The role of attention in "lie-detection."

Randomly assigned 80 male college students to 1 of 4 groups. Tape-recorded instructions directed Ss in Groups 1 and 2 to evaluate a psychological case history or a newspaper story, respectively. Group 3 read about a kidnapping after being told they were participating in a lie-detection experiment and would be questioned on the material later. Group 4 was given the same information as Group 3, but was told that they should not reveal the information when questioned. Galvanic skin responses (GSRs) were measured as Ss listened to tape-recorded questions on the material read; no verbal responses were made. The E then attempted to determine "blindly" which target information S had received by examining the GSRs. The number of Ss whose given information was successfully detected was significant in Groups 2, 3, and 4. Results suggest that simply attending to or focusing upon relevant information is a sufficient condition for detectability in a lie-detection situation. (French summary)