Article: Perspective: Running rings around lies; A major insurance company has recently revealed plans to use telephone lie detectors in an attempt to clamp down on fraudulent claims. But what exactly does a lie detector test involve and can the results be trusted? Ross Reyburn and Claire Hills speak to scientists to find out.

Byline: Ross Reyburn and Claire Hills

Guilty-looking suspects wired up and under pressure is how cinema portrays the lie detector test.

Whether it's Sharon Stone remaining cool under lie detector pressure in Basic Instinct or Robert De Niro hooking a nervous Ben Stiller up to a machine in Meet The Parents, the test appears torturous for the non-guilty and easy to rig for the dishonest.

But now many more of us face having our untruths uncovered after a British company, Highway Insurance, admitted it was preparing to use telephone lie detector tests ...

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