What is "lie detection"

n. 1 (context informal English) The use of polygraphs during interrogation in an attempt to verify the truth or falsity of a subject's responses 2 (context broadly English) The use of any technique intended to detect deception.

Lie detection, also referred to as deception detection, uses questioning techniques along with technology that record physiological functions to ascertain truth and falsehood in response. It is commonly used by law enforcement and has historically been an inexact science. There are a wide variety of technologies available for this purpose. The most common and long used measure is the polygraph, which the U.S. National Academy of Sciences states, in populations untrained in countermeasures, can discriminate lying from truth telling at rates above chance, though below perfection. They added that the results apply only to specific events and not to screening, where it is assumed that the polygraph works less well.