Worldwide Interest in EyeDetect’s New Technology for Detecting Deception Continues to Grow

The polygraph has been the de facto lie detection method for nearly 100 years. It took a science team at the University of Utah 10 years to develop a new method that uses an infrared eye tracker to measure a number of changes in the eye while the subject responds to a series of true/false questions on a computer. EyeDetect was launched worldwide in April.

Unlike the polygraph, which records the body’s involuntary responses to an examiner’s questions, Converus’ EyeDetect monitors eye behavior to determine deception. This new, nonintrusive lie detection technology is 85 percent accurate.

LEHI, Utah – Aug. 22, 2014 – Since its worldwide launch at an April press conference in Mexico City, interest in Converus’ (www.converus.com) new lie detection technology, dubbed “EyeDetect,” has steadily grown. The start-up company has received queries worldwide and has held meetings with several large companies throughout Latin America. To help manage the growth, Converus has recently doubled the size of its executive team, hired two new regionally based salespeople, and has signed up reselling partners in the U.S., Central America, and the U.K.

Converus was even invited to be one of three featured companies of the Utah governor’s trade mission to Mexico last April.

“It was only a matter of time before a new lie detection method was invented,” said Converus President and CEO Todd Mickelsen. “Corruption and fraud is a $2.6 trillion problem worldwide, so the high interest in EyeDetect was expected.”

The modern polygraph was invented in 1921 by John Augustus Larson, a medical student at the University of California at Berkeley and a police officer of the Berkeley Police Department in Berkeley, California. The FBI has been using the polygraph  — an instrument that monitors a person’s physiological reactions — since 1939. Its accuracy is estimated to be between 65 and 85 percent.

It took scientists at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City 10 years to develop and fine-tune EyeDetect, an idea originally conceived in 2002. Instead of recording the body’s involuntary responses to an examiner’s questions like the polygraph, EyeDetect monitors eye behavior to determine deception. Deception causes subtle and involuntary changes in the behavior of the human eye due to increased cognitive load. This is the first deception detection method based on an ocular-motor deception test. Across a series of validation trials, it classified truthful and deceptive examinees with 85 percent accuracy.

After hearing these test results, it prompted a former program manager at a U.S. federal agency to say, “The largest, single advantage of EyeDetect is its accuracy.”

Unlike the polygraph, the EyeDetect test is mostly automated. One proctor can administer up to 14 tests per day. Because the exam can be completed in less than 40 minutes, it can screen large numbers of people in a shorter amount of time. This means it can also serve as a first-stage screen to reduce the number that then need to be polygraphed. Mickelsen said EyeDetect’s “sweet spot” is pre-employment screening and periodic screening of existing employees.

“Companies are desperately looking for a way to more effectively manage risk by preventing fraud and ensuring workplace integrity,” said Mickelsen. “An honest workforce means employees will be more productive and the company will be more profitable.”

According to Mickelsen, EyeDetect is designed to help companies identify potential employees who would otherwise falsify their experience or be untruthful about previous activities with illegal drugs, stealing from an employer, accepting or receiving inappropriate benefits from an employer or divulging confidential information.

An administrator with basic computer skills can be trained in as little as 60 minutes to initiate a test, calibrate the optical scanner to the subject’s eyes, document any issues that occurred during the test, upload the test data to the secure server in the cloud, and access the test results. The subject simply follows the instructions provided, takes a short practice test to become familiar with the testing procedure, and then answers the true and false questions. Authorized personnel can access the report through a Web browser or mobile device to view individual responses and the Converus Credibility Score. This score indicates a probability that the individual was truthful.

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About Converus
Converus (“with truth”) is committed to providing trustworthy credibility assessment solutions. Its flagship product, EyeDetect® — a product first conceived in 2002 — is the first ocular-motor deception detection solution. It’s an accurate, cost-effective, efficient, secure and nonintrusive method that detects deception in 30 minutes by analyzing eye behavior. The same scientists credited with computerizing the polygraph in 1991 developed EyeDetect. It’s a new way for organizations to manage risk and ensure workplace integrity, and for law enforcement agencies and governments to detect deception. Ultimately, it helps protect countries, corporations and communities from corruption, fraud and threats. The company is headquartered in Lehi, Utah, USA. For more information, visit www.converus.com.

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Press Contact: Jeff Pizzino, APR / +1 480.606.8292