Symposium on unidentified flying objects: hearings before the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninetieth Congress, second session, July 29, 1968.

188
other
interested
physicians.
Certain
of
the
maneuvers,
particularly
those
which
test
cortical
integrative
function,
are
extremely
important
in
the
evaluation
of
an
eye
-witness.
This
is
because
they
will
indicate
the
ability
of
the
observer's cerebral
cortex
to
proc-
ess
what
his visual
apparatus
has
fed
in—to
differ-
entiate
various
kinds
of
sensory input,
process
detail,
make
associations,
and
integrate
spatial relationships.
More
specifically,
those
tests
that
reflect
cortical
sen-
sory
status
are
particularly
pertinent
for
eye
-witness
assessment.
This
is
because
there
are
numerous
medical
disorders
that cause
neurologic disruption
at the
cor-
tical
sensory
level,
resulting
in
hallucinations,
delu-
sions,
distortions,
and
confabulations
[6].
"Organic"
hallucinations
and
distortions
often
seem
very
real,
even
afterwards,
to
one
only
transiently
afflicted
and
are
apt
to
be
reported
as
witnessed
events.
They
can
occur
in people
suffering
from
acute
infec-
tions,
adrenal
insufficiency,
brain
tumors,
chronic
pulmonary
disorders (respiratory
acidosis),
compli-
cations
from
vitamin
deficiences
and
alcoholism,
ab-
normal
calcium
metabolism,
low
blood
magnesium
levels,
epilepsy
(for several reasons),
and Sydenham's
chorea.
In
addition,
there
are
scores
of
commonly
used
drugs
which
will
produce
hallucinations
if
taken
in
toxic
quantities
or,
by
certain
people, in
prescribed
amounts. These
include antihistamines,
meprobamate
("Milltown"), dephenylhydantoins
(antiepileptic
agents), atropine
(found
in
many
non-prescription
sleep-
ing
pills),
and
bromides (as
in
Bromoselzer).
The
re-
port of
an
eye
-witness
who
has been
scrutinized
for
these
possibilities
alone
(by
history,
examination,
and
necessary laboratory
data)
will
understandably
assume
more
creditability.
The
possibility
that
an
observation
may
have
been
influenced
by an
"organic"
delusion
should
also
be
investigated.
Frequently,
as
with
the
hallucinations,
there
will
be
clues
to
this situation
from
the
observer's
history
or
from
some
examination
findings.
Among
the
underlying
medical
causes of
delusions
are
trichi-
nosis, syphilis,
hypothyroidism, calcium
disorders,
various
blood
disorders, encephalitis,
and
pellegra.
Some
of these
same
disorders
can,
of
course,
also in-
fluence observational reporting
through
other
channels.
Confabulation,
as
a
neurologic
sign,
is
particularly
important
to
rule
out
in
the
eye
-witness
report
because
it
can
be
so
deceiving.
In
fact,
it
serves
as
a
cover-up
for
memory
impairment
by
filling
in
the
gaps
with
sundry
(but
inaccurate)
details.
Typically, confabula-
tion
is
seen
in
association
with
peripheral
neuropathy
(careful
examination
is
thus apt
to
alert
the
physician)
and
is
the
result
of
either
a
blood
disorder or,
more
commonly,
exposure to
toxins
[7].
Many
gross
mental
aberrations,
such
as
hallucina-
tions
and
delusions,
are
not
associated
with
abnormal
physical
or
neurologic signs
and can be
causally
traced
to underlying psychologic
disorders.
These
are
likely
to
be
recognized
and
so
labelled
in
the
neurologic
phase
of
the
assessment
where,
as
in psychiatry
a
stand-
ard
mental
status
examination
is
used
for
ferreting
out
emotional
disorders,
as
well
as
memory
and
other
in-
tellectual
impairment.
For
example,
the
schizophrenias
and
psychotic
depression
(which
are
the
more
frequent
functional
disorders associated
with
hallucinations
and
delusions)
usually
have
well
known
clinical
char-
acteristics
and
will
be
obvious
to
physicians
doing
formal mental
status
testing
[8].
It
is
because of
the
less
florid
kinds
of
psychopa-
thology that
a
thorough
psychiatric
evaluation
should
be
part of
an
observer
creditability
assessment.
The
complexities
and
vagaries
of the
human
personality
can
lead
to
some
gross
distortions
and
fabrications
around
an
event,
particularly
when
witnessed
by
people
who
are
borderline
psychotic,
paranoid,
sociopathic,
hysterical
or inadequate
personalities.
Some
of
these
people,
when
stressed,
have
brief,
episodic
breaks
with
reality
in
which
they
are frankly
psychotic
and
halluci-
nate,
yet
then
resume
previous
functioning.
During
a
sophisticated psychiatric
evaluation,
the
physician
would
be
likely
to
recognize
a
propensity
for
such
episodes.
His
main
job,
however, would
be
to
gather
enough
information
about
the
observer
as
a
person
to
be
able
to
check
him
out
generally, psychologically, for
creditability.
This
would
involve
complete
develop-
mental
and
psychosexual
history,
studying family
relationships
(past
and
present),
assessing
intellectual
ability,
elaborating
on
areas
of
major
conflict,
assessing
for
characterologic
make-up and
evaluating
for
ego
-
strength
or weakness.
In
instances
where
an
observer
is
being
retrospectively
evaluated
(i.e.,
he
has
alreadyreported
an
event)
there
should
be
an
intensive
effort
made
to
explore
the
observer's
feelings
about
what
he
has
seen
and
described.
Such
discussion,
when
properly
guided,
is
likely
to
uncover
inconsistencies
and
other
helpful
clues,
in
the
case
of the
noncreditable
observer.
Unconscious
motivational
forces
that
have
led
to
inaccurate reporting
can
sometimes
be
un-
covered
by
exploring
the
observer's
fantasy
life,
listen-
ing
for
slips
of
the
tongue, or attempting
free associ-
ation.
In
an
occasional
observer,
where
substantiation
of
his
creditability
is
crucial
and
there
is
vague
reason
to suspect
it,
a
pentathol
interview
may
be
indicated.
In
instances
where
frank
lying
about
an
event
is
suspected,
the
observer
can be
questioned while
moni-
tored
by a
polygraph.
This machine
measures
some
ofthose
bodily responses
that are
under the
control
of
the
autonomic
nervous system which
is,
in turn,
partly regulated
by
cortical
centers. If
the
observer
being
studied
is
truly sociopathic
and
has
never
de-
veloped
a
super
-ego,
or
conscience,
the polygraph
will
not
be
able
to
pick
up
his
lie,
since
he
will
have
no
associated
conflict
on
telling
it.
The
lying
will
be
picked
up,
however,
when
the polygraph
is
used
on
otherpersonality
types.
Up
to
this
point, this
paper has
focused
on
the
many
factors
that
interfere
with observer
creditability.
There