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Journal file
Psychophysiology
125 peer-reviewed polygraph studies · 1965–2024
Authors in Psychophysiology [177]
Research topics
All studies [125]
Every peer-reviewed study from Psychophysiology in our database, ordered newest first.
Psychology and the Lie Detector Industry: A Fifty-Year Perspective
Comprehensive 50-year retrospective on polygraph science since Lykken (1974). Reviews the evolution of CQT, CIT, and screening tests. Notes that…
Combining recognition, conflict‐monitoring and feedback‐related ERPs to detect concealed autobiographical information
Three ERP indicators (N200, recognition P300, and feedback P300) significantly discriminated guilty from innocent participants, with combined classification achieving AUC…
The concealed information test with a continuously moving stimulus
The continuous-stimulus CIT successfully detected concealed location knowledge with large effect sizes for both skin conductance (d = 0.71-0.77) and…
Concealed identity information detection with pupillometry in rapid serial visual presentation
Pupillometry during RSVP successfully detected concealed identity information at the group level in both an initial and preregistered replication study,…
A new theoretical perspective on concealed information detection
The voluntary orienting response to significant, expected stimuli modulates CIT effects, and different physiological measures reflect distinct mechanisms: skin conductance…
Detecting concealed information using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) combined with skin conductance, heart rate, and behavioral measures
The combination of fNIRS, reaction time, skin conductance, and heart rate achieved an area under the ROC curve of 0.94,…
Countering information leakage in the Concealed Information Test: The effects of item detailedness
The study tested whether item detailedness could counter information leakage effects in the CIT, investigating if more specific questions preserve…
Deleterious effects of probe‐related versus irrelevant targets on the “CIT effect” in the P300‐ and RT‐based three‐stimulus protocol for detection of concealed information
Probe-related targets that shared contextual features with the crime significantly reduced both P300 and reaction time-based discrimination accuracy compared to…
Inferior detection of information from collaborative versus individual crimes based on a P300 Concealed Information Test
Collaborative crime perpetrators showed significantly reduced P300 probe-irrelevant differences compared to individual criminals, resulting in near-chance discrimination from innocent participants…
Unraveling the roles of orienting and inhibition in the Concealed Information Test
Skin conductance responses increased similarly in both conceal and reveal conditions, while respiratory line length shortened and heart rate decelerated…
P300 amplitude at Pz and N200/N300 latency at F3 differ between participants simulating suspect versus witness roles in a mock crime: P300 and N200/N300 in a CIT
Suspects showed significantly larger P300 amplitudes at Pz and delayed N200/N300 latency at F3 compared to witnesses, indicating distinct neural…
The Pinocchio effect and the Cold Stress Test: Lies and thermography
The study achieved 85% accuracy in lie detection with 25% false alarms, with lying producing decreased nose and hand temperatures…
P300 amplitude at Pz and N200/N300 latency at F3 differ between participants simulating suspect versus witness roles in a mock crime
Suspects showed significantly larger P300 effects at Pz and delayed N200/N300 latencies at F3 compared to witnesses, with only the…
Deception detection with behavioral, autonomic, and neural measures: conceptual and methodological considerations that warrant modesty
The review identified significant conceptual clarity issues and methodological problems across deception detection paradigms, particularly challenging the oversold promises of…
Influence of countermeasures on the validity of the Concealed Information Test
Electrodermal responses showed significant degradation under countermeasures (particularly physical countermeasures), while combined autonomic scoring and ocular measures (fixations, blinks) maintained…
Temperature effects on polygraph detection of concealed information
Among guilty participants, electrodermal and cardiovascular measures were least effective at 10°C, with electrodermal results optimal at 22°C and cardiovascular…
Using pretest data to screen low-reactivity individuals in the autonomic-based concealed information test
Pretest screening significantly improved the diagnostic value of the mock-crime CIT, though it led to a substantial number of undiagnosed…
A novel dual probe complex trial protocol for detection of concealed information
The Dual Probe Complex Trial Protocol achieved 94.7% accuracy (bootstrap criterion .9) and AUC of .92, successfully detecting concealed information…
Thermal infrared imaging in psychophysiology: Potentialities and limits
Thermal imaging showed extremely high correlations with traditional measures (r = 0.968 with finger GSR, r = 0.943 with perinasal…
Identifying concealment-related responses in the concealed information test
N2, P3, heart rate, skin conductance, and cutaneous blood flow reflected recognition in both concealed and disclosed conditions, while late…
Increasing Irrelevant Stimuli Increases Ability to Detect Countermeasures
Found that increasing the number of irrelevant stimuli in P300-based CIT improved the ability to detect countermeasure use. Advanced the…
