Gerhard Vossel

Gerhard Vossel was a researcher affiliated with the Department of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Research Group Forensic Psychophysiology, at Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany. His work during the 2000s and early 2010s focused on psychophysiological methods of deception detection, particularly the Concealed Information Test (CIT), also known as the Guilty Knowledge Test (GKT). He collaborated extensively with colleagues at Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, forming a productive research team that examined physiological correlates of concealed information.

Vossel's research contributions centered on validating and refining psychophysiological measures for detecting concealed knowledge. His 2006 study examining the Guilty Actions Test (GAT) found that electrodermal, respiratory, and cardiovascular measures successfully differentiated guilty from innocent participants, with a logistic regression model achieving hit rates above 90%. His 2007 fMRI study transferred a GKT paradigm to functional magnetic resonance imaging while additionally quantifying reaction times and skin conductance responses, aiming to identify neural correlates of behavioral and electrodermal response patterns. His 2012 work demonstrated that emotional arousal modulates the encoding of crime-related details and corresponding physiological responses in the Concealed Information Test.

Vossel was a key collaborator in the Mainz research group, working closely with Matthias Gamer (who later moved to University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf), as well as Hans-Georg Rill, Heinz Werner Gödert, and Juliane Peth. His research on combining physiological measures analyzed data from 7 different samples covering 275 guilty and 53 innocent examinees, revealing that skin conductance response (SCR) had significantly higher validity than heart rate and respiration line length. This body of work established important methodological foundations for applying the CIT in forensic contexts.

Beyond polygraph research, Vossel's expertise extended to broader psychophysiological processes including electrodermal activity, differentiation of deception paradigms, and the integration of neuroimaging with autonomic measures. His work bridged laboratory analog studies with theoretical frameworks from cognitive psychology and neuroscience, contributing to the scientific understanding of memory detection and the physiological markers that distinguish truthful from deceptive responses in forensic settings.