The Use of Positive-Negative Area Measure in the P300-based Concealed Information Test

In the P300-based concealed information test (P300-based CIT), peak-to-peak P300 amplitude is commonly used to measure P300.However, peak-to-peak P300 amplitude tends to be underestimated as the variability of P300 latency increases.The positive-negative P300 area is expected to be less affected by P300 latency variability.This study aims to verify whether using the positive-negative P300 area in P300-based CIT results in a higher accuracy rate than using peak-topeak P300 amplitude.Data from four previous studies, comprising 209 P300-based CIT experimental cases, were collected and analyzed.In the guilty condition, the mean difference in the positivenegative P300 area between the probe and irrelevant stimuli was statistically significant, and a similar effect was observed in the peak-to-peak P300 amplitude.In the innocent condition, neither the mean difference in peak-to-peak P300 amplitude nor the difference in the positive-negative P300 area was substantial.A permutation test for individual classification showed that the hit rate using the positivenegative P300 area was .50,higher than the hit rate of .43 using peak-to-peak P300 amplitude.The false alarm rate was .07 for the positive-negative P300 area, similar to the false alarm rate of .09for peak-to-peak P300 amplitude.Therefore, the accuracy rate was higher when using the positivenegative P300 area than when using peak-to-peak P300 amplitude.The findings of this study can be directly applied to real-world practice.