NAME: RUBEN C. GUMARANG JR.

SUBJECT: LIE DETECTOR

REACTION PAPER

A lie detector test uses a device to track an individual's body's uncontrollable physiological changes in
response to questions or statements. Heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, perspiration, and skin
conductivity are among the physiological arousal factors that polygraphs measure. According to the
theory behind the lie detector test, these physiological reactions will differ depending on whether the
subject is telling the truth or lying. A polygraph test can record a person's breathing rate, pulse, blood
pressure, perspiration and other significant physiological changes that suggest a person is lying, but it
should not be used as evidence in a court of law because it does not provide reliable proof of a person's
physical reaction to the stress of lying. A lie detector is a machine that tries to detect if a person is lying.

Interviewing and testing are frequently explicitly combined and woven together during polygraph
examination procedures. The ability of polygraph testing to uncover the deceptions of interest and to
serve broader law enforcement or national security goals may depend on the purpose of the test and
the types of acts that are the subject of the relevant questions. When a polygraph chart indicates
something other than an ordinary nondeceptive response to a relevant question, the examiner typically
pursues this response with questioning during the course of the examination.

Before doing this lie detector test I though it was easy but during the examination I learned that there
are procedures need to be followed like the examiner must ensure that the subject is in the proper
frame of mind, is physically and emotionally suitable for examination, and is familiar with polygraph
questioning techniques. Control questions are determined during the pretest interview, and these
questions must evoke the subject's genuine concern. The examiner will interpret the observations made
by the polygraph instrument in order to determine the results of the test. Once these have been
determined the subject will receive the outcome and have an opportunity to defend any of their
reactions to the questions. I also learned that other methods can be used to assess a subject's sincerity
or deception in addition to polygraph tests. The selection of the people (suspects) for polygraph testing
frequently follows the use of a variety of criminal or security investigation techniques in event-specific
investigations.