Effects of Incomplete Information on the Detection of Concealed Crime Details

The accuracy of the Concealed Information Test in correct classification of informed guilty and informed innocent participants was assessed when the explicitness of the obtained information varied. For these purposes, a mock crime procedure was employed and participants were randomly assigned to six conditions formed by combinations of two levels of the state of guilt (guilty and innocent) and three levels of information completeness (exact, indicative, non-specific). As expected, informed guilty participants were more accurately detected than informed innocents. It was further found that when the gathered information was less explicit, detection efficiency decreased. Theoretical and practical implications of the present results are discussed.