Eye blinks: new indices for the detection of deception

Eyeblink variables were investigated while subjects performed a guilty knowledge test (Experiment 1) and a dual modality attention task (Experiment 2). In both experiments, the temporal distribution of blinks was analyzed using an automatic video based blink analysis system [Matsuo and Fukuda, Jpn. J. Physiol. Psychol. Psychophysiol., 14 (1996), 17]. In experiment 1, the blink rate pattern discriminated between relevant and irrelevant stimuli. In experiment 2, the blink rate peak after the auditory stimulus disappeared during visually attended tasks whereas the blink rate peak after the visual stimulus was significant during auditory attended tasks. It was suggested that eye blinks could be related to the selective attention and that eye blinks could provide an additional index for the detection of deception.