Increasing the number of irrelevant stimuli increases ability to detect countermeasures to the P300-based complex trial protocol for concealed information detection
Increasing irrelevant stimuli from four to eight restored reaction time as an effective countermeasure detector in 50% and 75% countermeasure…
Emotional arousal modulates the encoding of crime-related details and corresponding physiological responses in the Concealed Information Test
Emotional arousal during crime encoding modulates both the retention of crime-related details and the corresponding physiological responses measured by the…
A mock terrorism application of the P300-based concealed information test
With prior knowledge of probe items, the study detected 12/12 guilty subjects with 0% false positives. Using a searching CIT…
Mock crime application of the complex-trial protocol (CTP) P300-based Concealed Information Test
Overall 92% correct classification rate across all conditions (guilty, innocent, countermeasure groups). The CTP demonstrated high sensitivity (87% overall) and…
P300-Based Brain-Computer Interface Deception Detection
Development and validation of the Complex Trial Protocol (CTP) for P300-based concealed information detection. Demonstrated large effect sizes (d* =…
Mock crime application of the Complex Trial Protocol (CTP) P300-based concealed information test
Overall classification accuracy reached 92% across all participant groups, with all 12 countermeasure users correctly identified and reaction times serving…
New P300-based protocol to detect concealed information: resistance to mental countermeasures against only half the irrelevant stimuli and a possible ERP indicator of countermeasures
The Complex Trial Protocol achieved 100% detection accuracy in both simple guilty and countermeasure groups when comparing probe versus all…
Countermeasure mechanisms in a P300-based concealed information test
The study found a greater P300 amplitude to probes in the guilty omit probe condition compared with the guilty no…
Psychophysiological and Behavioral Measures for Detecting Concealed Information: The Role of Memory for Crime Details
Examined how memory strength affects CIT detection accuracy. Found that central crime details produced stronger physiological responses than peripheral details,…
New P300-based protocol to detect concealed information: resistance to mental countermeasures
The Complex Trial Protocol successfully resisted mental countermeasures applied to half the irrelevant stimuli, maintaining detection accuracy where traditional P300…
The Application of Subliminal Priming in Lie Detection: Scenario for Identification of Members of a Terrorist Ring
Novel application combining subliminal priming with P300 CIT for counterterrorism screening scenarios. Demonstrated potential for detecting concealed associations without overt…
Within-individual discrimination on the concealed information test using dynamic mixture modeling
The hidden Markov discrimination method showed superior performance compared to conventional within-individual scoring approaches in a mock theft experiment with…
Detection of Deception About Multiple Concealed Mock Crime Items Based on Spatial-Temporal Analysis of ERP Amplitude
Extended P300 CIT methods to detect multiple concealed items simultaneously. Achieved detection rates above 80% using spatial-temporal ERP analysis across…
The Role of Psychophysiology in Forensic Assessments: Deception Detection, ERPs, and Virtual Reality Mock Crime Scenarios
Introduced virtual reality mock crimes to increase ecological validity. Found enhanced realism improved physiological differentiation between guilty and innocent participants…
The complex-trial protocol (CTP): A new, countermeasure-resistant, accurate P300-based method for detection of concealed information
The CTP maintained hit rates greater than 90% across all conditions including active countermeasure use, with false positive rates of…
Influence of cognitive control and mismatch on the N2 component of the ERP: A review
The anterior N2 should be divided into at least two subcomponents: one reflecting detection of novelty or perceptual mismatch, and…
The pupil as a measure of emotional arousal and autonomic activation
Pupillary changes were significantly larger when viewing emotionally arousing pictures (both pleasant and unpleasant) compared to neutral pictures, regardless of…
Development of a Countermeasure-Resistant P300-Based Concealed Information Test
Introduced the Complex Trial Protocol (CTP) specifically designed to resist countermeasures that defeated earlier P300 methods. Achieved high accuracy even…
The Complex Trial Protocol (CTP): a new, countermeasure-resistant, accurate, P300-based method for detection of concealed information
Detection accuracy exceeded 90% across all conditions including active countermeasure use, and a novel dual-channel detection system using both P300…
P300 and the Human Brain: Evoked Potentials in Clinical and Basic Research
The review establishes a dual-component neuropsychological model with distinct neural generators and neurotransmitter systems for P3a (frontal/dopaminergic) and P3b (parietal/norepinephrine),…
The Effects of Motivation on the Detection of Deception in CQT
Examined how participant motivation levels affect CQT accuracy. Found higher motivation produced larger physiological differences between truth and deception, supporting…
Psychopathic traits and autonomic responding to concealed information in a prison sample
Prisoners scoring high on the Impulsive Antisociality factor (PPI-II) of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory exhibited reduced electrodermal responding to concealed…
