Association-based Concealed Information Test: A Novel Reaction Time-Based Deception Detection Method

In recent years, numerous studies were published on the reaction time (RT)-based Concealed Information Test (CIT). However, an important limitation of the CIT is the reliance on the recognition of the probe item, and therefore the limited applicability when an innocent person is aware of this item. In the present paper, we introduce an RT-based CIT that is based on item-category associations: the Association-based Concealed Information Test (A-CIT). Using the participants' given names as probe items and self-referring “inducer” items (e.g., “MINE” or “ME”) that establish an association between ownership and responses choices, in Experiment 1 (within-subject design; n = 27), this method differentiated with high accuracy between guilty and innocent conditions. Experiment 2 (n = 25) replicated Experiment 1, except that the participants were informed of the probe item in the innocent condition-nonetheless, the accuracy rate remained high. Implications and future possibilities are discussed.