Psychophysiological Research and its Place in the Lithuanian Scientific Discourse

Abstract

This article gives a brief overview of the development of psychophysiological research using the polygraph. The main focus is on the legal regulation of these methods and the evaluation of the scientific discourse of Lithuanian specialists on the problems of psychophysiological research and the application of its methods in comparison with analogous processes in Poland. Already in the inter-war period, so-called lie detection attracted considerable interest, not only from the academic world, but also from law enforcement authorities. In interwar Lithuania, considerable attention was paid to the psychology of testimony and the problems of lie detection, including the application of instrumental methods of psychodiagnostics. V. Lazerson, J. Vabalas-Gudaitis, B. Kalvaitis and others have written about it. It should be noted that at that time there were quite heated debates about the permissibility and effectiveness of psychophysiological tests. During the Soviet era, the issue of psychophysiological (polygraph) examinations was not the subject of an official broad scientific discourse in the jurisdictional process, even though medical and psychological professionals cooperating with special services were interested in this issue. After the restoration of independence in 1990, the Lithuanian media interest in this issue prompted the law enforcement authorities and their specialists and scientists to look deeper into the possibility, reliability, permissibility and effectiveness of the use of these technical diagnostic tools in foreign countries, as well as into their compatibility with the Lithuanian law in the investigation of crimes. In this article, some aspects of psychophysiological tests using the polygraph in Poland have been analysed for comparison purposes, which in the neighbouring country have attracted considerably more attention, both in the academic world as well as among lawyers and representatives of law enforcement agencies.