Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 29, 2026

Holistic Facial Composite Creation and Subsequent Video Line-up Eyewitness Identification Paradigm
Published on: December 24, 2015
Trial by polygraph: reconsidering the use of the guilty knowledge technique in court
Gershon Ben-Shakhar1, Maya Bar-Hillel, Mordechai Kremnitzer
1Department of Psychology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91905, Israel. mskpugb@mscc.huji.ac.il
Abstract:
Polygraph test results are by and large ruled inadmissible evidence in criminal courts in the US, Canada, and Israel. This is well-conceived with regard to the dominant technique of polygraph interrogation, known as the Control Question Technique (CQT), because it indeed does not meet the required standards for admissible scientific evidence. However, a lesser known and rarely practiced technique, known as the Guilty Knowledge Test (GKT), is capable, if carefully administered, of meeting the recently set Daubert criteria. This paper describes the technique, and argues for considering its admissibility as evidence in criminal courts.
Related Concept Videos
Confirmation Biases
The Stanford Prison Experiment
Eyewitness Memory
One such error is memory distortion, which occurs because human memory does not function like a...
False Memories
One primary source of false memories is misattribution, where individuals incorrectly associate external information with...
Beck's Cognitive Therapy
Arbitrary Inference
Arbitrary inference involves making conclusions without sufficient...
Understanding Deception

