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PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY
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Psychophysiology is relatively new as a separate discipline; in the mid-1950s a group of

physiological psychologists began referring to themselves as psychophysiologists.
However, the subject matter of psychophysiology the interaction of mind and body-
has been studied for centuries by people trained as philosophers, physicists, physicians,
physiologists, and, most recently, psychologists.
John Stern (1964) defined the work of psychophysiology as any research in
which the dependent variable (the subjects response) is a physiological measure and the
independent variable (the factor manipulated by the experimenter) a behavioral one. If
subjects are shown slides, some of landscapes and some of car accident scenes, and the
subjects heart rates are recorded, we have an example of a psychophysiological
experiment according to Sterns definition. The dependent variable is heart rate and the
independent variable is type of slide (landscape or car accident scene). This study would
exemplify the typical psychophysiological experiment in which something was done to
the subject and the subjects physiological responses were recorded. Rather than
viewing slides, the subject might have been solving problems, experiencing an
embarrassing situation, waiting to receive an electric shock, or watching a radar screen
for signs of enemy planes. Rather than heart rate, the physiological response recorded
might have been sweating; a change in blood pressure, muscle potentials, or cortisol
levels in saliva; change in the size of the pupil of the eye; alterations in brain waves,
respiration, stomach motility, or penis size; or any of several other bodily changes.
Sterns definition of psychophysiology is not incorrect, but with the passage of
time it has become too limiting. The type of research he was defining, as just described,
examined the physiological changes that accompanied certain psychological or
behavioral manipulations. More recent experiments conducted by psychophysiologists
show that it is equally tenable to manipulate physiological variables and examine
behavioral changes. In a study typical of newer research, the heart rate of subjects was
modified by biofeedback and their ability to withstand pain measured. (A glossary is
provided at the back of the book that includes definitions of technical terms. These
terms are italicized the first time they appear in the text). The dependent variable in this
case is a behavioral one: the indication of how much pain the subject can tolerate. The
independent variable is a physiological one: the subjects heart rate.
Psychophysiologists are not the only group of behavioral scientists who study
the relationship of physiological and psychological variables. Psychophysiologists are a
subset of a larger group of behavioral scientists who were referred to as physiological
psychologists until recently, and are now referred to as biological psychologists,
psychobiologists, or behavioral neuroscientists. What are some of the differences in the
approaches used by psychophysiologists and these other types of biological
psychologists?. Other biological psychologists usually study the effects of their
manipulation of the brain or other parts of the nervous system on some aspect of
behavior. The independent variable might be destruction of a part of the brain, while the
dependent variable might be eating behavior. Such research must be conducted on
nonhuman animals and only rarely on human beings. Most psychophysiologists, on the
other hand, study the responses of humans rather than nonhuman animals; therefore,

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such researchers must limit their techniques of data collection to the surface recording
of bioelectric signals. Harmless electrodes are attached to the skin over the organ of
interest. The techniques of psychophysiology have the advantage of not greatly
interfering with normal behavior, particularly when some of the newer methods (such as
ambulatory assessment) are used so that the subjects can move freely (Fahrenberg &
Myrtek, 1996). Conversely, because surface recording is used, for example, from the
scalp (rather than from deep in the brain), psychophysiologists must sacrifice some
degree of immediate biological exactitude, that is, they cannot gain access to the precise
source of the bioelectric signal. A biological psychologist might drill a hole through the
bony skull of the subject, perhaps a cat, and place a very small electrode on a single cell
in a precise part of the brain. This researcher could then record the electrical signal from
this cell while studying, for example, pleasure. The psychophysiologist placing
electrodes on the surface of the scalp must record the activity of perhaps millions of
cells and cannot say much about the nature of the cells, their number, their location, and
so on. But the psychophysiologist usually records from human subjects. So when
studying pleasure, such a researcher can simply ask subjects to describe how they feel,
rather than needing to make assumptions about their feeling state based on observable
behavior, as biological psychologists must do. And if the biological psychologist
discovers some relationship between the subjects brain activity and their behavior, this
type of researcher still must question whether that same relationship would be found
with human subjects. Neither approach, that of psychophysiologists or that of other
biological psychologists, is better than the other. They have both contributed and will
continue to contribute to our overall understanding of the relationship of physiological
and psychological variables.