The role of psychophysiology in clinical assessment: ERPs in the evaluation of memory
ERP-based memory assessment using P300 can support statistically reliable individual-level memory determinations via bootstrapping and Bayesian methods; application to DID…
Detecting Deception with Implicit Behavioral Measures
Explored implicit measures (reaction times, IAT) as supplements to physiological deception detection. Found promising but modest detection rates, suggesting potential…
A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis of CIT Research Using MacLaren’s Data
Laboratory research meta-analysis on the Concealed Information Test / Guilty Knowledge Test, providing data later incorporated into the APA 2011…
Pz-recorded P300 is highly accurate and sensitive to a memorial manipulation in an objective laboratory Guilty Knowledge Test
Pz-recorded P300 amplitudes remained highly accurate and sensitive indicators of guilty knowledge even one month after the mock crime, while…
Differentiation of deception using pupillary responses as an index of cognitive processing
Task-evoked pupil dilation was significantly greater when participants confabulated responses compared to truthful responses for both episodic and semantic memory…
Orienting Response Reinstatement and Dishabituation: The Effects of Substituting, Adding and Deleting Components of Nonsignificant Stimuli
Component substitution systematically affected OR reinstatement, with between-category substitutions producing larger responses than within-category changes. Adding and deleting components had…
Measuring facial expressions by computer image analysis
The automated hybrid system achieved 91% accuracy in recognizing six upper facial Action Units, outperformed non-expert humans, matched expert-level performance,…
The Role of Comparison Questions in Physiological Detection of Deception
Mock crime study with 120 participants examining comparison question mechanisms. Found comparison questions produced different physiological patterns for innocent vs.…
A comparison of methods for the analysis of event-related potentials in deception detection
All three ERP analysis methods achieved extremely high classification accuracy under ROC evaluation, and the bootstrapping procedure's apparent sensitivity to…
Effects of items' repetitions and variations on the efficiency of the guilty knowledge test
Similar detection efficiencies were obtained when a single question was repeated 12 times versus when four different questions were each…
Mental and Physical Countermeasures Reduce the Accuracy of the Concealed Knowledge Test
Investigated whether countermeasures can defeat the CIT. Found that both mental and physical countermeasures reduced detection accuracy. However, the CIT…
Effects of Biofeedback Training on Polygraph Outcomes
Tested whether biofeedback training in physiological self-regulation could enable subjects to defeat polygraph. Found modest effects, primarily on cardiovascular measures.
Is an apple a fruit? Semantic relatedness as reflected by psychophysiological responsivity
Semantic generalization varied by relationship type: no generalization occurred across coordinate terms (apple/pear), but moderate generalization appeared for superordinates and…
Generalization of the orienting response to significant stimuli: The roles of common and distinctive stimulus components
Both common and distinctive features independently affected OR generalization, with distinctive components showing a threshold effect—the first novel element produced…
The Identification of Concealed Memories Using Event-Related Potentials and Implicit Behavioral Measures
Reported 90% and above hit rate in detecting concealed thought using P300-based methods. Combined ERP and behavioral measures for improved…
Neural network classifiers and the detection of deception revisited: Depth of learning and overfitting
Neural network classifiers applied to polygraph data were found to be highly susceptible to overfitting, with deeper training producing inflated…
The effect of common versus distinctive stimulus features on electrodermal orientation to significant stimuli
Distinctive features significantly affected electrodermal responsivity (more distinctive features = decreased responding), but common features had no effect—contradicting additive feature-matching…
The Truth Will Out: Interrogative Polygraphy with Event-Related Brain Potentials
Foundational study establishing the P300 “brain fingerprinting” paradigm. Demonstrated that concealed information could be detected using ERP measures with high…
The roles of deception, intention to deceive, and motivation to avoid detection in the psychophysiological detection of guilty knowledge
Deceptive 'no' answers increased skin conductance differentiation, but better-than-chance detection occurred even with truthful answers or silence. Motivation to avoid…
An ERP-based, control-question lie detector analog: Algorithms for discriminating effects within individuals' average waveforms
Experiment 1 achieved 92.3% accuracy for guilty subjects and 86.7% for innocent subjects. However, a 7-14 day delay without additional…
The truth will out: interrogative polygraphy ('lie detection') with event-related brain potentials
The P300-based Guilty Knowledge Test achieved 100% accuracy in determinate cases (87.5% overall), with no false positives or negatives, though…
A comparison of field and laboratory polygraphs in the detection of deception
