Originator of the Trizone Comparison Test, more often referred to as the Zone Comparison Technique. Backster (d. 2013) also introduced to the polygraph profession the concepts of “psychological set,” zones, spots, superdampening, anticlimax dampening, symptomatic (outside issue) questions, exclusionary comparison questions, and 7-position scoring for use in chart analysis. Backster owned a private training facility in San Diego, California, and provided training for thousands of examiners since the late 1940s. He began the CIA polygraph program in 1949.
