[dx87]

I've talked to someone who administers polygraphs, and they said the machine is mostly theatre, but that there is normally someone watching you through a hidden camera or double sided mirror to see how you act when you think someone isn't looking. For example, when I had to take a polygraph for work, the polygrapher left the room a few times because they "needed to get a second opinion about abnormal results". That's when the hidden person would supposedly be watching to see if I acted differently when I thought I was alone.

[elliekelly]

That process sounds even more scientifically dubious than the demonstrably dubious machine.

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

Indeed, but no more so than any interview process. Perhaps they should use a whiteboard instead?

[bryanrasmussen]

right, when left alone the subject started flipping a coin (one side of which was disfigured) manically, and seeming to have an argument with themselves, sometimes shouting "you're guilty, you know it" and other times growling "those coppers will never crack me".