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The Polygraph and Lie Detection (2003) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix D: Physiological Processes Measured by the Polygraph
Pages 286-290

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From page 286...
... The baroreceptorheart rate reflex serves to maintain blood pressure: baroreceptors (pressure-sensitive receptors) mostly within the carotid sinus increase firing in afferents to the nucleus of the tractus solitaries in response to an increase in blood pressure, which in turn inhibits sympathetic motor neurons in the intermediolateral cell column of the cord and excites the parasympathetic source nuclei in the nucleus ambiguus and dorsal motor nucleus of the vague.
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From page 287...
... Importantly for the interpretation of polygraph data, individual differences in the mode of autonomic activation to acute psychological stressors have been identified, with some individuals showing primarily sympathetic increases, others primarily vagal withdrawal, and others showing reciprocal sympathetic activation (Berntson et al., 1994; Cacioppo et al., 1994~. In addition, Obrist, Light, and colleagues demonstrated that active coping tasks (those with which one copes by doing something, e.g., mental arithmetic)
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From page 288...
... For instance, whether the EDR is interpreted as larger to a relevant question or a control question can vary depending on type of measurement and basal electrodermal activity levels (Dawson, 2000~. Eccrine glands can be thought of as tiny tubes with openings at the surface of the skin (Stern, Ray, and Quigley, 2001~.
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From page 289...
... are responsive to carbon dioxide concentrations, peripheral chemoreceptors near the large vessels of the heart are sensitive to oxygen concentrations in the blood, and stretch receptors in the lungs are sensitive to the extent of lung inflation. Respiration is easily brought under voluntary control, and variations in respiration can produce changes in heart rate and electrodermal activity.
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From page 290...
... Hinderliter in Case study: Genetic and behavioral factors in combination influence risk of press hypertensive heart disease. In Expanding the Boundaries of Health: Bio-BehavioralSocial Perspectives, N
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Key Terms

  • electrodermal activity
  • eccrine glands
  • skin conductance
  • individual differences
  • heart rate

  • increased blood
  • relevant questions
  • control questions
  • strain gauge
  • parasympathetic activation

  • sympathetic activation
  • autonomic nervous
  • skin resistance
  • resistors wired
  • passive coping

  • reflect simple
  • reflex serves
  • active resistors
  • vasomotor reactivity
  • compensatory adjustment

  • ventricular contractility
  • primarily vagal
  • carotid sinus
  • activation affords
  • sinus increase

  • intermediolateral cell
  • pavlovian conditioning
  • simple pavlovian
  • considered arousing
  • upright posture


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