Use of antianxiety drugs as countermeasures in the detection of guilty knowledge

Abstract

To evaluate whether antianxiety drugs enable guilty Ss to appear innocent on polygraph tests, the authors compared the effects of diazepam, meprobamate, and propranolol on the outcome of a guilty knowledge test (GKT). 75 undergraduate students were evenly divided among 1 innocent and 4 guilty groups. Ss in each of the guilty groups received either 1 of the drugs or a placebo prior to the administration of the GKT and after viewing a videotape that depicted a burglary as seen from the perspective of the burglar. The results showed that drug status had no influence on the outcome of the GKT. Innocent Ss who coincidentally obtained high scores on a recognition memory test covering details of the mock crime tended to obtain higher guilt scores on the GKT. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)