Overall hit rates were essentially the same for laboratory polygraph quantitative measures (73%) and field polygraph numerical scores (79%), with…
Effects of motivation level and verbal response type on psychophysiological detection in the guilty knowledge test
Highly motivated subjects were detected significantly better than less motivated subjects, and the act of lying enhanced differential responsivity. However,…
Patterns of Activation and Deception
Examined physiological activation patterns during deceptive vs. truthful responding. Found distinct activation patterns across respiratory, cardiovascular, and electrodermal channels that…
Machiavellianism and CIT Accuracy
Found that subjects high in Machiavellianism showed different response patterns during CIT. Demonstrated that personality characteristics can influence detection accuracy,…
Directed Lie Comparison Questions in Polygraph Testing
Laboratory comparison of directed lie vs. probable lie formats. Found DLC produced fewer false positives while maintaining detection of deception,…
Comparison of P300 from a passive tone sequence paradigm and an active discrimination task
The passive tone sequence paradigm yielded P3 waveforms with central-parietal maximum scalp distributions and virtually identical peak latencies to active…
Psychopathy and Polygraph Detection of Deception in a Prison Population
Tested 48 inmates (half high psychopathy). Overall 88% accurate, 4% wrong, 8% inconclusive. No significant differences between psychopaths and nonpsychopaths,…
The Use of Countermeasures: Categorical Decisions Based on Three Interpretations
Early countermeasure study showing that physical countermeasures could be trained in laboratory settings. Provided the first systematic data on countermeasure…
Standardization Within Individuals: A Simple Method to Neutralize Individual Differences in Skin Conductance
Within-subject standardization (z-scores) consistently produced superior discrimination between relevant and neutral stimuli compared to range correction methods across all five…
Innocence, information, and the guilty knowledge test in the detection of deception
Guilty subjects showed significantly higher detection scores than all innocent groups. Informed innocent subjects generally did not differ from uninformed…
Alcohol and the psychophysiological detection of deception
Alcohol intoxication during the mock crime (encoding phase) significantly reduced detection accuracy on both Control Question Test and Guilty Knowledge…
Detection of deception: Effectiveness of physical countermeasures under high motivation conditions
With enhanced training, countermeasure subjects produced 47% false negative outcomes compared to 0% for guilty controls, demonstrating that simple physical…
Cross-validation of a computerized diagnostic procedure for detection of deception
Computerized discriminant analysis achieved accuracy rates equivalent to experienced human evaluators in classifying guilty and innocent subjects, with successful cross-validation…
The dichotimization theory for differential autonomic responsivity reconsidered
The reconsidered theory established that stimulus significance is more potent than novelty alone in producing differential electrodermal responses, and that…
The dichotomization theory for differential autonomic responsivity reconsidered
The revised Dichotomization Theory demonstrated that stimulus significance and novelty have additive effects on electrodermal orienting responses in the CIT…
Interactive effects of stimulus probability and significance on the skin conductance response
A significant interaction between stimulus significance and relative frequency was identified, whereby the skin conductance response advantage for low-probability stimuli…
The effects of multiple physical countermeasures on the detection of deception
Enhanced countermeasure training enabled 47% of guilty subjects to produce false negative outcomes by augmenting physiological responses to control questions,…
Surprise!? Surprise?
P300 amplitude is controlled multiplicatively by subjective probability and task relevance of events, while latency depends on stimulus evaluation duration.…
Accuracy demonstrations, threat, and the detection of deception: Cardiovascular, electrodermal, and pupillary measures
Detection accuracy on the Control Question Test increased systematically with demonstrated polygraph effectiveness (dose-response relationship), while the Concealed Information Test…
Physiological detection of deception: Measurement of responses to questions and answers during countermeasure maneuvers
Professional actors' mental countermeasures proved completely ineffective, with 100% of guilty subjects correctly detected and no false negatives. However, innocent…
Electrodermal Lability and Concealed Information Detection
Found that electrodermally labile subjects were more frequently detected in CIT tasks, while electrodermally stabile subjects were less detectable. Individual…
Trait Anxiety and Skin Conductance in CIT
Found that high trait anxiety “guilty” subjects responded more strongly in mock-crime CIT than low-anxiety subjects. Demonstrated that personality variables…
Psychological stress evaluator--two tests of a vocal measure
The PSE completely failed to detect deception in a guilty knowledge paradigm (chance-level accuracy) but successfully measured graded cognitive stress…
Validity of CQT in Laboratory Mock Crime Study
One of the Utah group’s foundational mock crime experiments with 72 volunteers. Established the Federal Zone of Comparison technique validity…
The orienting reflex: Novelty or significance detector?
