Cold hands and GSR

[Bigthing101]

What affect does Cold hands have on the GSR? I recently took a test where the examiner kept getting up between charts and putting his hand on my hand and commenting how cold they are. It was the hand with the GSR sensor on it. At one point he got up saying hes "trying to keep an open mind" and touched my hand again then cranked the heat up in the room. My hands were FREEZING because it was cold in the room and I washed my hands before the test. I know it has SOME effect or why would he get out of his seat 2-3x between charts and make comments like "trying to keep an open mind"...which leads me to believe possibly I was reacting too much or too little but something would have to be "off" for him to get up numerous times.


Also at the end of the test he told me to wait in the hall and called another examiner in then 5 min later told me to keep monitoring my phone because the process is moving quickly.

My understanding is they have the results "instantly" so why keep me waiting in the hall? There was no post test interrogation either...

[George W. Maschke]

Cold hands might result in a low perspiration rate, and hence low reactivity on the galvanic skin response (GSR) channel of the polygraph instrument.

I'm not sure why you were kept waiting in the hall, but it may have been so that your charts could be reviewed by another polygrapher before you left. If your charts had been scored as inconclusive by the reviewer, you might have been asked to come back for a second polygraph session. But it sounds like you passed.