It’s a match!? Appropriate item selection in the Concealed Information Test
Abstract Background While the Concealed Information Test (CIT) can determine whether examinees recognize critical details, it does not clarify the origin of the memory. Hence, when unknowledgeable suspects are contaminated with crime information through media channels or investigative interviews, th...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2019-04-01
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| Series: | Cognitive Research |
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| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41235-019-0161-8 |
| _version_ | 1811223976586772480 |
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| author | Linda Marjoleine Geven Gershon Ben-Shakhar Merel Kindt Bruno Verschuere |
| author_facet | Linda Marjoleine Geven Gershon Ben-Shakhar Merel Kindt Bruno Verschuere |
| author_sort | Linda Marjoleine Geven |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background While the Concealed Information Test (CIT) can determine whether examinees recognize critical details, it does not clarify the origin of the memory. Hence, when unknowledgeable suspects are contaminated with crime information through media channels or investigative interviews, the validity of the CIT can be compromised (i.e. false-positive outcomes). Yet, when the information was disclosed solely at the category level (e.g. the perpetrator escaped in a car), presenting specific items at the exemplar level (e.g. Citroën, Opel, or Volkswagen) might preclude this problem. However, diminished recollection for exemplar-level details could attenuate the CIT effect for knowledgeable suspects, thereby leading to false negatives. The appropriate item level for memory detection to reach an optimal balance between sensitivity and specificity remains elusive. As encoding, retention, and retrieval of information may influence memory performance and thereby memory detection, the current study investigated the validity of the CIT on both categorical and exemplar levels. Results Participants planned a mock robbery (n = 165), with information encoded at the category (e.g. car) or exemplar (e.g. Citroën) level. They were tested immediately or after a one-week-delay, with a response time-based CIT consisting of questions at the categorical or exemplar level. An interaction was found between encoding and testing, such that CIT validity based on reaction time was higher for “matching” (e.g. exemplar-exemplar) than for “mismatching” (e.g. exemplar-categorical) items, while immediate versus one week delayed testing did not affect the outcome. Conclusion Critically, this indicates that what constitutes a good CIT item depends on the way the information was encoded. This provides a challenge for CIT examiners when selecting appropriate items. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T08:41:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2466aa0c5b2e43888ce005cef8639260 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2365-7464 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T08:41:26Z |
| publishDate | 2019-04-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cognitive Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-2466aa0c5b2e43888ce005cef86392602022-12-22T03:39:51ZengSpringerOpenCognitive Research2365-74642019-04-014111110.1186/s41235-019-0161-8It’s a match!? Appropriate item selection in the Concealed Information TestLinda Marjoleine Geven0Gershon Ben-Shakhar1Merel Kindt2Bruno Verschuere3Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Department of Clinical Psychology, University of AmsterdamDepartment of Psychology, Hebrew University of JerusalemFaculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Department of Clinical Psychology, University of AmsterdamFaculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Department of Clinical Psychology, University of AmsterdamAbstract Background While the Concealed Information Test (CIT) can determine whether examinees recognize critical details, it does not clarify the origin of the memory. Hence, when unknowledgeable suspects are contaminated with crime information through media channels or investigative interviews, the validity of the CIT can be compromised (i.e. false-positive outcomes). Yet, when the information was disclosed solely at the category level (e.g. the perpetrator escaped in a car), presenting specific items at the exemplar level (e.g. Citroën, Opel, or Volkswagen) might preclude this problem. However, diminished recollection for exemplar-level details could attenuate the CIT effect for knowledgeable suspects, thereby leading to false negatives. The appropriate item level for memory detection to reach an optimal balance between sensitivity and specificity remains elusive. As encoding, retention, and retrieval of information may influence memory performance and thereby memory detection, the current study investigated the validity of the CIT on both categorical and exemplar levels. Results Participants planned a mock robbery (n = 165), with information encoded at the category (e.g. car) or exemplar (e.g. Citroën) level. They were tested immediately or after a one-week-delay, with a response time-based CIT consisting of questions at the categorical or exemplar level. An interaction was found between encoding and testing, such that CIT validity based on reaction time was higher for “matching” (e.g. exemplar-exemplar) than for “mismatching” (e.g. exemplar-categorical) items, while immediate versus one week delayed testing did not affect the outcome. Conclusion Critically, this indicates that what constitutes a good CIT item depends on the way the information was encoded. This provides a challenge for CIT examiners when selecting appropriate items.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41235-019-0161-8Memory detectionDeceptionExternal validityLeakageDiagnosticity |
| spellingShingle | Linda Marjoleine Geven Gershon Ben-Shakhar Merel Kindt Bruno Verschuere It’s a match!? Appropriate item selection in the Concealed Information Test Cognitive Research Memory detection Deception External validity Leakage Diagnosticity |
| title | It’s a match!? Appropriate item selection in the Concealed Information Test |
| title_full | It’s a match!? Appropriate item selection in the Concealed Information Test |
| title_fullStr | It’s a match!? Appropriate item selection in the Concealed Information Test |
| title_full_unstemmed | It’s a match!? Appropriate item selection in the Concealed Information Test |
| title_short | It’s a match!? Appropriate item selection in the Concealed Information Test |
| title_sort | it s a match appropriate item selection in the concealed information test |
| topic | Memory detection Deception External validity Leakage Diagnosticity |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41235-019-0161-8 |
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