Psychophysiology

Psychophysiology (from Greek ψῡχή, psȳkhē, "breath, life, soul"; φύσις, physis, "nature, origin"; and -λογία, -logia) is the branch of psychology that is concerned with the physiological bases of psychological processes. While psychophysiology was a general broad field of research in the 1960s and 1970s, it has now become quite specialized, and has branched into subspecializations such as social psychophysiology, cardiovascular psychophysiology, cognitive psychophysiology, and cognitive neuroscience.

Background

Some people have difficulty distinguishing a psychophysiologist from a physiological psychologist, two very different perspectives. Psychologists are interested in why we may fear spiders and physiologists may be interested in the input/output system of the amygdala. A psychophysiologist will attempt to link the two. Psychophysiologists generally study the psychological/physiological link in intact human subjects. While early psychophysiologists almost always examined the impact of psychological states on physiological system responses, since the 1970s, psychophysiologists also frequently study the impact of physiological states and systems on psychological states and processes. It is this perspective of studying the interface of mind and body that makes psychophysiologists most distinct.

Psychophysiology (journal)

Psychophysiology is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Society for Psychophysiological Research. It was established in 1964. Its current editor-in-chief is Robert F. Simons (University of Delaware). The journal covers research in psychophysiology.

According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2014 impact factor of 2.986, 21st out of 76 journals in the category "Psychology", 21st out of 83 journals in the category "Physiology", and 115th out of 252 journals in the category "Neuroscience".

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