Using response time measures to assess "guilty knowledge"

Citation
Tl. Seymour et al., Using response time measures to assess "guilty knowledge", J APPL PSYC, 85(1), 2000, pp. 30-37
Citations number
28
Categorie Soggetti
Psycology
Journal title
JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
ISSN journal
00219010 → ACNP
Volume
85
Issue
1
Year of publication
2000
Pages
30 - 37
Database
ISI
SICI code
0021-9010(200002)85:1<30:URTMTA>2.0.ZU;2-Y
Abstract
How fan a suspect's guilt or innocence be reliably tested? The validity of the the polygraph, which measures changes in physiological arousal during a "guilty knowledge"' test, is controversial (e.g., T. R. Bashore & P. E. Ra pp, 1993; T. P. Cross & L. Saxe, 1992; D. T. Lykken, 1998; J. P. Rosenfeld, 1995: R, Steinbrook, 1992). One alternative to the polygraph examines even t-related potentials recorded during a memory interference task (L. A. Farw ell & E. Donchin, 1991). The present study extended this paradigm to determ ine whether response times (RTs) can accurately identify participants posse ssing specific guilty knowledge. Results from Experiment 1 showed that RT a lone can reliably discriminate "guilty" from "innocent" participants. Exper iments 2a and 2b indicated that an RT-based paradigm is more resistant to s trategic manipulation than previously suggested (Farwell & Donchin, 1991). This RT-based paradigm may be a viable alternative to the polygraph for det ecting guilty knowledge.