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Blink measures of malintent
Symposia Abstracts / International Journal of Psychophysiology 85 (2012) 291–360
335
number of blinks, and a greater maximum blink time. The results are discussed in relation to traditional deception detection findings as well as to the similarities and differences in detecting malintent. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.06.122
Blinks not associated with eye movements: Their ontogeny and phylogeny H. Tadaa, Y. Omorib Institute for Human Informatics, Tohoku Gakuin University, Sendai, Japan b Department of Psychology, Jin-ai University, Fukui, Japan a
Fig. 2. TDBs in three types of ISI (200, 400, ]";and 800 ms) (Fukuda, Hayami, Shidoji, & Matsuo, 2008).
Fig. 3. TDBs in visual search tasks (Kamakura, Fukuda, Matsuo, Shidoji, & Hayami, 2010).
doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.06.121
Blink measures of malintent F.M. Marchak, T.L. Keil Veridical Research and Design Corporation, MT, USA Measures of eyeblink activity have been used to determine deception (e.g., Fukuda, 2001; Leal and Vrij, 2008, 2010). While the focus of deception detection is determining whether an individual has committed an act in the past, the goal of detecting malintent is determining whether someone possesses the intent to cause harm in the future. In contrast to detecting deception, current research has not investigated the use of eyeblink measures to determine malintent. We present the findings from a series of studies, with increasing ecological validity, that were conducted by examining changes in eyeblink behavior as a measure of malintent. Half of the participants engaged in a mock crime that involved transporting an explosive device with the intent of delivering it to a ‘contact’ that would use it to cause a disturbance. Blink parameters were measured for all participants when presented with three types of questions: relevant to intent to transport an explosive device, relevant to intent to engage in an unrelated illegal act, and neutral questions. The first experiment involved seated participants watching a video interviewer with questions presented through headphones. The second study replicated the findings of the first experiment using standing participants watching a video interviewer with ambient audio. The third experiment included standing participants questioned by a live interviewer. Across the three experiments, changes in blink rate during and immediately following individual questions, total number of blinks, and length of maximum blink differentiated those with malintent from innocent participants. In response to crime relevant questions, those with malintent showed a suppression of blinking during the question when compared to the ten-second period after the end of the question, a greater
Many studies have pointed out the association of blinks with eye movements. It is very natural and efficient for these two movements to work cooperatively to prevent the information loss due to blackout. However, most human blinks are usually not associated with eye movements and very few studies have investigated the meaning of this blink. We named this blink a “sole blink” and have investigated it in terms of ontogeny and phylogeny. Two experiments were conducted. One experiment dealt with the developmental course of endogenous eyeblinks of three age groups from 3 month to 3 year-old infants and the other experiment from 5 year-old to 93 year-old persons of 11 age groups. The total sample is over 1400 — about 50 samples of males and females in 14 age groups. We present mainly the results of the former experiment, for we could obtain the sole blink data in only the youngest 3 age groups. As the previous study suggested, the youngest infants blink infrequently, increasing gradually until the age of 9–10 years, with no statistical difference for the 11 older age groups. No differences were found in closing and reopening blink duration in 10 age groups over 9 years, but those of the youngest 4 age groups were shorter in duration than the remaining 10 older age groups. The sole blink rates of the youngest 3 age groups increased until the earliest 3 years. No sole blink data were obtained for the residual 11 age groups over 5 years old, due to the experimental condition. We video-recorded the eyeblink behaviors of 72 species of primates, the nearest species to the human. Recordings were conducted in the perfectly free environment of a zoo; there were no restraints, just like the experiment with human infants. The eyeblink rates revealed rising trends along the phylogenetic course. No specific differences in any phylogenetic scales were found in blink durations. Although the sole blink rate was not influenced by activity rhythms, phylogenetic variables were affected considerably and the effect of habitat type was consistently very strong for sole blink rate. On the basis of these two studies, we classified the blinks into two types: essential and additional blinks. Essential blinks are the basic blinks for the concerned species from the earliest stages of phylogeny and ontogeny. Additional blinks might be derived from many kinds of variables, depending on the species. It is well known that human blinks are influenced by many kinds of variables such as cognitive, emotional, motivational, and probably social. A representative blink of additional blinks might be a sole blink. There are almost no sole blinks in the small and feeble primate species of the arboreal type but the large species of terrestrial type tends to blink frequently and solely. This sole blink might play a social role, such as in a facial expression. In primate studies, it is known that some species of mangabey, macaque, and baboon threaten their enemy with blinking to exhibit their white eyelids. Recently there are some studies examining blinks as a communication tool in humans.
doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.06.123
335
number of blinks, and a greater maximum blink time. The results are discussed in relation to traditional deception detection findings as well as to the similarities and differences in detecting malintent. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.06.122
Blinks not associated with eye movements: Their ontogeny and phylogeny H. Tadaa, Y. Omorib Institute for Human Informatics, Tohoku Gakuin University, Sendai, Japan b Department of Psychology, Jin-ai University, Fukui, Japan a
Fig. 2. TDBs in three types of ISI (200, 400, ]";and 800 ms) (Fukuda, Hayami, Shidoji, & Matsuo, 2008).
