Gujarat here I come

Thanks all for the crossed fingers... Dr. S.L. Vaya, Director of the Institute of Behavioral Science has agreed to meet me before her break for Diwali, so I will be flying to Ahmedabad tomorrow and spending Tuesday and Wednesday in her lab.

Apparently I will get to "see everything in action" which I am very excited about. I will be shown their EEG/ERP work (EEG=Electroencephalography - the one where lots of electrodes are stuck to your scalp as in the picture below while the scientists measure the electrical activity of your brain and ERP=Event Related Potential, which is when there is a change in the EEG pattern in response to a stimulus).


And the relevance of this to detecting the truth or lies? Well I will know more after my visit, but the basic idea as I understand it is that the person hooked up to the system is read a series of statements. The person does not need to respond, but if they have 'experiential' knowledge of that statement then the system will detect it. Apparently if I were hooked up and someone read out "I had a curry for lunch today" this would come out as true (as it would have most days this week...) whereas if they read out "I went to McDonald's for lunch today" this would not register (and I'm very happy to have the scan to prove it!). In other words the claim is that the system can detect truth (that you have experienced something, rather than something you believe).

I reserve judgment, but am looking forward to seeing it in action!

Apparently they are also doing research on the old-fashioned polygraph lie-detector test so it will be interesting to compare the outcomes of the two. More on polygraphs later.

I will be sad to say goodbye to the quiet part of Mumbai I am currently staying in, Ballard Estate in Fort. Pretty much the only noise I have heard here is cows mooing. I haven't seen any in the day, but at night they take over the streets...


If anyone can tell me where they go during the day or what they eat I would be very grateful. The area has no grass or hay and is surrounded by a navy installation on three sides and the rest of the city to the West. I am confused.

I love it when A(merican) plan comes together...

So whilst plans in India are still revving their engines waiting to start the USA plans are storming ahead.

Before leaving the UK I was very happy to have already had a range of US contributors on board. I had lawyers (both academic and practicing), bioethicists and neuroscientists lined up as well as Dr. Steven Laken, President of Cephos, a Boston-based commercial lie detection company. You can see Steven on a short Dateline NBC newsclip on the Cephos website showing the fMRI being used to attempt to verify or cast doubts on details of extra marital affairs.

As of this evening I am happy to report that Joel Huizenga, Founder and CEO of California-based 'No Lie MRI' has also agreed to meet me right at the end of my trip. He can be seen (back in 2007) on PBS Wired Science feature about half way through the feature.

So that's the head honchos of the only two companies marketing fMRI-based lie detection in the USA on board. My thanks to both of them for their time in advance.

Now back to focusing on India...

The Good, the Bad and the Diwali

Dr. S.L. Vaya, Director of the Institute of Behavioural Science at Gujarat Forensic Sciences Laboratory has agreed to meet with me. She has a wealth of relevant experience for my project including working as Assistant Director in the lie detector division for fifteen years. She also presented on “Indian scenario in Polygraph and brain electrical oscillation signature profiling tests” at the British Psychological Society in July 2008. So that's the Good news - but am I finally getting somewhere with the Indian leg of my trip? No. She says she will be away from 5th to 13th November, but would be happy to meet after she returns - by which time I'm in Bangalore! So that's the Bad news.

The reason for this? Yes I know it's going to come as a big shock after the title of this post... Diwali (or festival of lights) starts on 3rd November and goes on for 5 days and whilst I've very glad that I will get to experience it I am only happy about this if it doesn't mess with the fellowship!

I have just emailed Dr. Vaya to see if I could fly to Ahmedabad on Sunday and perhaps see her on the 1st and/or 2nd. Please could I ask anyone reading this to cross their fingers for me? I'm over 3 days in to my trip and I need to get some interviews in the bag!

An early start and second High Court attempt

Having completely failed to sleep last night I thought that I'd go out before dawn and get some photos across Mumbai Harbour as the sun rose. Everyone will be asleep I reasoned, so I'd be able to get a few photos without any hassle. I was partly right... It seems that when the people aren't up then the dogs and the birds take the few hours of ownership they can get seriously. I'd barely made it out of the hotel before I was being growled at by a group of dogs. Deciding that they were welcome to the pavement I moved away quickly, though obviously showing no fear... The pavements by the harbour were flocking with large crows, but they grudgingly moved aside to allow me to take a few photos of the harbour, The Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Palace and Hotel:


It's big - I'll grant you, but rather less beautiful than the 17th century one inspired by grief and love. This 20th century behemoth was apparently built by a man, having been refused entry to another hotel, with a point to make. Still if this was the usual result of an overzealous bouncer the world would be a very different place.

I digress. Apologies. Back to the Fellowship.

