Truth Serum

[cgannon64]

So I saw Meet the Fockers the other day; not by choice, mind you. I was looking to see The Life Aquatic, and it was in the paper, but they pulled it at the last minute (I guess people in Jersey don't like good movies), so they offered us free tickets for our troubles.

Anyway, there is a scene in it where Ben Stiller is given truth serum, and says embarrassing things. This made me wonder: How exactly does truth serum work? Is it possible to lie under it? I imagine it must be...

 

[Yom]

Mandatory Wiki link.

 

[SeleucusNicator]

Mandatory Wiki link.

Hahahaha. Best unintentionally funny quote I've seen in a while from that article:

A book by a former Soviet KGB officer based in Washington, Washington Station, details the use of near-pure alcohol to verify that a Soviet agent was not compromised by US counter-intelligence services.

Yes..."for verification"...

 

[Blackbird_SR-71]

I though truth serum wasn't real. Man am i an idiot

 

[Jack the Ripper]

Sodium pentathol is in the Guiness Book for being the "most effective truth serum."

 

[stratego]

Different parts of the brain produces different chemicals. Sodium pentathol inhibits the the chemical produced by the creative part of the brain, so it's harder to make things up while you're under the influence.

Part of it is psychological too. It's more effective if you tell them it's truth serum that they're being injected with.

 

[aneeshm]

In India , when it has been proved beyond reasonable doubt that a person is guilty of some big huge crime , but the full scope of said crime might be unknown ( like massive financial fraud , treason , etc ) , then sodium penthanol is used to get the details out of the person .

 

[cgannon64]

Hmm. So it hinders the part of the brain that is creative, so its harder to make up lies?

That's interesting. But, I imagine if you have enough willpower, or have thought of the lie beforehand, its doable.

 

[Gogf]

Hmm. So it hinders the part of the brain that is creative, so its harder to make up lies?

That's interesting. But, I imagine if you have enough willpower, or have thought of the lie beforehand, its doable.

Or if you already know what you are going to say, I would presume.

 

[stratego]

That's interesting. But, I imagine if you have enough willpower, or have thought of the lie beforehand, its doable.

Yea, when you're under the influence of sodium pentathol you don't react like Ben Stiller in Meet the Fockers, you actually feel like you're still pretty much in control (it doesn't even feel as blurry as if you were drunk). You don't just start babbling on about everything you know, in fact given enough time you can make up coherent lies about everything. That's why they have interogators; many people will buckle under pressure because they can't react fast enough to the pros.

 

[CenturionV]

Hmm. So it hinders the part of the brain that is creative, so its harder to make up lies?

That's interesting. But, I imagine if you have enough willpower, or have thought of the lie beforehand, its doable.

Or if you just won't say anything, thats what I would do. You can't contradict yourself if you say nothing, and as we don't have Star Trek-esque mind probes yet, unless your talking, the info is pretty well stuck in your brain as long as you don't give out.

This would only work in the case when they thought you where actually lying not where they knew that you had the info, you just refused to talk.