O'Gorman concluded that the evidence used to support the significance hypothesis could be explained within traditional novelty-based theory when individual…
The time constant in P300 recording
Short time constant settings distort P300 waveforms by creating artifactual negative components; optimal P300 recording requires time constants of approximately…
A direct comparison method of the skin conductance and skin resistance methods
Skin conductance and skin resistance methods produced equivalent results for amplitude, area, reliability, and behavioral validity, but skin conductance yielded…
CQT Mock Crime Laboratory Study
One of the earliest CQT mock crime studies from the Utah group. 72 student volunteers randomly assigned to guilty/innocent conditions…
Effects of information and practice on detection of deception
Detection accuracy remained robust across all experimental conditions, with detailed information about the CQT and practice having minimal impact on…
Effects of Level of Socialization on Electrodermal Detection of Deception
Deceptive subjects who evaded polygraph detection scored significantly lower on the CPI Socialization scale (r = .45, p < .05),…
The Psychopath and the Lie Detector
Lykken concluded that Raskin and Hare's mock crime experiment lacked the real-world motivational stakes necessary to genuinely test the CQT's…
Psychopathy and detection of deception in a prison population
100% of guilty subjects (both psychopaths and nonpsychopaths) were correctly identified using the CQT, with 91% accuracy for innocent subjects.…
Electrolyte medium effects on measurements of palmar skin potential
The study replicated large effects of epidermal hydration on skin potential measurements. Agar and Unibase did not differ significantly from…
Multivariate Statistical Analysis of Polygraph Variables
Applied multivariate statistics to polygraph data analysis. Demonstrated that combining multiple physiological channels provided superior discrimination compared to any single…
A further study of the dichotomization theory in detection of information
The study confirmed that critical items elicit larger responses when presented less frequently, and demonstrated 'negative detection' when neutral items…
An Evaluation of Field Techniques in Detection of Deception
The study achieved 81% correct classification excluding inconclusives. Electrodermal (skin resistance) measures proved most discriminating, followed by cardiovascular and respiration.…
Detection of Information and GSR Habituation: An Attempt to Derive Detection Efficiency From Two Habituation Curves
Relevant and neutral stimuli exhibited structurally similar but independently progressing GSR habituation curves, and predictions derived from these two curves…
Psychophysiological baselines as a function of race and ethnic origin
Psychophysiological resting baselines, particularly electrodermal (GSR) and pulse measures, varied significantly across racial and ethnic groups, demonstrating that baseline physiological…
The Diagnosis of Love‐Sickness: Experimental Psychophysiology Without the Polygraph
Ancient physicians successfully detected concealed emotions using pulse monitoring in ways remarkably similar to modern Concealed Information Test logic, establishing…
The objective use of multiple physiological indices in the detection of deception
All nine physiological variables were statistically significant indicators of deception (p < .01 or p < .05), and a combined…
Electrodermal recovery rate, goal orientation, and aversion
Fast electrodermal recovery rates were systematically associated with goal-oriented behavior and sustained task engagement, while slower recovery characterized aversive or…
Manipulation of contrast between differential GSRs in very young children
Very young children demonstrated differential GSR reactivity to significant versus neutral stimuli, and the magnitude of this contrast could be…
The information content of the recovery limb of the electrodermal response
Recovery rate successfully differentiated spontaneous responses during rest versus tasks, orienting responses versus responses to signals, and alerting versus execution…
Efficiency of GSR detection of information as a function of stimulus set size
Detection scores did not significantly decline as stimulus set size increased, and Signal Detection analysis suggested enhanced autonomic discrimination with…
Manipulation of contrast between differential GSR responses through the use of ordered tasks of information detection
Sequential ordering of information detection tasks significantly modulates the contrast between differential GSR responses to relevant and neutral stimuli, demonstrating…
A comparison of physiological indices in detection of deception
GSR and SPR were the only measures to consistently and significantly discriminate deception above chance, and were significantly superior to…
The Role of 'Lying' in Psychophysiological Detection
Detection of the concealed item succeeded at well above-chance accuracy even when subjects were truthful on the critical trial and…
AN INSTRUMENT FOR PRODUCING ACCUMULATIVE TRACINGS ON POLYGRAPH RECORDERS
The instrument provided freedom from electrical and acoustical noise, variable step height adjustment, and bidirectional recording capability, representing an advancement…
The effects of verbal responses on the laboratory detection of deception
Subjects instructed to say 'no' to each question were most frequently detected via GSR, while those required to produce word…
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