A Theory-Guided Methodology for Concealed Information Detection: The Go/No-go CIT

The concealed information test (CIT) detects familiar “probe” items embedded in a stream of unfamiliar “irrelevant” items. Participants respond as if all items are unfamiliar, creating a response conflict when a familiar probe appears. Resolving this conflict takes time and results in a subtle but measurable delay in reaction time (RT) – a phenomenon known as the RT-CIT effect. Guided by this theory, it was hypothesized that additional task demands, which reduce available resources for conflict resolution, would increase the RT-CIT effect. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a preregistered study (N=97) introducing a novel high-demand RT-CIT variant that incorporates no-go cues – specific items to which participants must withhold responses. Results showed a significantly larger RT-CIT effect and improved detection efficiency in our novel Go/No-go paradigm compared to the classical paradigm. Bayesian analysis also strongly supported the alternative hypothesis (BF10=262.05). These findings provide initial evidence for the effectiveness of the Go/No-go CIT. Its straightforward implementation across personal, crime-related, and other types of concealed information further highlights its potential as a promising tool for both research and applied settings.