Association for Biology Laboratory Education

Building a polygraph to teach physiology
 

Ann Yezerski

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2007, Volume 28

Abstract

This exercise is designed to test students’ knowledge of physiograph equipment (here MacLab) at the end of a semester of training. In order to construct a polygraph, the equipment must be set up to collect and display the results of EKG, plethysmograph, respiratory and Sympathetic Skin Response (SSR) data. Having previously worked with each of the pieces of data separately, the students are now responsible for the construction from transducers, through amplifiers, to the computers on their own. After successful construction, the students utilize their set-up to conduct an experiment on the validity of the technique by collecting data as in a crime setting and analyzing the results statistically.

Keywords:  electrocardiogram

Purdue University (2006)