P300-BASED MEMORY DETECTION APPLIED TO A MOCK TERRORISM SCENARIO USING
THE COMPLEX TRIAL PROTOCOL WITH MULTIPLE PICTORIAL STIMULI
Abstract
The Complex Trial Protocol (CTP), a P300-based Concealed Information
Test (CIT) is an innovative tool that can be used to identify
individuals who possess crime-related information. We tested the CTP in
a mock terrorism scenario with three different probes. Forty-one
undergraduate participants were randomly assigned to one of three
groups, Innocent Control (IC), Simply Guilty (SG), and Guilty
Countermeasure (GCM). Individuals in the SG and GCM groups underwent a
mock terrorism scenario and were exposed to three pictorial probes, the
face of an accomplice, the crime scene, and the mock explosive device.
Additionally, the GCM group performed a memory suppression
countermeasure. Based on the AUCs generated, the CTP showed a good to
very good predictive ability ranging from .63 to .94 depending on the
probe presented. The aggregated scores led to an AUC of .79 for the SG
participants and of .90 for the GCM, indicating that it may be
advantageous to use multiple probes. Overall, hit rates ranged from
54-78% (bomb), 64-93% (crime scene), and 71-93% (male accomplice).
Attempting to suppress information had the opposite effect of generating
slightly higher P300 amplitudes than in SG individuals. Stimuli quality
and ecological issues are discussed.