Abstract: The present study used a dual task paradigm to investigate the relationship between memory load and individuals’ success in deception. More specifically, we created a mock job interview situation where participants were asked to fake their educational experiences in order to meet the stated requirements in the job description. We interviewed participants twice with exactly the same questions. Half of the questions asked participants information about their non-existent education experience whereas the control questions asked participants about their actual educational experience. To examine the influence of working memory load on deception, we randomly assigned participants to one of the four conditions. In the Double-Double Condition, we required participants to answer interview questions in the first and second interview while performing an irrelevant but working memory-demanding cognitive task. The task required participants to press the appropriate button when they saw a certain color on a computer monitor. In the Double-Single Condition, participants were only asked to perform the cognitive task while being questioned in the first interview but not in the second interview. In the Single-Double Condition, participants only performed the cognitive task during the second interview but not the first interview. In the Single-Single Condition, participants were questioned without performing the cognitive task in both interviews. We hypothesized that for the control true experience questions, working memory load should have limited impact on participants’ accurate retrieval from their biographical memory the information about their actual educational experience and thus their answers to the same questions in the two interviews should be highly consistent. In contrast, the working memory demanding cognitive task should affect participants’ consistencies in their answers to the same questions about the non-existent educational experiences and thus their answers in the two interviews should be more likely to contradict each other. This negative effect should be more pronounced in the Double-Double Condition than in the Double-Single or Single- Double Conditions. Consistent with our hypothesis, ANOVAs revealed that participants’ consistency scores for the true education experience questions were significantly higher than those for the non-existent education experience questions in all four conditions (ps<.001). Further, the consistency scores for the false education experience questions were also different between the four conditions (p<.0001). The post hoc showed that the Double-Double Condition had a significantly lower mean consistency score than that in each of the other three conditions (p=0.016，p=0.001，p=0.003, respectively). The other three conditions did not differ from each other in terms of the mean consistency scores. Thus, the Double-Double procedure is the best procedure for detecting deception in job seekers who fabricate their educational or work experiences.

Key words: dual task, memory, actual education experience, false education experience

摘要： 摘要:本文将干扰任务对记忆的影响同测谎结合起来，试图运用这一方法来对求职者的真实学历和虚假学历进行区分。实验采用模拟面试的方式，对被试在有或无干扰任务条件下进行两次提问，结果发现，四种任务条件对被试真实经历和虚假经历都具有区分度，其中双双条件的区分度是最高的。并且，被试在双双任务条件下虚假经历的得分显著低于其他三种任务条件。

关键词: 干扰任务, 记忆, 真实学历, 虚假学历