Polygraph Glossary Practice

surreptitious breathing tracing

Definition

A surreptitious breathing tracing is recorded when the examinee is unaware — typically just before or after testing. It provides a Baseline for assessing whether the examinee altered their breathing during the test, which could indicate Countermeasures.

What Is Surreptitious Breathing?

A surreptitious breathing tracing is recorded when the examinee is unaware — typically just before or after testing. It provides a Baseline for assessing whether the examinee altered their breathing during the test, which could indicate Countermeasures.

Role in Polygraph Physiology

Understanding surreptitious breathing tracing is part of the broader physiological knowledge base that supports polygraph science. The physiological responses the polygraph measures — changes in electrodermal activity, respiration, and cardiovascular function — are all products of the neural and physiological systems that include this concept. Examiners benefit from understanding these mechanisms to properly interpret the data they collect and to assess factors that might affect examination validity.

Clinical Considerations

Conditions or medications affecting this aspect of physiology may influence polygraph data quality. The pre-test interview and suitability assessment should identify relevant medical factors. When physiological conditions affect data quality in specific channels, the examiner evaluates whether the remaining channels provide sufficient information for a reliable diagnostic opinion.

Integration with Polygraph Channels

The polygraph simultaneously records three core physiological channels — electrodermal, respiratory, and cardiovascular — each capturing different aspects of the autonomic nervous system's response to psychologically significant stimuli. Validated scoring systems evaluate features from all three channels independently, then combine them for the overall diagnostic opinion. Understanding the physiological basis of each channel helps examiners interpret data accurately and identify factors that might affect specific channels.

Cross-references

More practice terms in this glossary

JPCOTJoint Polygraph Committee on Offender Testing A joint committee of the APA and the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA) that developed standardis... Münsterberg, Hugo Hugo Münsterberg (1863–1916) was chairman of Harvard's Psychology Department who, in his 1908 book On the Witness Sta... Lykken, David T. David T. Lykken (1928–2006) was a psychologist and prominent critic of the CQT. His book A Tremor in the Blood argued... Benussi, Vittorio Vittorio Benussi (1878–1927) was one of the earliest researchers to examine breathing tracings for detecting deceptio... false key A false key is a deliberately placed distracter item in a Known-Solution Peak of Tension test. The examiner hints it ... Trauma-Informed Testing A polygraph examination approach that accounts for the examinee's history of trauma, abuse, or psychological distress...

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