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www.aeirc-edu.com                                                                                                                                                                               Volume 1- 2014 

Page | 1 
©Advance Education Institute & Research Centre-2014                                                                                             

WHAT IS PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY? WHERE TO GO NEXT? 
Kaneez Fatima Shad 

Medical and Molecular Biosciences -University of Technology Sydney, Australia. 

Corresponding Author Email: Kaneez.Fatima-Shad@uts.edu.au 

 

Psychophysiology is an area of science which helps us to 

differentiate between self-reported emotion and physiological 

expression of emotion. Many techniques such as EMG, EEG and 

MEG (Magnetoencephalograph) can be used for measuring 

muscular and electrical activities as well as event related 

potentials (ERP). EMG of facial muscles (e.g. corrugator, 

zygomatic, and levator labii superioris/alesque) patterning plus 

autonomic physiology (e.g. heart rate and skin conductance 

level) gives a basic picture of a person sense for certain 

situations.  For example activity at a facial muscle, the levator 

labii was higher during disgust than during anger (Kuhl, 2008). 

Psychophysiology deals with the exploitation of psychological 

variables and their equivalent pragmatic effects on physiological 

processes. Thus, this discipline examines the interactions 

between physiological and psychological events. In general, 

psychophysiology studies the behavioral consequences of 

physiological properties of the body at a biochemical and 

anatomical level, and vice versa. In short this discipline examines 

the perception of emotion, behavioral states, stress, cognitive 

task performance, personality and intelligence. The initiation, 

execution, maintenance and termination of behavioral events can 

be determined by observing the relationships between 

psychological factors, stimulus perception and recognition, 

physiological response are used to better understand these 

perceptions. This discipline is generally divided into six major 

areas: 

Developmental psychophysiology: deals with the changes in the 

physiological system with the age and related behavior. Usually 

brain activities such as event-related potentials (ERPs) are used to 

examine these behavioral changes. 

  

Cognitive psychophysiology: This branch deals with the 

association between the cognitive task performance and 

physiological events. For example, it looks at how perception, 

movement, attention, language and memory may be associated 

with particular features of the brain electrical and magnetic 

activities. The vision of having an electrophysiological index of 

cognitive process has led to the exploration of P300 event of ERP 

and at present P300 amplitude and latency can be used as a guide 

for the nature and timing of a subject’s cognitive response to a 

stimulus. Many reasons such as attentiveness, orientation, decision 

making have been suggested to explain the observed variation in 

P300.  Ray Johnson described beautifully the three dimension 

relationship of event perception and P300 amplitude, indicating the 

importance of information transmission, subjective probability and 

stimulus meaning (Johnson, 1986). 

 

Clinical psychophysiology: The study of psychological disorders 

and their relationship with physiology and pathophysiology. This 

area also deals with the observation for the effectiveness of 

treatment regimens and drug effects on the psychological behavior. 

Benefits of any treatment applied should be measured in terms of 

behavioral outcomes as well as changes observed both in 

physiological parameters and biochemical assays.  

 

Applied psychophysiology: It is a branch which deals with the 

application of psychophysiological techniques to occupational, 

recreational and clinical areas.  Applied Psychophysiologist 

monitors certain physiological activities within an individual, and 

provides instant and appropriate feedback called the biofeedback. 

This branch deals with a variety of practical problems such as 

stuttering, respiration control and can be cured by self-control 

therapeutic techniques. 

   

Individual differences:  This area looks specifically at the relation 

of physiological processes and anatomical structures to measure 

the personality and intelligence. In the past histological surveys of 

human cadavers’ shows that the number of dendrites and their 

length are positively correlated with the level of education within 

individuals. At present we can measure such relationships by using 

different types of MRIs and other electrical activity measuring 

techniques. 

 

Social psychophysiology: It is deals with the relationship between 

physiology and social behavior.  For example an individual’s 

group dynamics can be observed by monitoring the physiological 

changes such as pupil size, muscle tone and skin electrical 

resistance.  All areas of psychophysiology require a number of 

measurement processes for describing the activity of a particular 

physiological system and its psychological outcome. In the 

muscular system, skeletal muscle activity is carried out by 

electromyography, in which the electrical potentials that are 

associated with contractions of muscle fibers are measured and can 

be assessed for their psychological effects.  For example 

electromyographic activity is associated with real smiles when 

conducting easier mental tasks. 

As mentioned in the beginning that autonomic physiology closely 

reflects the psychological effects and skin conductance and heart 

rate are good examples of such expressions. Electrodermal activity 

or galvanic skin response is used to measures the sweat gland 

action by evaluating the electrical properties of the skin that are 

associated with the gland. This skin response is receptive to any 

changes in emotional and cognitive activities. Likewise, pupillary 

response depicts the dilation of the pupil of the eye, while 

electrooculography describes the measurement of eye movement. 

In addition, eye blink rate and duration can be measured. Pupillary 

dilation is considered to be an indicative of subject’s extreme 

interest and excitement, while electro-oculograms are regularly 

used in sleep research, for instance, as one indicator of entry to the 

phase of sleep known as REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. 

Electrocardiography refers to the recording of the electrical 

potentials generated by the heart muscles over the period of one 

heartbeat. The electrical waveform produced by the sequence of 

contractile responses in a heartbeat is referred to as the PQRST 

complex. Measures such as heart beat variability have been widely 

used to indicate the mental workload. Correspondingly, measures 

of the breathing and gas-exchange process are made by using 

oximetry for examining the arterial blood oxygen (O2) levels and 

infrared capnometry for the lung carbon dioxide (CO2) levels. 

There is a strong relationship between respiration and 



EDITORIAL  
www.aeirc-edu.com                                                                                                                                                                               Volume 1- 2014 

Page | 2 
©Advance Education Institute & Research Centre-2014                                                                                             

psychological factors. An interesting finding from the analysis of 

respiration is that the individuals suffering from panic disorder 

have greater irregularity and complexity in their breathing patterns, 

which may make them more vulnerable to panic attacks. Similarly, 

the electrical activity generated by the neurons from the different 

areas of the brain can be measured by using 

electroencephalography and electrical currents generated magnetic 

fields, can be assessed by magnetoencephalography. 

Psychophysiological methods offer insight into a wide range of 

human behaviors and experiences with a range of techniques 

available to the psychophysiological researchers.  

 

Now the questions are: 

Where we are going to go from here? 

 Is this a journey from mind to molecules? 

 Or is there any organ other than brain in our body which is 

capable of dictating the behavioral features and cognitive 

outcomes?  

 

REFERENCES: 

 Kuhl, P., & Rivera-Gaxiola, M. (2008). Neural substrates of 

language acquisition. Annu. Rev. Neurosci., 31, 511-534.  

 Johnson, R. (1986). A triarchic model of P300 amplitude. 

Psychophysiology, 23(4), 367-384.

 

 


