Moderate financial incentive does not appear to influence the P300 Concealed Information Test (CIT) effect in the Complex Trial Protocol (CTP) version of the CIT in a forensic scenario, while affecting P300 peak latencies and behavior.

Previous research indicated that the skin conductance response (SCR) of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) in the Concealed Information Test (CIT) is typically increased in subjects who are financially and otherwise incentivized to defeat the CIT (the paradoxical "motivational impairment" effect). This is not the case for RT-based CITs, nor for P300 tests based on the 3-stimulus protocol or Complex Trial Protocol for detection of cognitive malingering (although these are not the same as forensic CITs). The present report extends earlier studies of malingerers by running five groups of subjects (15-16 per group yielding 78 total) in a mock crime (forensic) scenario: paid (to beat the test) and unpaid, instructed and uninstructed, and simply guilty. There was no evidence that the "CIT effect" (probe-minus-irrelevant P300 differences) differed among groups, although behavioral differences among groups were seen.

You must be lying because I don't understand you: Language proficiency and lie detection.

We examined the impact of interviewees' language proficiencies on observers' lie detection performance. Observers (N = 132) were randomly assigned to make deception judgments about interviewees (N = 56) from Four proficiency groups (i.e., native, advanced, intermediate, and beginner English speakers). Discrimination between lie- and truth-tellers was poorest when observers judged beginner English speakers compared to interviewees from any other proficiency group. Observers were also less likely to exhibit a truth-bias toward nonnative than native English speakers. These results suggest that interviewing individuals in their nonnative languages can create inequalities in the justice system. (PsycINFO Database Record

Differences in the readiness of guilty and informed innocent examinees to cooperate on the Guilty Action Test.

A mock crime experiment was designed in which 100 participants were randomly assigned to five conditions: four experimental conditions in a 2 × 2 factorial design (two guilt conditions-guilty or informed innocents, crossed with two incentive level conditions-with or without a promised reward for proving innocence), and one control condition of uninformed innocents. Along with the common dependent polygraph measures, attitudes towards cooperating with the test were assessed. Results indicated that the informed innocents preferred to cooperate whereas guilty participants preferred to try and obstruct the test. These tendencies were amplified among participants who were promised a reward. The cooperative choice attenuated electrodermal responses to the critical items. Respiration measures were sensitive to the incentive level manipulation. Implications of the results for future research and for actual detection of information tests were discussed.

Subliminal salience search illustrated: EEG identity and deception detection on the fringe of awareness.

We propose a novel deception detection system based on Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP). One motivation for the new method is to present stimuli on the fringe of awareness, such that it is more difficult for deceivers to confound the deception test using countermeasures. The proposed system is able to detect identity deception (by using the first names of participants) with a 100% hit rate (at an alpha level of 0.05). To achieve this, we extended the classic Event-Related Potential (ERP) techniques (such as peak-to-peak) by applying Randomisation, a form of Monte Carlo resampling, which we used to detect deception at an individual level. In order to make the deployment of the system simple and rapid, we utilised data from three electrodes only: Fz, Cz and Pz. We then combined data from the three electrodes using Fisher's method so that each participant was assigned a single p-value, which represents the combined probability that a specific participant was being deceptive. We also present subliminal salience search as a general method to determine what participants find salient by detecting breakthrough into conscious awareness using EEG.

Credible testimony in and out of court.

Assessing informants' credibility is critical to several aspects of the legal process (e.g., when police interrogate suspects or jurors evaluate witnesses). There is a large body of research--from various areas of psychology and allied fields--about how people evaluate each others' credibility. We review the literature on lie detection and interpersonal perception to demonstrate that inferences regarding credibility may be multiply determined. Specifically, characteristics of the informant, of the listener, and of the situation affect people's perceptions of informants' credibility. We conclude with a discussion of research on calibration (i.e., an informant's confidence-accuracy relation) because it offers fruitful avenues for future credibility research in the legal domain.

The concealed information test as an instrument of applied differential psychophysiology: methodological considerations.

In this interpretative paper, I consider four sets of methodological issues that may be relevant to improving the concealed information test (CIT) as an instrument of applied differential psychophysiology. The first set has to do with psychophysiological measurement in the CIT (e.g., specific sensitivity testing in lab vs. field). Secondly, I consider the relationships between the psychological process of deception and the CIT. Thirdly, I consider the problem of laboratory-to-field generalization of the CIT, a consideration that includes a discussion of whether the lab/field differences are merely quantitative or actually qualitative. Finally, I discuss theories concerning the hypothetical mechanisms underlying the CIT, and argue that while the purely cognitive, Sokolovian, orienting response (OR) account is widely accepted as the sole mechanism, there is evidence to suggest that not just motivational, but even emotional mechanisms are also relevant.