Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
Psychophysiology. 2023 Jan;60(1):e14155. doi: 10.1111/psyp.14155. Epub 2022 Jul 22.
The concealed information test (CIT) relies on bodily reactions to stimuli that are hidden in mind. However, people can use countermeasures, such as purposely focusing on irrelevant things, to confound the CIT. A new method designed to prevent countermeasures uses rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) to present stimuli on the fringe of awareness. Previous studies that used RSVP in combination with electroencephalography (EEG) showed that participants exhibit a clear reaction to their real first name, even when they try to prevent such a reaction (i.e., when their name is concealed information). Because EEG is not easily applicable outside the laboratory, we investigated here whether pupil size, which is easier to measure, can also be used to detect concealed identity information. In our first study, participants adopted a fake name, and searched for this name in an RSVP task, while their pupil sizes were recorded. Apart from this fake name, their real name and a control name also appeared in the task. We found pupil dilation in response to the task-irrelevant real name, as compared to control names. However, while most participants showed this effect qualitatively, it was not statistically significant for most participants individually. In a second study, we preregistered the proof-of-concept methodology and replicated the original findings. Taken together, our results show that the current RSVP task with pupillometry can detect concealed identity information at a group level. Further development of the method is needed to create a valid and reliable concealed identity information detector at the individual level.
隐藏信息测试（CIT）依赖于对隐藏在意识中的刺激的身体反应。然而，人们可以使用对策，如故意关注不相关的事情，来混淆 CIT。一种旨在防止对策的新方法使用快速序列视觉呈现（RSVP）在意识边缘呈现刺激。先前使用 RSVP 结合脑电图（EEG）的研究表明，即使参与者试图阻止这种反应（即当他们的名字是隐藏信息时），他们也会对自己的真名表现出明显的反应。由于 EEG 不易在实验室外应用，我们在这里研究了瞳孔大小是否也可以用于检测隐藏的身份信息，因为瞳孔大小更容易测量。在我们的第一项研究中，参与者采用了一个假名，并在 RSVP 任务中搜索这个名字，同时记录他们的瞳孔大小。除了这个假名之外，他们的真名和一个控制名也出现在任务中。我们发现，与控制名相比，瞳孔对任务无关的真名会扩大。然而，虽然大多数参与者在定性上表现出了这种效应，但对于大多数参与者个体来说，这种效应并不具有统计学意义。在第二项研究中，我们预先注册了概念验证方法，并复制了原始发现。总的来说，我们的结果表明，目前使用瞳孔计的 RSVP 任务可以在群体水平上检测隐藏的身份信息。需要进一步开发该方法，以在个体水平上创建一个有效和可靠的隐藏身份信息检测器。
