psychogalvanometer

[sahy-koh-gal-vuh-nom-i-ter]

noun

Medicine/Medical.

1. a type of galvanometer for detecting and measuring psychogalvanic currents.

Word History and Origins

Origin of psychogalvanometer¹

First recorded in 1930–35; psycho- + galvanometer

Example Sentences

Thereupon the judge called in a psychologist and tested Goldman with a psychogalvanometer which, by recording electrical impulses in a man's skin, is supposed to show whether he answers questions truthfully.

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Ph.D., head of Fordham University's department of psychology, the psychogalvanometer works not on the heart and lungs but on the minute electrical currents coursing through the body.

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Tested last week in Manhattan was another such instrument�the psychogalvanometer.

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