Abstract
The accuracy of the Concealed Information Test in correct classification of informed guilty and informed innocent participants was assessed when the explicitness of the obtained information varied. For these purposes, a mock crime procedure was employed and participants were randomly assigned to six conditions formed by combinations of two levels of the state of guilt (guilty and innocent) and three levels of information completeness (exact, indicative, non-specific). As expected, informed guilty participants were more accurately detected than informed innocents. It was further found that when the gathered information was less explicit, detection efficiency decreased. Theoretical and practical implications of the present results are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bamber, D. (1975). The area under the ordinal dominance graph and the area below the receiver operating characteristic graph. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 12, 378–415.
Ben-Shakhar, G. (1977). A further study of the dichotomization theory in detection of information. Psychophysiology, 14, 408–413.
Ben-Shakhar, G., Bar-Hillel, M., & Kremnizer, M. (2002). Trial by polygraph: Reconsidering the use of the GKT in court. Law and Human Behavior, 26, 527–541.
Ben-Shakhar, G., & Elaad, E. (2002). Effects of questions` repetition and variation on the efficiency of the guilty knowledge test: A reexamination. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 972–977.
Ben-Shakhar, G., & Elaad, E. (2003). The validity of psychophysiological detection of information with the guilty knowledge test: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 131–151.
Ben-Shakhar, G., & Furedy, J. J. (1990). Theories and applications in the detection of deception. New York: Springer.
Ben-Shakhar, G., Gronau, N., & Elaad, E. (1999). Leakage of relevant information to innocent examinees in the GKT: An attempt to reduce false-positive outcomes by introducing target stimuli. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84, 651–660.
Bradley, M. M. (2009). Natural selective attention: Orienting and emotion. Psychophysiology, 46, 1–11.
Bradley, M. T., MacLaren, V. V., & Carle, S. B. (1996). Deception and nondeception in guilty knowledge and guilty action polygraph tests. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 153–160.
Bradley, M. T., & Rettinger, J. (1992). Awareness of crime-relevant information and the guilty knowledge test. Journal of Applied Psychology, 77, 55–59.
Bradley, M. T., & Warfield, J. F. (1984). Innocence, information, and the guilty knowledge test in the detection of deception. Psychophysiology, 21, 683–689.
Cohen, J. E. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Elaad, E. (1990). Detection of guilty knowledge in real-life criminal investigations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75, 521–529.
Elaad, E. (2009). Effects of context and state of guilt on the detection of concealed crime information. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 71, 225–234.
Elaad, E. (2010). Effects of perceived reliability and generalization of crime-related information on detection in the concealed information test. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 75, 295–303.
Elaad, E., & Ben-Shakhar, G. (1989). Effects of motivation and verbal response type on psychophysiological detection of information. Psychophysiology, 26, 442–451.
Elaad, E., & Ben-Shakhar, G. (1997). Effects of item repetitions and variations on the efficiency of the guilty knowledge test. Psychophysiology, 34, 587–596.
Elaad, E., & Ben-Shakhar, G. (2006). Finger pulse waveform length in the detection of concealed information. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 61, 226–234.
Elaad, E., & Ben-Shakhar, G. (2009). Countering countermeasures in the concealed information test using covert respiration measures. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 34, 197–209.
Elaad, E., Ginton, A., & Jungman, N. (1992). Detection measures in real-life criminal guilty knowledge tests. Journal of Applied Psychology, 77, 757–767.
Fukumoto, J. (1980). Psychophysiological detection of deception in Japan: The past and the present. Polygraph, 11, 234–238.
Gamer, M., Verschuere, B., Crombez, G., & Vossel, G. (2008). Combining physiological measures in the detection of concealed information. Physiology & Behavior, 95, 333–340.
Giesen, M., & Rollison, M. A. (1980). Guilty knowledge versus innocent associations: Effects of trait anxiety and stimulus context on skin conductance. Journal of Research in Personality, 14, 1–11.
Konieczny, J. (2007). An attempt to falsify the results of a polygraph test through the implementation of false memory: A case study. European Polygraph, 1, 117–121.
Lykken, D. T. (1959). The GSR in the detection of guilt. Journal of Applied Psychology, 43, 385–388.
Lykken, D. T. (1974). Psychology and the lie detection industry. American Psychologist, 29, 225–239.
Lykken, D. T. (1998). A Tremor in the blood. Uses and abuses of the lie detector (2nd ed.). New York: Plenum Trade.
Nakayama, M. (2002). Practical use of the concealed information test for criminal investigation in Japan. In M. Kleiner (Ed.), Handbook of polygraph testing (pp. 49–86). San Diego: Academic Press.
National Research Council. (2003). The polygraph and lie detection, committee to review the scientific evidence on the polygraph. Washington, DC: Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. The National Academies Press.
Patrick, C. J., & Iacono, W. G. (1989). Psychopathy, threat and polygraph test accuracy. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 347–355.
Podlesny, J. A. (1993). Is the guilty knowledge polygraph technique applicable in criminal investigations? A review of FBI case records. Crime Laboratory Digest, 20, 57–61.
Stern, R. M., Breen, J. P., Watanabe, T., & Perry, B. S. (1981). Effects of feedback of physiological information on responses to innocent association and guilty knowledge. Journal of Applied Psychology, 66, 677–681.
Verschuere, B., Crombez, G., Koster, E. H. W., & De Clercq, A. (2007). Antisociality, underarousal and the validity of the concealed information polygraph test. Biological Psychology, 74, 309–318.
Vossel, G., Gamer, M., Godert, H. W., & Rill, H. G. (2003). The efficiency of detecting concealed information with the guilty knowledge test: A comparison of different physiological variables and non-physiological methods of credibility assessment using signal detection theory. Journal of Psychophysiologt, 17, 184. [Abstract].
Yamamura, T., & Miyata, Y. (1990). Development of the polygraph technique in Japan for detection of deception. Forensic Science International, 44, 257–271.
Zvi L., Nachson, I., & Elaad, E. (2010). Effects of coping and cooperative behavior of guilty and informed innocent participants on the detection of concealed information. Paper presented at the 20th conference of the European association of psychology and law, Gothenburg, Sweden, June 15–18.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by a grant from the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) Grant no. 257/06.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Elaad, E. Effects of Incomplete Information on the Detection of Concealed Crime Details. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 36, 159–171 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-011-9153-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-011-9153-2