Speed versus accuracy instructions in the response time concealed information test. 2022

Till Lubczyk, and Gáspár Lukács, and Ulrich Ansorge
Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Liebiggasse 5, 1010, Vienna, Austria.

The response time concealed information test (RT-CIT) can reveal that a person recognizes a relevant item (probe) among other, irrelevant items, based on slower responding to the probe compared to the irrelevant items. Thereby, if this person is concealing knowledge about the relevance of this item (e.g., recognizing it as a murder weapon), this deception can be unveiled. In the present paper, we examined the impact of a speed versus accuracy instruction: Examinees (N = 235) were either presented with instructions emphasizing a focus on speed, with instructions emphasizing a focus on accuracy, or with no particular speed or accuracy instructions at all. We found that although participants responded to the probe and the irrelevants marginally faster when they had received instructions emphasizing speed, there was no significant difference between RTs of the different experimental groups and crucially no significant difference between the probe-irrelevant RT differences either. This means that such instructions are unlikely to benefit the RT-CIT, but it also suggests that related deliberate manipulation (focusing on speed on or accuracy) is unlikely to decrease the efficiency of the RT-CIT-contributing further evidence to the RT-CIT's resistance to faking.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008192 Deception The act of deceiving or the fact of being deceived. False Allegations,Lying,Hoax,Allegation, False,Allegations, False,False Allegation
D011930 Reaction Time The time from the onset of a stimulus until a response is observed. Response Latency,Response Speed,Response Time,Latency, Response,Reaction Times,Response Latencies,Response Times,Speed, Response,Speeds, Response
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D022722 Thermogenesis The generation of heat in order to maintain body temperature. The uncoupled oxidation of fatty acids contained within brown adipose tissue and SHIVERING are examples of thermogenesis in MAMMALS. Heat Production,Adaptive Thermogenesis,Facultative Thermogenesis,Nonshivering Thermogenesis,Production, Heat,Thermogeneses,Thermogenesis, Adaptive,Thermogenesis, Facultative,Thermogenesis, Nonshivering

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