Lifting the Veil of Deception
A study I came across on New Scientist found that people were better at identifying if a woman was lying or not when she was wearing a Hijab or Niqab. (They didn't use the Burka but I think that would have bee really good to do!) The thought is that the people making the assessments of credibility had to pay more attention to the language used rather than facial cues during the interview. What's interesting, in 2013 a Judge in the UK ordered a female charged with a crime to remove her veil because she said it "was necessary to see her face to assess how truthful she was." Maybe we should work to get more training in Investigative Statement Analysis?
Although this research is interesting, and I agree that paying attention to language is the most effective ways to conduct an investigative interview and assess for credibility, I don't agree with their conclusion that this can be an automated process. There will ALWAYS be a need for an effective, well-trained interviewer, not only to identify deception but to get the truth!