Volume 10,Issue 4
Pharmacological Approaches to Lie Detection: A Review of Scopolamine, Sodium Thiopental, and LSD
This research mainly focuses on ways of lie-detection, especially in the medical area. Three medicines are discussed in this paper, including their histories, chemical structures, functions, etiology and pathogenesis, clinical signs, and effectiveness. Finally, this study compares the effectiveness of these three medicines and compares the medicines to the modern technologies that have been used for lie detection.
[1] Christ SE, Van Essen DC, Watson JM, et al., 2009, The Contributions of Prefrontal Cortex and Executive Control to Deception: Evidence from Activation Likelihood Estimate Meta-Analyses. Cerebral Cortex, 19(7): 1557–1566.
[2] Reis CL, 1958, In Scopolamine Veritas. Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science, 49(2): 137–151.
[3] Tang J, Wang Q, Lei P, 2023, Progress in the Study of the Central Pharmacological Mechanism of Scopolamine. Journal of Nanjing Medical University (Natural Science Edition), (8):1161-1171.
[4] Orkaby A, Desai SP, 2021, The Death of Sodium Pentothal: The Rise and Fall of an Anesthetic Turned Lethal. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 76(3): 294–318.
[5] Gvalani A, 2023, Are Truth Serums Real? ScienceABC. visited on December, 20, 2025, https://www.scienceabc.com/eyeopeners/are-truth-serums-real.html
[6] National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, n.d., 2023, Thiopental Sodium. In Inxight Drugs. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. visited on December, 20, 2025, https://drugs.ncats.io/drug/49Y44QZL70
[7] Anonymous, 2023, Pharmacologic Mechanism of Sodium Thiopental. 39 Drug Safety Net. visited on December, 20, 2025, https://ypk.39.net/saftydrugs/s12oupls.html
[8] Meier LJ, 2025, Mind Control: Past and Future (Issue 2025-01b). Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard Kennedy School.
[9] Fusar-Poli P, Borgwardt S, 2008, Albert Hofmann, the Father of LSD (1906–2008). Neuropsychobiology, 58(1): 53–54.
[10]Liechti ME, 2017, Modern Clinical Research on LSD. Neuropsychopharmacology, 42(11): 2114-2127.
[11] Rashad W, 2019, The Magic of the Serotonin Receptors. Psychopharmacology Institute. visited on December, 20, 2025, https://psychopharmacologyinstitute.com/publication/the-magic-of-the-serotonin-receptors-2496/
[12] Kalodanis K, Rizomiliotis P, Feretzakis G, et al., 2025, High-Risk AI Systems—Lie Detection Application. Future Internet, 17: 26.
[13] Taha BN, Baykara M, Alakuş TB, 2025, Neurophysiological Approaches to Lie Detection: A Systematic Review. Brain Sciences, 15(5): 519.