Zending,

As a polygrapher, I can tell you that the examiner was in fact trying to figure you out. For many polygraphers, any little thing that they don't understand is a possible countermeasure. But for polygraphers who really know what they are doing, it is common knowledge that an examinee's breathing is going to change at least somewhat between how it is during data collection and how it is between question sets. One of two things typically happens when the date collection begins: either the examinee will breathe more slowly because he or she is simply trying to relax during a nervewracking period, or the examinee will breathe more quickly because he or she doesn't know how to relax, and the nervewracking period accelerates the breathing. Once the data collection is over, the breathing typically goes back to the way it was previously. This is normal. Some examiners, however, will keep harping on the examinee that his or her breathing isn't right, thereby causing the examinee to focus so much on the breathing, that the focus on the breathing takes away from the focus being where it should be, which is on the questions.

For experienced examiners, it is only when the breathing pattern is just too good to be true, consistently throughout the exam, just on the control questions, that red flags are raised.

My advice to you is don't read The Lie Behind the Lie Detector and then attempt to manipulate your breathing on the control questions. Just do what you always do when you try to relax without focusing on it too much.  Easy for me to say now that the examiner has made you self-conscious about your breathing, and George has made you think you have to manipulate it through countermeasures. If you have nothing serious to hide, chances are very good that you will pass the exam, despite what some people on this forum would have you believe. Sure, because the polygraph is not 100% accurate, there is the very slim possibility that a truthful person might run into problems during an exam. But don't let a few polygraph failures on this forum convince you that this is a very common occurrence.  Also don't let an examiner who may have good intentions put your focus on one physiological function that any good examiner knows is the least diagnostic of all the physiological channels being monitored.

Good luck on your exam.