If a polygraph test measures stress response, would taking drugs or other relaxants change the results?
by 
Anonymous
ANSWERS: 3
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Anti-depressant medication (i.e., Lithium, Prozac) are known to have effects, and any drug that effects mood or psychological arousal is certain to alter results. However, these drugs do not, in themselves, allow someone to beat the test, as all results in prescreening would also be skewed and would tip off a good polygraph administrator. For the record, however, there is good reason why the tests are not generally allowed as evidence in a court case: it is an unreliable measure of honesty and only measures stress. Someone afraid of the test tker would get false positives and any particularly stoic person could easily pass.
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Since some of the responses measured are as a result of sympathetic nervous system stimulation I would have thought that drugs that block these responses e.g. increase in heart rate, increase in blood pressure, increased sweating would have attenuated the result. Drugs called beta blockers have this effect,. They can reduce the physical effects of the stress response, but not the internal effects and are effective in for example reducing tremor associated with stress. For that and other reasons they are banned for Olympic athletes where taking them could improve performance in some sports e.g. pistol shooting.
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Yes, but blood pressure medications will adversly effect the test results of a polygraph, more than any other drug. if you are about to take a polygrah test, be sure to tell the polygrapher, if you are taking blood pressure medication. your polygraph examination results could show inclonclusive, meaning incorrect or false answers, even though you answered each question truthfully. this could hurt your job prospect. here is an ending thought. the taking of drugs, to deliberately try to beat a polygraph exam., will be very evident to the polygrapher. this could cancel your polygraph examination, altogether.
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