Waltham Resident's Work On Lie Detection Gets Recognized

From William James College:

October 29, 2019

Waltham Residents Work on Lie Detection Gets Recognized

NEWTON, MA (10/29/2019)-- Doctoral student August Price, a resident of Waltham, Mass., was recently highlighted by William James College for his neuropsychology research addressing the problem of malingering, or the act of faking or exaggerating symptoms for financial compensation or to avoid responsibility. Price is a fourth-year clinical psychology doctoral student at William James College, a graduate school of psychology located in Newton, Mass.

On the surface Price's research is lie detection but the process, he says, is much more complex. Price uses Event-Related Potentials (ERP), which monitor electrical brain wave activity while the participant performs an attention-based task. Through the research, Price discovered that individuals are unable to "fake" the electrical activity in their brain. So, he said, while they may be able to manipulate or "fake" their behavioral performance on the attention-based task, their physiologic brain wave activity remains unchanged, allowing the clinician to determine whether or not the individual is being honest in their test performance.

For this particular study, Price compared the electrical brain activity between 20 probable Alzheimer's disease patients to 20 healthy control participants. In one session, the control group performed the attention-based task honestly, and in a second, they performed the same task while simulating dementia. The results confirmed that healthy controls, regardless of whether they were performing honestly or simulating dementia, produced nearly identical electrical potentials in the brain. Price said he believes this research will be most applicable in the forensic psychology field in addition to standard neuropsychological assessments.

Price has presented this research at conferences across the country and won best poster presentation at two separate conferences, one in San Diego and one in Boston. Most recently, he gave a presentation at the 2019 American Psychological Association's Annual Convention in Chicago. "The APA Convention was easily the largest and most diverse conference I have ever attended. I was the only student seated among a panel of very well-established research psychologists from all over the globe," said Price.

Price attended Keene State College in New Hampshire, where he majored in psychology and worked as a research assistant. Price will be spending his final year of training as an intern at the Penn Medicine Lancaster General Hospital in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He said he hopes to return to the Boston-area for post-doctoral fellowship, and later teach neuropsychology while also maintaining his own practice.

Founded in 1974, William James College is an independent, non-profit institution and a leader in educating the next generation of mental health professionals to support the growing and diverse needs of the mental health workforce. Integrating field work with academics, the College prepares students for careers as organizational leaders and behavioral health professionals who are committed to helping the underserved, multicultural populations, children and families, and veterans. William James College alumni can be found making an impact in a variety of settings, including schools, the courts, clinical care facilities, hospitals, the community and the workplace.

This press release was produced by William James College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.