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Combining skin conductance and forced choice in the detection of concealed information
Author(s) -
Meijer Ewout H.,
Smulders Fren T. Y.,
Johnston James E.,
Merckelbach Harald L.G. J.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2007.00543.x
Subject(s) - polygraph , malingering , psychology , skin conductance , two alternative forced choice , test (biology) , set (abstract data type) , sensitivity (control systems) , lie detection , social psychology , amnesia , measure (data warehouse) , cognitive psychology , audiology , clinical psychology , deception , data mining , computer science , medicine , paleontology , electronic engineering , biomedical engineering , biology , programming language , engineering
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.