Using response time measures to assess "guilty knowledge".
How can a suspect's guilt or innocence be reliably tested? The validity of the polygraph, which measures changes in physiological arousal during a "guilty knowledge" test, is controversial (e.g., T. R. Bashore & P. E. Rapp, 1993; T. P. Cross & L. Saxe, 1992; D. T. Lykken, 1998; J. P. Rosenfeld, 1995; R. Steinbrook, 1992). One alternative to the polygraph examines event-related potentials recorded during a memory interference task (L. A. Farwell & E. Donchin, 1991). The present study extended this paradigm to determine whether response times (RTs) can accurately identify participants possessing specific guilty knowledge. Results from Experiment 1 showed that RT alone can reliably discriminate "guilty" from "innocent" participants. Experiments 2a and 2b indicated that an RT-based paradigm is more resistant to strategic manipulation than previously suggested (Farwell & Donchin, 1991). This RT-based paradigm may be a viable alternative to the polygraph for detecting guilty knowledge.
Seymour
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Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109-1109, USA. nogard@umich.edu
Seifert
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CM
Shafto
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MG
Mosmann
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AL
D000328:Adult; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D019359:Knowledge; D008014:Lie Detection; D008568:Memory; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014342:Truth Disclosure