It's a match!? Appropriate item selection in the Concealed Information Test

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Forensic Science
• Cognitive Neuroscience

Background:

• The Concealed Information Test (CIT) detects recognition of crime details but not memory origin.
• Information contamination can lead to false positives in CIT.
• The optimal level of detail (category vs. exemplar) for CIT items is unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the validity of the CIT at both categorical and exemplar levels.
• To determine how encoding, retention, and retrieval influence CIT performance.
• To find the optimal balance between sensitivity and specificity in memory detection.

Main Methods:

• 165 participants planned a mock robbery, encoding information at either the category or exemplar level.
• Participants were tested immediately or after a one-week delay using a response time-based CIT.
• Questions were presented at either the categorical or exemplar level.

Main Results:

• CIT validity, based on reaction time, was higher when the question's detail level matched the encoding level (e.g., exemplar-exemplar).
• No significant difference in CIT outcome was observed between immediate and one-week delayed testing.
• An interaction between encoding and testing level significantly impacted CIT validity.

Conclusions:

• The effectiveness of CIT items is contingent on how the information was initially encoded.
• Selecting appropriate CIT items presents a challenge for examiners.
• Matching question detail to encoding level is key for accurate CIT application.