Physiological Monitoring Flashcards
7 cards from real CPE practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Physiological Monitoring flashcards as text
Which physiological measure is LEAST likely to be directly recorded by a standard analog or digital polygraph instrument?
Answer: Blood oxygen saturation (SpO2)
Standard polygraph instruments record EDA, respiration, and relative blood pressure; SpO2 via pulse oximetry is not a standard polygraph channel, though some research systems include it.
In polygraph physiology, 'vasodilation' of peripheral blood vessels would most likely produce what effect on the cardiograph channel?
Answer: Decreased amplitude of cardiograph waves as blood redistributes away from the monitored arm
Peripheral vasodilation can shunt blood away from the arm where the cuff is placed, reducing the pulse amplitude captured in the cardiograph tracing.
The principle of 'habituation' is important in polygraph interpretation because it explains why:
Answer: Physiological responses to repeated, non-threatening stimuli diminish over successive presentations
Habituation is the neurological process by which repeated exposure to the same non-threatening stimulus leads to progressively smaller physiological responses, which examiners must account for in multi-run scoring.
A 'late-onset' EDA response that peaks 5–7 seconds after a question is presented is considered:
Answer: Within the normal latency range for electrodermal responses and is scorable
EDA responses typically have a latency of 1–5 seconds and a rise time through approximately 7 seconds post-stimulus; responses peaking around 5–7 seconds fall within the scorable window.
Which of the following best describes the function of the 'sensitivity' control on an analog polygraph EDA channel?
Answer: It controls the magnitude of pen deflection per unit change in skin conductance
The EDA sensitivity control adjusts how much the pen (or digital trace) deflects in response to a given change in skin conductance, allowing the examiner to optimize tracing visibility.
In the context of polygraph physiology, what does 'pulse rate' specifically refer to?
Answer: The number of arterial pulsations per minute as recorded at the cardiograph cuff
Pulse rate is the count of arterial pulsations (heartbeats detectable at the periphery) per minute and is one of the cardiovascular parameters extracted from the cardiograph channel.
A polygraph examiner observes that the subject's abdominal respiratory channel shows normal breathing while the thoracic channel shows suppression at relevant questions. This dissociation most likely indicates:
Answer: The subject may be deliberately controlling chest breathing as a countermeasure while allowing abdominal breathing to proceed normally
Dissociation between thoracic and abdominal channels—especially suppression in one channel at relevant questions—can indicate selective voluntary breath control used as a countermeasure.