Concealed Information Test (CIT)
Definition
The Lykken paradigm that detects concealed knowledge by measuring the orienting response to crime-specific items embedded among foils. Theoretically sounder than the CQT but operationally constrained by the need for crime-detail control.
- Also known as
- Guilty Knowledge Test, Lykken paradigm
- Measures
- Orienting response to crime-relevant items among foils
- Theoretical standing
- Sounder than the Comparison Question Test (CQT)
- Main constraint
- Requires tightly controlled crime-detail knowledge
Common questions
Why is the CIT considered theoretically sounder than the CQT if both are polygraph-based techniques?+
The CIT tests recognition of crime details that only the perpetrator, investigators and a few others would know, so a truthful, uninvolved person has no reason to respond differently to the correct item than to the foils. The CQT instead compares responses to relevant versus generic comparison questions, a design more vulnerable to countermeasures and to innocent examinees reacting to the accusation itself.
Why is the CIT used far less often in real investigations than the CQT despite its stronger theoretical basis?+
It depends on crime-relevant details that are known only to the guilty party and not leaked through media coverage, witness interviews or investigative questioning, a condition that is hard to guarantee once an investigation is underway. When those details have become public knowledge, the test loses its discriminating power.
Related terms
- AI Act Article 5(1)(F)
- The EU AI Act prohibition on AI systems that infer emotions, intentions, or characteristics from biometric data in law-enforcement and related contexts....
- BSA § 39
- Section 39 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 (formerly IEA § 45), governing the admissibility of expert opinion in Indian courts. The...
- Control Question Test (CQT)
- The dominant polygraph examination format, comparing physiological responses to crime-relevant questions against responses to emotionally loaded control questions. Criticised for its false-positive...
- False Positive (PDD)
- A truthful person classified as deceptive by the polygraph examination. The rate of false positives in field conditions is non-trivially high and...
- Frye Standard
- The US legal test for admissibility of scientific evidence, originating from Frye v. United States (1923), which required that a technique be...
- NRC 2003
- The National Research Council's *The Polygraph and Lie Detection* (2003), the most comprehensive scientific review of polygraph validity. Found no scientific basis...
- Polygraph (PDD)
- A multichannel physiological recording instrument capturing electrodermal activity, cardiovascular parameters, and respiration. The term is used interchangeably with the examination technique; the...
- Selvi V. State of Karnataka (2010)
- Constitutional bench judgment (2010) 7 SCC 263 holding that compelled narco-analysis, polygraph testing, and brain-mapping violate Article 20(3) and Article 21 of...
- US V. Scheffer (1998)
- US Supreme Court decision upholding the per se exclusion of polygraph evidence in military courts under Military Rule of Evidence 707, on...