• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.227-234
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• 2011

The purpose of present study was to examine brain functions associated with intention to conceal information. Kubo & Nittono(2009) and Verschuere et al.(2009) studied the intention to conceal information using P300 amplitude. On the basis of these two studies, present study attempted to identify brain area while participants were performing concealed information test. 19 healthy college students participated in fMRI-based concealed information test. Participants' name were used as concealed information. The test was performed in two conditions. In the intention condition, participants were instructed to try leaving their names undetected by suppressing their brain response to it. In the no intention condition, participants performed the test without intention to conceal. The fMRI results showed that the right anterior cingulated cortex (Rt. ACC), and left orbito-frontal cortex (Lt. OFC) activations were greater in the deceptive condition than the truth condition. These finding confirmed that ACC is area a deception-specific process as shown in the previous fMRI study. The OFC activation was also observed in the deceptive condition. The OFC is an area known as associated with emotional response such as anxiety, fear, and guilty. The anxiety induced while participants were intended to conceal information might be related to the OFC activation.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.61-72
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• 2018

Items related to a crime that are known only to criminals and investigators can be used in the concealed information test (CIT) to assess whether the suspect is guilty of the offense. However, in many cases wherein the suspect is exposed to information about the crime, the CIT cannot be used. Although the perpetrator's memories about the details of the crime are episodic, the memories of a suspect who has inadvertently discovered the details of the crime are more likely to be semantic. The retrieval of episodic memories is associated with theta wave activity, whereas that of semantic memories is associated with alpha wave activity. Therefore, these aspects of memory retrieval can be useful in identifying the perpetrator of the crime. In this study, P300-based CITs were conducted in a guilty participant in a mock crime and an innocent participant who has been given information about the simulated offense. The results demonstrate that the difference in P300 amplitudes between the probe and the irrelevant stimulus did not differ between the guilty and innocent conditions. As expected, the lower theta band power (4-6 Hz) was higher in the probe than in the irrelevant stimulus in the guilty condition, but there was no difference in the innocent condition. Conversely, the upper alpha band power (8-10 Hz) was lower in the probe than in the irrelevant stimulus in the innocent condition, but there was no difference in the guilty condition. The possibility of using theta and alpha band powers in lie detection is discussed.