The efficacy of temporal unanticipated/anticipated questions within a mock translated interview: A tool to detect deceit?

Peace, Robert Huw (2017) The efficacy of temporal unanticipated/anticipated questions within a mock translated interview: A tool to detect deceit? University of South Wales. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This study examined the efficacy of the Unanticipated/anticipated cognitive load deception detection technique, within a translated interview. Research on the unanticipated questions technique has shown it can create observable differences between liars and truth tellers. Specifically, the amount of spatial, temporal and perceptual details produced, with liars producing less than truth tellers. The technique relies upon an increase in cognitive load to negate a liar’s ability to create a credible lie. However, this ability to negate liars’ production of a credible lie, may be reduced if liars can reduce their cognitive load, within a translated interview, through having a greater knowledge of the domestic interview language, than they are revealing. 39 English speaking participants were allocated to either a lying or truth telling cognition and then interviewed in Welsh, with an interpreter to translate into English. Whilst 20 Welsh/English speakers were also split into either lying or truth telling conditions. The interviews used unanticipated questions to induce cognitive load. They were then transcribed and coded for spatial, temporal and perceptual details. This study hypothesised that a) bilingual participants would provide a greater amount of spatial, temporal and perceptual details than monolingual and b) that truth tellers would provide greater amounts of spatial, temporal and perceptual details than liars. The results of this study suggest the effect of veracity had no significant result upon the amount of temporal, spatial and perceptual details produced. Secondly, the effect of condition partly supported the hypothesis, in that bilingual participants provided a significantly greater amount of temporal details than monolingual participants. However, they did not provide greater spatial or perceptual. Finally, a correlation between interviewer and participant self-report ratings. This suggested a significant relationship between the preparation/feelings of greater preparation and truth telling. These results suggest that the application of cognitive load, may have been too great and warrants further study as to the exact amount of cognitive load needed.