liars," published September 21, 2009 at the Physorg.com site, a study researched by Gil Luria and Sara Rosenblum from the University of Haifa in Israel, tested 34 volunteers, who were each asked to write two stories using a system called ComPET (Computerized Penmanship Evaluation Tool).

The computer handwriting analysis consists of a sheet of paper positioned on a computer tablet and a wireless electronic pen with a pressure-sensitive tip. The researchers asked the test subjects to write a paragraph relating to a true memory and a paragraph about a false memory--that is, a fictional story, experience, or event.

The researchers analyzed the writing. What the computer analysis revealed was that in the false paragraphs, each subject on average pressed down harder on the paper and made significantly longer strokes and taller letters than in the true paragraphs.

None of these differences could be seen by the naked eye. Only the computer analysis detected the handwriting differences of the test subjects that lied.

No differences could be found in writing speed. The results of the study reported that possibly the test subject's handwriting changed because the brain is forced to work harder. The brain might have to light up in areas where fiction is being invented, or lying is happening.

Inventing information is much harder work then recalling a true memory, experience, or event that happened in the past. By lying, it's like writing fiction, and the brain works harder. This interferes with normal writing.

The only question here, is do novelists and short story writers, playwrights, and screenwriters also have to work their brains harder to invent fiction or lie, than journalists and nonfiction writers who only report true events, such as the news?

Scientists know writers have to hesitate when they invent fiction. And people telling lies also hesitate to make up a story or event. Numerous employer-employee tests are given to job applicants to test for liars before people are hired in some companies. What the testers are looking for is to measure how long it takes someone to check boxes while doing online surveys. The idea is that if you take a long time to check a box and have to think too much, you may be lying.

Scientists really need to test a lot more people before any decisions are made. The question is when people take a long time to think before checking boxes on a survey they're doing online, does it really mean they're lying? Or could it mean they like to pause and take a lot of time to think? As people age, they may prefer to take more time to think answers through or to recall experiences or memories.

Applied Cognitive Psychology journal published the study, "Comparing the handwriting behaviours of true and false writing with computerized handwriting measures." If you want more information, research is still in the beginning stages on computer analysis of handwriting to pick out liars.

ComPET could one day find practical application in testing the truthfulness of politicians running for office, physicians, lawyers, handwritten job applications, insurance claims, loan applications, college applications, essays, life stories, crime interrogations of suspects, immigrants applying to enter a country, club membership, anger management, marriage proposals, medical histories, or in tests of integrity and honesty during job interviews or promotions.

Handwriting analyses could also be combined with lie detectors to identify whether or not people were lying. But all this depends upon what the further studies reveal and whether the research will hold up to testing, especially with older adults who prefer to take their time.

As people age, they may feel more comfortable taking longer to think answers through. It's important that this type of research takes age-related slowing down into consideration and doesn't confuse it with lying. But the computer will have to be tweaked to recognize age-related and other differences.

The abstract of the Applied Cognitive Psychology journal article, "Comparing the handwriting behaviours of true and false writing with computerized handwriting measures," reported, "Thirty-four participants wrote true and false sentences on a digitizer, which is part of a new system called the Computerized Penmanship Evaluation Tool (ComPET). The ComPET evaluates brain-hand performance, as manifested through handwriting behaviour, and was found to be a valid measure for detecting the dis-automaticity that is indicative of certain diseases in the clinical field. Differences were found in mean pressure, spatial measures (mean stroke length and mean stroke height), but no differences were found in temporal measures and in the number of peak velocities. The use of ComPET in lie detection is discussed."

For further information on employee tests of integrity, see my book, Employment Personality Tests Decoded.

Photo credits: Career Press - Employment Personality Tests Decoded.