Electrogastrograms (EGG’s) are not nearly as common as the other counterparts in electrical-activity measurement — the EKG and EEG. But when it comes to lie detection, the stomach may betray more than the heart or mind does. And scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston are listening closely to what the guts have to say:
To test their hypothesis that the gastrointestinal tract is uniquely sensitive to mental stress because of the communication between the central nervous system and the enteric nervous system, researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch recruited sixteen healthy volunteers to undergo simultaneous electrogastrogram (EGG) and electrocardiogram (EKG) recordings for three periods.
The researchers found that both lying and truth telling affected cardiac symptoms, while the act of lying was also associated with gastric symptoms. The EGG showed a significant decrease in the percentage of normal gastric slow waves when the subject was lying that corresponded to a significant increase in the average heart rate during the same situation.
The study was actually performed by University of Texas professor Pankaj Pasricha and his 16-year old daughter, Trisha. We suspect she’s either destined for great things, or destined to be grounded a lot in the next few years.
The press release…
More on Dr. Pasricha’s research…