Novel, ERP-based, concealed information detection: Combining recognition-based and feedback-evoked ERPs

The present study introduced a novel variant of the concealed information test (CIT), called the feedback-CIT. By providing participants with feedbacks regarding their memory concealment performance during the CIT, we investigated the feedback-related neural activity underlying memory concealment. Participants acquired crime-relevant memories via enacting a lab crime, and were tested with the feedback-CIT while EEGs were recorded. We found that probes (e.g., crime-relevant memories) elicited larger recognition-P300s than irrelevants among guilty participants. Moreover, feedback-related negativity (FRN) and feedback-P300 could also discriminate probes from irrelevants among guilty participants. Both recognition- and feedback-ERPs were highly effective in distinguishing between guilty and innocent participants (recognition-P300: AUC = .73; FRN: AUC = .95; feedback-P300: AUC = .97). This study sheds new light on brain-based memory detection, such that feedback-related neural signals can be employed to detect concealed memories.