Short History and Long Past

The history of psychophysiology as a separate discipline is quite brief. The formal

development of psychophysiology began in the 1950s, when a group composed mainly
of psychologists met informally under the leadership of R.C. Davis. In 1960 this group
organized the Society for Psychophysiological Research, with Chester Darrow as the
first president. Research communications among this group were initiated in 1955,
when Albert Ax began a newsletter dealing with research and instrumentation in
psychophysiology. In 1964 this newsletter developed into the journal Psychophysiology,
with Ax as the editor; this journal became the societys official publication. Two articles
in the first issues of Psychophysiology are of historical interest: Psychophysiology,
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow by Darrow (1964), and Goals and Methods of
Psychophysiology by Ax (1964). The table of contents of this first issue of
Psychophysiology reveals that in five of the eight original research articles the galvanic
skin response (or electrodermal activity, as we would say today -see chapter 13) was
the measure of interest, and there were no articles dealing with brain activity. By
contrast, in a recent issues of Psychophysiology (November 1999), out of a total of
thirteen articles, nine dealt with brain activity, and there were no articles in which
electrodermal activity was measured. This change in the psychophysiological measures
of interest to most (but not all) researches is a reflection of a great increase in interest in
cognitive functioning, plus improvements in the equipment used to record brain activity
and the availability of computers and appropriate software to analyze the signals (see
chapter 7).

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 In the remainder of this chapter, we will examine the past of psychophysiology,
including the understanding of the electrical properties of the skin, and conclude with a
brief discussion of the development of instrumentation.

The Past of Psychophysiology

The early Greeks were interested in the location within the body of intellectual,
emotional, and instinctual functioning. The philosopher Plato suggested that humans
possessed a tripartite organization. He believed that rational faculties were located in the
head. Passions were said to be located in the spinal marrow, which related them to the
heart. The instincts -or lower appetite, as they were sometimes called- were said to be
located in the spinal cord below the diaphragm, where they could influence the liver.
There were parallels to Platos system outside the Mediterranean area. In order parts of
the world, the body was also thought of as being organized into different functional
entities (e.g., charkas in the metaphysics of India) that performed differential
psychological and physiological functions with respect to the development of the
individual and the utilization of energy. In all of this philosophical investigation, there
was little of what we today refer to as experimentation. Because of his belief that our
senses deceive us, Plato rejected the idea of experimentation and placed pure thought
above empirical observation as the means to achieve knowledge. In a vein similar to
Platos, Chinese science and medicine rejected dissection as a method that would lead
to meaningful answers, relying instead on more holistic concepts of human physiology
and functioning.
Yet there is evidence of a sort of psychophysiology before the Renaissance.
Mesulam and Perry (1972) have shown, through a reexamination of texts from the third
century B.C. to the eleventh century A.D., that there was considerable empirical
sophistication in the writings of Erasistratos, Galen, and Ibn Sina.
Erasistratos, a physician during the time of Alexander, is credited with the
following example of clinical psychophysiological observation. A general of the time
married. The generals son by a previous marriage fell in love with the same woman
(his stepmother) but, realizing that his love could not be brought out into the open, he
resolved not to show his feelings. The boy then became ill and almost died. After a
number of other doctors had failed to help the boy. Erasistratos worked with him and
decided that the physical problems must be related to a problem of the mind. This
conclusion, though accurate, was not surprising because contemporary medicine held
that the mind and body affected each other. What is interesting from our standpoint is
the method Erasistratos used to determine the source of the boys problem. The
technique illustrates an early study in lie detection. Erasistratos observed the reactions
of the boy as various people came to this room. In a later account of this episode,
Plutarch reported that certain signs -stammering speech, sudden sweats, irregular
palpitations of the heart- were all present in the boy whenever the stepmother came to
see him. Thus, Erasistratos realized and correctly diagnosed the problem as being due to
the relationship between the boy and his stepmother. Mesulam and Perry remind us that
Erasistratos was actually an early psychophysiologist developing a theory of stimulus-
response specificity, a concept which will be discussed in chapter 5.
Galen, a second-century physician who is often thought of as a father of modern
physiology, reported a similar case of lovesickness he diagnosed based on the subjects
irregular pulse when she heard the name of her lover. A tenth-century example of these
same psychophysiological principles is found in the work of Ibn Sina (Avicenna), who

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is sometimes referred to as the Persian Galen. Again, Ibn Sina utilized the method of
elevated pulse rate to determine the person with whom one was in love.

