The effects of a model statement on information elicitation and deception detection in multiple interviews

Veracity Judgments Based on Complications: A Training Experiment

Research has shown that complications are more common in truth tellers' accounts than in lie tellers' accounts, but there is currently no experiment that has examined the accuracy of observers' veracity judgments when looking at complications. A total of 87 participants were asked to judge 10 transcripts (five truthful and five false) derived from a set of 59 transcripts generated in a previous experiment by Deeb et al. Approximately half of the participants were trained to detect complications (Trained), and the other half did not receive training (Untrained). Trained participants were more likely to look for complications, but they did not detect them accurately, and thus their veracity judgments did not improve beyond Untrained participants' judgments. We discuss that the training may have been too brief or not sensitive enough to enhance decision-making.

The Model Sketch for Enhancing Lie Detection and Eliciting Information

BACKGROUND

Sketching while narrating is an effective interview technique for eliciting information and cues to deceit. The current research examined the effects of introducing a Model Sketch in investigative interviews andis pre-registered on https://osf.io/kz9mc (accessed on 18 January 2022).

METHODS

Participants (N = 163) completed a mock mission and were asked to tell the truth or to lie about it in an interview. In Phase 1 of the interview, participants provided either a free recall (control condition), sketched and narrated with exposure to a Model Sketch (Model Sketch-present condition), or sketched and narrated without exposure to a Model Sketch (Model Sketch-absent condition). In Phase 2, all participants provided a free recall without sketching.

RESULTS

Truth tellers reported significantly more information than lie tellers. The Model Sketch elicited more location details than a Free recall in Phase 1 and more veracity differences than the other Modality conditions in Phase 2.

CONCLUSION

The Model Sketch seems to enhance the elicitation of information and to have carryover veracity effects in a follow-up free recall.

The effects of sketching while narrating on information elicitation and deception detection in multiple interviews

Sketching while narrating is effective for eliciting information and veracity cues in single interviews. In the current research, we tested this technique in multiple interviews. Participants were interviewed three times over three weeks about a genuine (truth tellers) or a fabricated (lie tellers) memorable event. They sketched while narrating in Week 1, Week 2, Weeks 1 and 2, or not at all (verbal statement only). Statements were coded for total, core, peripheral, and common knowledge details, self-handicapping strategies, complications, plausibility, and proportions of complications and core details. In the third interview and across interviews, the Sketch instruction resulted in a higher proportion of core details. Truth tellers reported more total and core details and complications and fewer common knowledge details and exhibited a higher proportion of complications than lie tellers. Truth tellers' stories also sounded more plausible than lie tellers' stories. The interaction effects were not significant. Thus, sketching while narrating seemed to have a similar effect on truth tellers and lie tellers in the current study.