APA Dictionary of Psychology

a test for the admissibility of scientific evidence in U.S. courts, derived from the case Frye v. United States (1923) in which an early form of lie-detector evidence (see polygraph) was ruled inadmissible because it had not yet “gained general acceptance in the field in which it belongs.” This “general acceptance” test became the chief standard for ruling on admissibility of scientific evidence in both state and federal courts until 1993, when it was replaced by the Daubert test in most jurisdictions.