Understanding the Electrical Properties of the Skin

It was not until the end of the eighteenth century and the experiments of Luigi Galvani
in Italy that the stage was set for the further development of psychophysiology (Hoff,
1936). Galvanis contribution was the demonstration that animals produce electricity
that originates within the organism itself. Before this time, it was known that muscles of
a frog, for example, would contract when connected to an electrical source, but it was
not known that the muscles were capable of producing an electrical impulse of their
own.
Galvanis research, together with the demonstration of the effect of applying
electricity to paralysed muscles, led to much speculation concerning how electricity
could improve peoples health. One theory suggested that diseases could be diagnosed
by measuring changes in the distribution of electrical current in the body. (It is
interesting to note that a similar theory is presently offered as the basis of acupuncture).
A second theory stated that there was a connection between electricity, animal
magnetism, suggestibility, and hysteria. In particular, it was thought that through the
utilization of a magnet, a hysterical symptom such as functional paralysis of an arm
could be transferred to the opposite side of the body and the originally affected side thus
restored to normal functioning. This was referred to as transfert by Charcot. It was
through experimentation with this phenomenon that Vigouroux first observed skin
resistance level changes. (For an up-to-date discussion of skin resistance and other
aspects of electrodermal activity, see chapter 13). Vigouroux measured skin resistance
while the hysterical symptom was transferred from side to side. The hysterical symptom
observed was a loss of sensitivity in part of the body, classically referred to as a
conversion reaction or hysterical anesthesia. When the anesthesia was transferred from
one side of the body to the other, Vigouroux noted that skin resistance levels taken from
the insensitive side of the body were higher than those of the normally functioning side.
After a number of these alternations, the skin resistance of each side of the body
remained similar. Thus Vigouroux may have provided us with the first documentation
of the habituation of skin resistance, that is, the diminution of a response to repeated
stimulation (see chapter 5).
Fr, another early worker in this field, was also interested in Charcots theory
of hysteria. Before turning to the electrical properties of the skin, Fr performed
research that utilized a hand dynamometer. In these studies he noted the pressure on the
dynamometer as hysterics were presented with either sensory stimulation or material of
an emotionally arousing nature. His apparent goal in these studies was to obtain some
measure of the excitation of the nervous system. To this end, he later undertook another
set of studies in which a current was applied to the anterior surface of the forearm of
subjects as they were presented with emotional and sensory stimulation. In these
studies, Fr measured the change in current flow as a function of the stimuli. Thus Fr
reported in 1888 the first study of skin resistance responses. In addition, work was also
being performed on skin conductance by Hermann, Tarchanoff, Sticker, Sommer, and
others. The interested reader may consult Neumann and Blanton (1970) for a brief
history and an excellent bibliography. At this time, we will turn to the experiments of
Mueller, Veraguth, and Jung, which helped bring international attention to the study of
skin resistance. As is often the case in science, similar or identical discoveries are made

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throughout the world by scientists working independently of one another. This was the
case with Mueller, a Swiss engineer, who observed that changes in skin resistance
appeared to correlate with changes in psychological state. Mueller consulted with
Veraguth, a neurologist, and each independently wrote a series of papers on the subject,
apparently without any knowledge of the earlier work in the area. Veraguth believed
that he had found a new reflex, sensitive to emotional factors, that would be important
in dealing with psychiatric problems.
It was in this connection that Veraguth influenced Jung, who combined the
measure of skin resistance with a word-association procedure. Jung developed a
procedure in which 100 words were said to an individual with the instruction, Answer
as quickly as possible with the first word that occurs to you. Jung timed the responses
and then repeated the list (Jung, 1910). From this procedure, Jung sought to identify
areas of the persons life which were emotionally important. In one series of
experiments (Jung, 1907; Peterson and Jung, 1907; Ricksher and Jung, 1908), Jung and
his colleagues studied the skin resistance responses of normal and abnormal
populations. He also examined changes in respiration that were concomitant with the
skin resistance response. In the last study just cited, Jung concluded that skin resistance
responses were related to attention to the stimulus and the ability to associate it with
previous occurrences, either conscious or unconscious. He also stated that physical
stimuli elicit a greater response than psychological ones and that the reaction is greater
in normal populations than in pathological ones.

Instrumentation

The first instrument capable of reproducing a continuous record of a rapidly changing

bioelectrical event was the capillary electrometer developed in the 1870s by Marey
(Geddes and Baker, 1968). This instrument consisted of a tube filled with sulfuric acid
and mercury. The electrical activity would change the shape of the mercury meniscus,
and through the use of high-intensity light the variations in the contour of meniscus
would form the basis for recording. This was the first instrument to record and display
the electrical activity of a frogs heart in the 1880s; the recording was made by Sir John
Burdon-Sanderson. In 1887, Waller first recorded the electrical activity from the human
heart using electrodes on the skin.
Although the capillary electrometer stimulated research in the recording of
bioelectrical events, there were problems with the device. These problems prompted
Einthoven -who is known as the father of electrocardiography- to develop a better
device for recording electrical activity, the string galvanometer. This instrument proved
to be reliable, and even though it was developed in the 1900s it was not fully replaced
until the 1940s. A string galvanometer can be seen in the National Museum of
American History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., along with some
later devices for measuring the electrical activity of the heart.
In the 1920s additional physiological responses from human beings were
recorded, and research and clinical interest soon followed. In 1929 Berger reported the
first human electroencephalogram (EEG), which measured electrical activity from the
brain. Berger not only named the EEG, he was also the first to report the alpha rhythm
and beta rhythm. (See chapter 7 for more about brain wave activity). In his early
recording, he pushed platinum wires into the scalp. Later he placed plate electrodes on
the front and back of the head and utilized the Einthoven string galvanometer. For a
time, he also tried placing a silver spoon in the subjects mouth as the reference

