By prefacing a question with, "Other than what you told me..." the polygrapher limits the scope of a question so as to exclude previously-made admissions. Both relevant and control questions may be modified in this way.

For example, suppose you are employed by a local police department, where you've worked counternarcotics and have "sold" drugs in sting operations. You apply to become an FBI special agent, and during your polygraph interrogation, when the polygrapher asks you, "Have you ever sold any illegal drugs?" you mention the sting operations. Your polygrapher will then re-word this very relevant question as "Other than what you told me, have you ever sold any illegal drugs?"

With regard to probable-lie "control" questions, the fact that you've made some minor admission and the question has been re-phrased as "Other than what you told me, did you ever...?" does not change the "control" question into a relevant one.

See Ch. 3 of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector for a fuller discussion of "control" questions.