Testing

 Polygraph examination: a psychophysiological test of deception or recognition sometimes referred to as lie-detection as a term of convenience. The polygraph examination is a standardized, evidence-based test of the margin of uncertainty or level of confidence surrounding a categorical conclusion of deception or the possession of knowledge or information regarding a test target issue. Test data are a combination of physiological proxies that have been shown to vary significantly with different types of test stimuli as a function of deception or truth-telling in response to the relevant investigation target stimuli as a function of deception or truth-telling in response to the relevant investigation target stimuli. The psychological basis of responses to polygraph stimuli is thought to involve attention, cognition, emotion, and behavioral conditions. The examination consists of an interview phase, to clarify the issue under investigation and related test stimuli, a data acquisition phase, during which physiological responses to test stimuli are permanently recorded, and an analysis phase during which differences in responses to different types of test stimuli are numerically quantified to calculate a statistical classifier for a categorical test result. The examiner may also provide the examinee an opportunity to explain any physiological responses and resolve any remaining inconsistencies. 

• Evidentiary Examination: A polygraph examination in which the written and stated purpose agreed to by the parties involved is to provide a diagnostic opinion as evidence in a pending judicial proceeding.
  
• Paired Testing Examination: Polygraph examinations conducted in tandem on two or more individuals by different examiners who are mutually blind to the other test results regarding a single central contested fact to which all examinees are expected to know the truth thereof. Paired-testing is used by voluntary stipulation between the testifying parties to resolve disputed facts.
  
• Investigative Examination: A polygraph examination which is intended to supplement and/or assist an investigation and for which the examiner has not been informed and does not reasonably believe that the results of the examination will be tendered for admission as evidence in a court proceeding. Investigative examinations may be conducted for screening purposes or to investigate known allegations or known incidents.
  
• Diagnostic examination: An event-specific evidentiary or investigative polygraph examination conducted to assist in determining the veracity of an examinee regarding his or her knowledge of or involvement in a reported issue or allegation. Diagnostic examinations may address a single aspect or multiple-facts of an event.
  
• Screening examination: A polygraph examination conducted in the absence of a reported incident or allegation. Screening examinations may be conducted as single issue or multiple issue exams. 
•    Post Conviction Sex Offender Testing (PCSOT) Examiner: a polygraph examiner who conducts examinations of sex offenders as a condition of treatment, probation, parole or supervised release, and who has completed specialized training consistent with APA standards.