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electrode, but later he abandoned the idea. In his work, Berger demonstrated EEG
changes related to eye opening, largescale stimuli, and mental activity and attention. He
also observed the EEG in brain-damaged individuals. Within ten to fifteen years, the
EEG had become a clinical tool utilizing multichannel ink writing instruments. With the
introduction of the vacuum tube and then the transistor, psychophysiological recording
was soon to become readily available as both a clinical and research tool.
The field of psychophysiological instrumentation has grown at a tremendous
rate, especially since the introduction of the integrated circuit and the personal computer
(PC). In many laboratories, the ink-writing polygraph has been replaced by a PC
equipped with an analog to digital (A/D) board and data acquisition and analysis
software. (See chapter 3 for more about instrumentation).
This revolution in instrumentation has brought with it a change in the skills
needed by the pschophysiologist. At one time, every psychophysiologist had to
construct electronic circuits for particular recording needs, and even the electrodes had
to be constructed by hand for each application. Today commercially available
equipment is excellent and extremely reliable. With less emphasis on required electronic
skills, the psychophysiologist has more time to devote to theoretical and empirical work
related to the interaction of psychological and physiological factors.

References to the specific material covered in the following chapters are

provided at the end of each chapter, but some more general sources of information
about psychophysiology are also available. Andreassi (1995), in the third edition of his
text. Psychophysiology: Human Behavior and the Physiological Response, provides
many excellent examples of applications of the psychophysiological recording
techniques covered in this book. Hugdahl (1995) reviews numerous studies in the area
of cognitive psychophysiology in his book, Psychophysiology: The Mind-Body
Perspective. A more advanced treatment of the concepts and techniques used in
psychophysiological recording can be found in Cacioppo and Tassinary (1990),
Principles of Psychophysiology: Physical, Social, and Inferential Elements. A new
Handbook of Psychophysiology (Cacioppo, Tassinary & Berntson, 2000) is available.
The URL of the web-page for the Society for Psychophysiological Research is
http://www.sprweb.org; the site has a variety of information about psychophysiology
and about the society, including information about the annual meeting and the societys
journal, Psychophysiology. Other journals devoted to psychophysiological research
include the International Journal of Psychophysiology and the Journal of
Psychophysiology.

References

Andreassi, J.L. (1995). Psychophysiology: Human behavior and physiological response

(3rd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Ax, A.F. (1964). Goals and methods of psychophysiology. Psychophysiology, 1, 8-25.
Cacioppo, J.T. & Tassinary, L.G. (1990). Principles of psychophysiology: Physical,
social, and inferential elements. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cacioppo, J.T., Tassinary, L.G., & Berntson, G.G. (2000). Handbook of
psychophysiology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Darrow, C.W. (1964). Psychophysiology, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Psychophysiology, 1, 4-7.

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Fahrenberg, J., & Myrtek, M. (Eds.) (1996). Ambulatory assessment. Computer-assisted
psychological and psychophysiological methods in monitoring and field studies.
Seattle: Hogrefe & Huber.
Hugdahl, K. (1995). Psychophysiology: The mind-body perspective. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
Geddes, L.A., & Baker, L.E. (1968). Principles of applied biomedical instrumentation.
New York: Wiley.
Hoff, H. (1936). Galvani and the pregalvanian electrophysiologists. Annals of Science,
1, 147-172.
Jung, C.G. (1907). On the psychological relations of the association experiment.
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 7, 247-255.
Jung, C.G. (1910). The association method. American Journal of Psychology, 21, 219-
269.
Mesulam, M., & Perry, J. (1972). The diagnosis of love-sickness: Experimental
psychophysiology without the polygraph. Psychophysiology, 9, 546-551.
Neumann, E., & Blanton, R. (1970). The early history of electrodermal research.
Psychophysiology, 6, 453-475.
Peterson, F., & Jung, C.G. (1907). Psychophysical investigations with the galvanometer
and insane individuals. Brain, 30, 143-182.
Ricksher, C., & Jung, C.G. (1908). Further investigations on the galvanic phenomenon
and respiration in normal and insane individuals, Journal of Abnormal
Psychology, 2, 189-217.
Stern, J.A. (1964). Towards a definition of psychophysiology. Psychophysiology, 1, 90-
91.