A computer system with advanced pattern recognition abilities outperformed people in telling apart those who are experiencing real pain from those who are faking it, Reuters reported. In testing, the computer recognized feigned pain 85 percent of the time while human observers spotted it only half the time, the article noted. Scientists at the University of California-San Diego hailed these results as a rare example of a perceptual--as opposed to logical--process that a computer can do better than people. The computer system identifies subtle differences between involuntary and voluntary facial movements that characterize sincerity. The computer's vision system uses a video camera to shoot images of and decode facial expressions. Expected to be widely available at a reasonable price in the near future, the system has healthcare applications, including medical fraud prevention, Reuters noted. Article