A question designed to be emotionally neutral to examinees. Irrelevant questions are most often placed in the first position of a question list because an orienting response usually follows the presentation of the first question and is of no diagnostic value. In CQT formats it is also used after a relevant or comparison question that has elicited a strong response to permit physiologic arousal levels to return to baseline before presenting another question. Irrelevant questions are used in nearly every type of PDD test. Also called norms or neutrals.