Feeling rather more prepared today I returned to the High Court to see if I could get a better understanding of how the legal system here works or perhaps find out more about what people think of brain scanning-based lie detection. It took a while to get in as first I had to fill out a log explaining who I was and which case I was entering to see. With no case number, name of accused or crime they may have been accused of I was struggling. Wanting to enter for general research had no place on the form, so instead, finally I was told to write that I wanted to enter for a trial in court 18 (I never did get a realistic idea of the number of courts in there or the number of trials taking place at any one time or indeed the range of trials taking place).

Sadly I couldn't take my camera in, but the inside felt like a strange cross between a bureaucratic asylum, a gothic castle and a train station. Confused looking people were passing large files of case notes between each other, if not making more copies of them in the Xerox centre. All of this in a labyrinthine stone structure with unmarked doors save from a LED ticker-tape display above each, which may have been pronouncing judgements going on inside or saying which trial was coming up next. I tried to ask a few people what was going on or what the procedures were and at one point of asking was told by an official at a door that this was the room for 'the liars and their advocates', but I never got a lot further. It was certainly the first place I've been to in Mumbai where I was guaranteed no hassle. The people in there were far to overwhelmed with the processes they were attempting to navigate than to have time to talk to me. This may well be a slight red herring for my fellowship, but I think I need to speak to some lawyers and come back for a third visit. The people inside have too much going on, but I want to find out what passers by think (or those entering or leaving) about evidence and how it is applied and where they think brain scanning-based lie dectection can or should fit in to the mix.

High Court attempt and another scam

After a few more hours today sending emails I decided that with no scientists to meet as yet I would instead go for a walk to the High Court in Mumbai. A chance to see the Indian justice system in action and to get more of an insight perhaps into how evidence is presented and assessed.

Managing to get out of the area of Mumbai I have so far confined myself to, Colaba, I was about to enter the Fort area when a man promptly inserted a small pointy stick into my ear. Time for a bogus medicine-man style con... Sadly knowing someone is about to try and con you doesn't necessarily help. A pointy stick in the ear tends to root you to the spot I found... Seconds later after a scrape around, followed - no doubt - by some slight of hand and some concealed clay he pointed out that my ears were full of nasty brown stuff (incidentally not the same colour of any ear wax I have ever seen on a cotton bud). However, I decided to play along and next thing I know he was pulling a small stone out, also covered in clay. All good fun. No idea how I've been managing to hear with all that stuff in there! Even more surprising that my hearing was exactly the same once the stone and other gunk had been 'removed'. Anyway I asked how much this service cost and he conveniently pulled a card, laminated, so therefore legit showing it was 500 rupees. I quite enjoyed the scam, but not that much. I thought 100 was plenty (around £1.40 I think) and also I now know to move away quicker from men with small pointy sticks. I think he also knew he had done well, so all happy I moved on.

Anyway, after a couple of wrong turns I made it to the High Court. Unfortunately too late to get in, so will have to return tomorrow. I thought that while I was there I'd at least get a photo of it. I crossed at least 4 lanes of traffic to get a better view which is a skill I am still working on. Many, many indians crossed before I had the nerve to walk out into the traffic. Getting to the other side I realised that the view was no better from there as the trees conceal most of the building, still having risked life and limb I was going to get my photo. Except I wasn't. Next lesson of the day - camera batteries work far more effectively inside the camera rather than inside the hotel.

Back at the hotel I have at least had some good news - neuroscientist Dr Champadi Raman Mukunda, developer of the BEOS system has been in touch again and is still keen to meet!

So lessons for today:
1) Don't let people stick sharp sticks in your ear
2) Turn up to court early
3) Electrical equipment works best with a power source

Admittedly I really should have known these already. I blame the jet lag.

Fellowship news 24 hours in

It's been just over 24 hours since I arrived in Mumbai and I am currently feeling rather out of my depth. I seem to make a new 'friend' every time I walk out of the hotel, but that isn't really the aim of the fellowship. I've been busy emailing people I was in touch with before leaving, but progress is very slow. I am also wondering if I am in the right place after all. I have spent months trying to locate the whereabouts of Aditi Sharma who was convicted of murder in 2008 partially based on lie detection technology. This was overturned in 2009. According to reports the testing was done in Mumbai and the conviction and release on appeal both happened in nearby Pune. If only I could get some confirmation of this I might be closer to uncovering the true story...

Another possible story lead is related to the recent Supreme Court ruling that EEG-based lie detection (Brain fingerprinting or Brain Electrical Oscillations Signature, BEOS) was inadmissible in courts WITHOUT consent of the accused (if the tests were done on them), but what if the tests were done with consent, or the tests were not done on the accused, but rather the victims or witnesses? Government to follow SC order

The scientist who was working on the BEOS system had agreed to meet me before I departed, but now is not responding to emails. I will keep trying and will keep you posted!