Reaction Time as an Actual and a Perceived Cue to Deception Under Cognitive Load

Abstract

The predictive validity of reaction time as an actual (objective) and a perceived cue to deception was tested in two experiments differing in question presentation methodology. Participants were video recorded while giving truthful and dishonest verbal responses to autobiographical questions under high and low cognitive load, and coders later viewed the recordings to detect their responses. We hypothesized that lie reaction times (RTs) would be significantly longer than truthful RTs and that longer RTs would be associated with differential lie and truth detection accuracy. We did not make any predictions regarding cognitive load, considering the current literature has produced mixed results. Our hypotheses were supported by the data. Results of our load manipulation differed between Experiment 1 and Experiment 2, leaving us questioning its validity. We provide many suggestions for future research regarding experimental methodologies measuring deception and cognitive load.