Inferior detection of information from collaborative versus individual crimes based on a P300 Concealed Information Test

The present study used a P300-based Concealed Information Test (CIT) to detect individual and collaborative crimes and to explore whether or not the P300 index is effective in identifying collaborative crime members. Participants were divided into two groups to either steal a ring alone (individual group) or collaboratively with another companion participant (collaborative group) before taking the Complex Trial Protocol test that is regarded as an accurate version of the P300-based CIT. The ERP results revealed that both groups showed significantly larger P300s to probe (the ring) than to all irrelevant stimuli (other jewelery), but the P300 amplitude difference of probe stimulus versus irrelevant stimuli in the collaborative group was significantly less than that in the individual group. For the individual diagnosis, using P300 index, the detection rate was significantly inferior for collaborative crime than individual crime, probably related to weakness of collaborative encoding. The ROC curve comparisons showed the individual guilty was effectively discriminated from the simulated-innocent (AUC =.84) and from the collaborative guilty (AUC =.83), but the collaborative guilty was not discriminable from the simulated-innocent (AUC =.66). These findings suggest that collaborative encoding of crime-related information impacts the efficiency of the P300 index, and that the P300-based CIT is not applicable when used to identify collaborative crime perpetrators.