The role of motivation to avoid detection in reaction time-based concealed information detection

• RTs allow detecting concealed autobiographical information.
• Motivated liars were not more successful in hiding concealed information.
• Longer RT tests make for a more reliable, and more valid Concealed Information Test.
• Two experiments further validate web-based memory detection as an innovative research platform.

Do motivated liars lie more successfully? The motivational effort hypothesis predicts that higher motivation effectively diminishes the chance of being detected, whereas the motivational impairment hypothesis predicts that the higher the motivation to go undetected, the greater the chance of being detected. We manipulated motivation in two online reaction time-based Concealed Information Test studies in which participants tried to hide their identity. Detection of concealed identity information in Experiment 1 (n = 259) was successful and a small financial incentive to avoid detection did not impact upon validity. Despite a greater financial incentive and a manipulation check showing that motivation was increased, Experiment 2 (n = 233) did not impact upon the test's validity either. A financial incentive to avoid detection did not decrease the validity of concealed information detection.