Can unconscious thought boost lie detection accuracy? Recently this question has been the topic of much debate. This special issue (link below) in Frontiers in Psychology aims to formalise this debate. In this issue, two target articles take contrasting views of unconscious lie detection.

https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/8203/debating-the-existence-and-benefit-of-unconscious-lie-detection

We would like to invite you to contribute to the debate with a short commentary article addressing one or both of the target articles. No new data is required.

The target article by Stel, Schwarz, van Dijk and van Knippenberg (2020) present evidence that deliberative conscious processing can hinder accurate detection of the truth. The second target article by Levine (2019) offers a critical analysis of unconscious lie detection and argues that the evidence to date is unconvincing.

• Stel et al. (2020). The Limits of Conscious Deception Detection: When Reliance on False Deception Cues Contributes to Inaccurate Judgments: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01331
• Levine (2019). Five Reasons Why I am Skeptical That indirect or Unconscious Lie Detection is Superior to Direct Deception Detection: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01354

Informal enquiries are welcomed.

Chris Street (c.street@hud.ac.uk)
Emmanouil Konstantinidis (e.konstantinidis@warwick.ac.uk)
Axel Cleeremans (axcleer@ulb.ac.be)
Marc-Andre Reinhard (uk022294@uni-kassel.de)