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ID ‐Check: Online Concealed Information Test Reveals True Identity
Author(s) -
Verschuere Bruno,
Kleinberg Bennett
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.12960
Subject(s) - identity (music) , test (biology) , identity theft , psychology , internet privacy , personally identifiable information , affect (linguistics) , the internet , social psychology , online identity , memory test , lie detection , computer science , computer security , world wide web , communication , psychiatry , art , paleontology , cognition , biology , deception , aesthetics
The Internet has already changed people's lives considerably and is likely to drastically change forensic research. We developed a web‐based test to reveal concealed autobiographical information. Initial studies identified a number of conditions that affect diagnostic efficiency. By combining these moderators, this study investigated the full potential of the online ID ‐check. Participants ( n = 101) tried to hide their identity and claimed a false identity in a reaction time‐based Concealed Information Test. Half of the participants were presented with personal details (e.g., first name, last name, birthday), whereas the others only saw irrelevant details. Results showed that participants′ true identity could be detected with high accuracy ( AUC = 0.98; overall accuracy: 86–94%). Online memory detection can reliably and validly detect whether someone is hiding their true identity. This suggests that online memory detection might become a valuable tool for forensic applications.