Strategic Interviewing to Detect Deception: Cues to Deception across Repeated Interviews

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Forensic Science
• Criminology

Background:

• Previous deception research indicates liars maintain consistency in repeated interviews via a "repeat strategy."
• Detecting deception in repeated interviews remains challenging due to liars' ability to feign consistency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and evaluate an interview procedure that effectively overcomes the "repeat strategy" used by liars.
• To improve the accuracy of deception detection in repeated interviews.

Main Methods:

• Participants (innocent and guilty) were interviewed about fabricated alibis, with the interview repeated after one week without warning.
• Cognitive load was increased by requiring quick responses to central and peripheral questions.
• Deception detection accuracy was assessed using logistic regression analysis.

Main Results:

• Liars provided significantly less accurate, less consistent, and more evasive answers compared to truth-tellers.
• Classification rates for deception detection reached over 90% using improved consistency measures and response accuracy.
• The developed interview procedure significantly outperformed human interviewers' accuracy (54%).

Conclusions:

• The novel interview procedure effectively mitigates the "repeat strategy," enhancing deception detection in repeated interviews.
• Analyzing response accuracy and evasiveness provides a robust method for identifying liars.
• This research offers a promising tool for improving accuracy in forensic and legal settings.