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This lie detector runs on gut feelings

Jon Skillings Editorial director
Jon Skillings is an editorial director at CNET, where he's worked since 2000. A born browser of dictionaries, he honed his language skills as a US Army linguist (Polish and German) before diving into editing for tech publications -- including at PC Week and the IDG News Service -- back when the web was just getting under way, and even a little before. For CNET, he's written on topics from GPS, AI and 5G to James Bond, aircraft, astronauts, brass instruments and music streaming services.
Expertise AI, tech, language, grammar, writing, editing Credentials
  • 30 years experience at tech and consumer publications, print and online. Five years in the US Army as a translator (German and Polish).
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Jon Skillings

The eyes are the windows to the soul, the saying goes, but it may be the belly that's best at playing truth or dare.

Researchers at the University of Texas say that an electrogastrogram--a test in which electrodes are attached to a person's midsection--can help spot when someone is telling lies, according to a BBC News report. Electrogastrogram readings of test subjects caught in a fib showed a marked decrease in the percentage of normal gastric slow waves.

As many people would readily attest, the stomach and intestines can be diabolically sensitive to stress.

The tests, which go by the gastronomically appropriate abbreviation of EGG, were more demonstrative of lying than the electrocardiogram (ECG) measurements that are part of current polygraph gadgetry, the BBC story said. Experts say that conventional lie detectors have an accuracy rate of between 80 percent and 90 percent. The Texas researchers aren't suggesting doing away with that machinery, but rather complementing it with a side of EGG.

As notable as the findings themselves may be the way they came into being--according to an article from HealthDay News, the trek to the telltale tummy began with a 10th-grade science fair project.