Quote:
AntiPolygraph.org has received information indicating that the Department of Defense Polygraph Institute (DoDPI) has reduced the number of scorable breathing reactions from the twelve that were listed in the Test Data Analysis document released to AntiPolygraph.org in 2001 under the Freedom of Information Act to the following ten:
* Apnea/blocking
* Decrease in rate
* Inhalation/exhalation change
* Decrease in amplitude
* Progressive decrease in amplitude
* Increase in rate
* Increase in amplitude
* Progressive increase in amplitude and return to homeostasis
* Progressive increase in amplitude followed by a decrease in amplitude
* Temporary change in baseline
Importantly, DoDPI does not consider all of these reactions to be of equal value for scoring polygraph charts. The first five reactions (highlighted above in green), and especially the first one, apnea/blocking (briefly holding one's breath after the completion of an exhalation cycle), are held by DoDPI to be "highly diagnostic." Anyone considering employing polygraph countermeasures would be well advised to choose one of these five rather than any of the other breathing countermeasures presented in Chapter 4 of the 3rd edition of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector. In that chapter, these five "highly diagnostic" reactions appear as numbers 12 (p. 149), 1 (p.145), 3 (p. 146), 5 (p. 146), and 8 (p. 147), respectively.
This information, while unclassified, is considered highly sensitive by DoDPI. A senior member of the federal polygraph community and former DoDPI instructor reportedly opined that if this information were to become public, it could "effectively neutralize" the respiration channel, and the polygraph community would be in "big trouble." Well, now it is public.
Also, in mid-2004, DoDPI was reportedly giving serious consideration to eliminating the following four scorable breathing reactions:
* Increase in amplitude
* Increase in rate
* Progressive increase and decrease in amplitude
* Decrease in baseline
It is not known what decision, if any, has been taken in this regard.
Clearever,
Your question about "yes" and "no" (although interesting) becomes moot for several reasons:
(1) Both being monosyllabic are said relatively instantaneously. The polygraph examiner is looking for reactions beginning roughly one-half second after the beginning of the asking of the question (perhaps even before the "yes" or "no" is said) and continuing for perhaps 3 to 4 seconds following the answer
(2) If it were an issue, both "yes" and "no" can be said with almost no respiratory excursion that would be picked up in the pneumo tubes and most importantly,
(3) the scoring of the responses to questions are intercomparisons between one relevant question and one control question. These are both answered with the same answer--typically a "no."
I should also point out that which you noted (if it were a problem) would not have to do with the subject of this thread, i.e., polygraph responses and countermeasures involving respiration, but would be a confound in the general prodedure in the absence of countermeasures. Although CQT polygraphy has many shortcomings, this is not one. (Never let it be said that I never said anything nice about a CQT polygraph exam).