Classification accuracy of the event‐related potentials‐based Brain Fingerprinting and its robustness to direct‐suppression and thought‐substitution countermeasures

Abstract

AbstractResearch on the accuracy of Brain Fingerprinting (BFP) has produced mixed outcomes: some report 99.9% and others report lower. Furthermore, no studies have measured the susceptibility of BFP to countermeasures. In Experiment‐1, we report the accurate classification of 15 of the 16 subjects, tested on their own real‐life autobiographical incidents; and 14 of the 15 other subjects, tested on another subject's real‐life autobiographical incidents. In Experiment‐2, 16 subjects of Experiment‐1, who were tested on their own real‐life incidents, participated in the BFP test again, but this time employing either direct‐suppression or thought‐substitution (n = 8 each) countermeasures. We report that neither direct‐suppression nor thought‐substitution was effective at concealing information that BFP was designed to reveal. We assert that BFP is a highly accurate, albeit not perfect, concealed‐knowledge detection technology and that it is resistant to memory suppression and thought substitution countermeasures in the context of autobiographical incidents.