George.. can you or anyone answer?

[Eraines]

George,

when you are being asked questions that both the examiner and the examinee both know the answers to.. ex. Are the lights on in this room? To apply mental arithmatic would be in vein? Or should one continue through the whole test to not show any type of deviation away from the CM'd results in the test. Just asking for clarification.

Thanks,

"Ed" 

[George W. Maschke]

That you would even ask this question suggests to me that you haven't done your homework and should not even be considering using polygraph countermeasures.

Note that there are two types of questions the answers to which are known to both examiner and examinee: irrelevant questions (such as "Are the lights on in this room?") and probable-lie "control" questions (used in some polygraph techniques, most notable the "Test for Espionage and Sabotage" used by the Departments of Defense and Energy).

Irrelevant questions are unscored. Polygraphers don't expect to see reactions to them, and they sometimes tell the examinee that they're "control" questions in a deliberate effort to misdirect examinees who might be considering using countermeasures. Manufacturing reactions to irrelevant questions won't help one to pass a polygraph "test" (and might lead to an accusation of countermeasure use).

Probable-lie control questions, on the other hand, are scored, and one would want to augment reactions to them to protect against the risk of a false positive outcome.

See Chapters 3 & 4 of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector for more about polygraph procedure and countermeasures.

[Eraines]

George,

Actually I did read the whole PDF including all of the other material. I was just a tad unsure of the method. Okay, so scenario below.. perhaps you can clear this up for me.

A control will ask you something general that's unrelated to the matter at hand. It'll be broadly focused and often about a subject that causes discomfort. For example, have you ever lied to a loved one? Have you ever cheated on an exam, or stolen from an employer?
The real key to beating the lie detector is controlling your reaction to these controls. You need to produce a stronger physiological response to these questions than to the actual relevant ones.


Do I say make an admission to the little things like lying to a loved one and create a response or make no admission and still create response? that's all I feel I am unclear of.

[George W. Maschke]

As we note in The Lie Behind the Lie Detector (4th ed.), it's normal for people to make minor admissions to probable-lie "control" questions (p. 98) and it's okay to do so (p. 128).