title: Combining skin conductance and forced choice in the detection of concealed information.
abstract: An advantage of the concealed information polygraph test (CIT) is that its false positive rate is determined on statistical grounds, and can be set a priori at arbitrary low levels (i.e., few innocents declared guilty). This criterion, however, inevitably leads to a loss of sensitivity (i.e., more guilty suspects declared innocent). We explored whether the sensitivity of a CIT procedure could be increased by adding an independent measure that is based on an entirely different psychological mechanism. In two experiments, we explored whether the accuracy of a CIT procedure could be increased by adding Symptom Validity Testing (SVT), a relatively simple, forced-choice, self-report procedure that has previously been used to detect malingering in various contexts. Results of a feigned amnesia experiment but not from a mock crime experiment showed that a combination measure of both tests yielded better detection than either test alone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. eh.meijer@psychology.unimaas.nl
authors.forename: Ewout H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Meijer
authors.forename: Fren T Y
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: Smulders
authors.forename: James E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.forename: Harald L G J
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Merckelbach
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000647:Amnesia / Q000523:psychology; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008014:Lie Detection / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D010556:Personality Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results