Accuracy of Concealed Information Test as a Memory Detection Technique: A Laboratory Study

Abstract

Currently, polygraph examinations in Japan use the concealed information test (CIT) to determine whether a suspect knows speciˆc details of a crime. The present study examined the accuracy of the CIT as a memory detection technique in a mocktheft experiment. Participants were randomly assigned to either an encoding or nonencoding group. An expert polygrapher who was not informed of the group assignments, conducted a CIT that consisted of two questions. One inquired about a card number chosen by the participant, and the other regarded an item that had been stolen. Analyses focused on the second question. Roughly 20 of cases were judged inconclusive while sensitivity and speciˆcity for the remaining cases were 86 and 95 , respectively. Analysis was repeated using modiˆed Lykken scoring, and rates of inconclusive cases, sensitivity, and speciˆcity by this method were 25, 83, and 91, respectively.

Broadening the Use of the Concealed Information Test in the Field

“…Osugi (10) explained this judgment process as follows: the examiner ascertains whether the examinee showed differential responses based on the charts, the difference between the mean responses to crime-relevant and irrelevant items, and the consistency of the response differences across repetitions. It has been repeatedly confirmed that the discrimination performance of this judgment is sufficiently high (21–23). The latest study was conducted by Ogawa et al (23), where 36 Japanese polygraphers blindly judged experimental CIT data from 152 examinees by visual inspection.…”

“…It has been repeatedly confirmed that the discrimination performance of this judgment is sufficiently high (21–23). The latest study was conducted by Ogawa et al (23), where 36 Japanese polygraphers blindly judged experimental CIT data from 152 examinees by visual inspection. Eighty examinees performed a mock crime before the CIT, while 72 examinees did nothing.…”

“…Matsuda et al (29) assessed the performance of d and p -values using the dataset of Ogawa et al (23). The dataset consists of experimental CIT data from 152 examinees.…”

“…In this section, we show reference information for deciding thresholds in the case where the crime-relevant item is designated in advance and the case where it is unknown. We use the same dataset used by Ogawa et al (23) described in section Performance of d and p : 80 recognizing and 72 unrecognizing examinees received the CIT with five items, which was presented five times.…”

Using pretest data to screen low‐reactivity individuals in the autonomic‐based concealed information test

“…We ran secondary analyses on the data from participants in the Ogawa, Matsuda, and Tsuneoka (2013) study. There was a total of 152 participants (81 men and 71 women, 18-59 years old, M = 36.6, SD = 11.0), who all worked in police organizations.…”