Fig. 3. TDBs in visual search tasks (Kamakura, Fukuda, Matsuo, Shidoji, & Hayami, 2010).
doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.06.121
Blink measures of malintent F.M. Marchak, T.L. Keil Veridical Research and Design Corporation, MT, USA Measures of eyeblink activity have been used to determine deception (e.g., Fukuda, 2001; Leal and Vrij, 2008, 2010). While the focus of deception detection is determining whether an individual has committed an act in the past, the goal of detecting malintent is determining whether someone possesses the intent to cause harm in the future. In contrast to detecting deception, current research has not investigated the use of eyeblink measures to determine malintent. We present the findings from a series of studies, with increasing ecological validity, that were conducted by examining changes in eyeblink behavior as a measure of malintent. Half of the participants engaged in a mock crime that involved transporting an explosive device with the intent of delivering it to a ‘contact’ that would use it to cause a disturbance. Blink parameters were measured for all participants when presented with three types of questions: relevant to intent to transport an explosive device, relevant to intent to engage in an unrelated illegal act, and neutral questions. The first experiment involved seated participants watching a video interviewer with questions presented through headphones. The second study replicated the findings of the first experiment using standing participants watching a video interviewer with ambient audio. The third experiment included standing participants questioned by a live interviewer. Across the three experiments, changes in blink rate during and immediately following individual questions, total number of blinks, and length of maximum blink differentiated those with malintent from innocent participants. In response to crime relevant questions, those with malintent showed a suppression of blinking during the question when compared to the ten-second period after the end of the question, a greater
Many studies have pointed out the association of blinks with eye movements. It is very natural and efficient for these two movements to work cooperatively to prevent the information loss due to blackout. However, most human blinks are usually not associated with eye movements and very few studies have investigated the meaning of this blink. We named this blink a “sole blink” and have investigated it in terms of ontogeny and phylogeny. Two experiments were conducted. One experiment dealt with the developmental course of endogenous eyeblinks of three age groups from 3 month to 3 year-old infants and the other experiment from 5 year-old to 93 year-old persons of 11 age groups. The total sample is over 1400 — about 50 samples of males and females in 14 age groups. We present mainly the results of the former experiment, for we could obtain the sole blink data in only the youngest 3 age groups. As the previous study suggested, the youngest infants blink infrequently, increasing gradually until the age of 9–10 years, with no statistical difference for the 11 older age groups. No differences were found in closing and reopening blink duration in 10 age groups over 9 years, but those of the youngest 4 age groups were shorter in duration than the remaining 10 older age groups. The sole blink rates of the youngest 3 age groups increased until the earliest 3 years. No sole blink data were obtained for the residual 11 age groups over 5 years old, due to the experimental condition. We video-recorded the eyeblink behaviors of 72 species of primates, the nearest species to the human. Recordings were conducted in the perfectly free environment of a zoo; there were no restraints, just like the experiment with human infants. The eyeblink rates revealed rising trends along the phylogenetic course. No specific differences in any phylogenetic scales were found in blink durations. Although the sole blink rate was not influenced by activity rhythms, phylogenetic variables were affected considerably and the effect of habitat type was consistently very strong for sole blink rate. On the basis of these two studies, we classified the blinks into two types: essential and additional blinks. Essential blinks are the basic blinks for the concerned species from the earliest stages of phylogeny and ontogeny. Additional blinks might be derived from many kinds of variables, depending on the species. It is well known that human blinks are influenced by many kinds of variables such as cognitive, emotional, motivational, and probably social. A representative blink of additional blinks might be a sole blink. There are almost no sole blinks in the small and feeble primate species of the arboreal type but the large species of terrestrial type tends to blink frequently and solely. This sole blink might play a social role, such as in a facial expression. In primate studies, it is known that some species of mangabey, macaque, and baboon threaten their enemy with blinking to exhibit their white eyelids. Recently there are some studies examining blinks as a communication tool in humans.
doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.06.123