Psychophysiology

Psychophysiology is a field in medicine that addresses the interaction between physical and psychological reactions of people and animals. Studying how the body physically responds to emotional and psychological conditions provides a noninvasive way for physicians to measure the physical aspects of these conditions. For instance, since a person experiencing anxiety often has an increased heartbeat and also breathes faster, measuring heart rate and breathing can give a physician a way to quantify the person’s anxiety.

Background

Physicians have long realized that the body provides observable signs of problems that are going on inside. Sometimes, this can help them learn about conditions that they would have no other way to study. For instance, seeing how people’s ability to move or speak was affected by injuries to different parts of the head helped physicians understand what parts of the brain are responsible for movement and speech. Similarly, observing how someone’s personality is affected by a brain injury provides insight into the brain’s structure and function.

Although the connection between the mind and body was known for centuries, formal study of the concept can be traced to the 1950s. Prior to that, the interactions of the mind and body were studied by philosophers and some physicians. By the 1950s, there was growing interest among physicians and psychologists concerning the connection between the mind and body and their mutual influence on human health. Those medical doctors interested in the mind-body connection coined the name psychophysiologists for themselves and established a new area of study.

Overview

The field of psychophysiology emphasizes the ways that things that are happening in the mind affect the physical body. Emotions and other psychological conditions that are manifested in the brain can be observed in the effects they have on the body. For instance, when someone is angry, their heart rate increases, breathing becomes shallower, facial color may change, fists clench, and more. The person does not verbalize their anger and may attempt to hide it, but at least some of these signs will be observable.

The polygraph, or lie detector, is an example of this concept in action. The term lie detector is a misnomer because the machine does not actually detect lies. What it does detect are the physical responses people often have when lying. Lying usually creates anxiety, which, in turn, raises the heart and respiration rates. Blood pressure increases, salivation decreases, and sweating increases. The polygraph measures these things while the person is asked a series of yes or no questions. The idea is that if the person is telling the truth, they will remain calm and these bodily responses will not occur. If they are lying, the test identifies the corresponding physical manifestations of their anxiety. The problem with polygraphs, however, is that people can train themselves to suppress many of these signs, and people who are innocent may be so anxious about being questioned that their results falsely show them to be lying.

Researchers are working on new ways to use the body’s signals to detect lying and other aspects of the mind that remain hidden. They are also working on finding other practical ways to use physical responses to reveal information about what is going on inside the body. There are a number of physical responses that can be measured with devices that are increasingly easier and cheaper to access. These include the following:

• Electroencephalography—measures brain activity
• Electrocardiography—measures heart rate
• Electrodermal activity monitor or galvanic skin response monitor—measures skin temperature and sweat
• Electromyography—measures activity of skeletal muscles
• Electrooculography—measures eye movement
• Respirometry—measures breathing
• Dynamometry—measures strength

Interest in using these methods to investigate how the mind and body interact is high because they are noninvasive. It is not always possible or ethical to attempt to affect how a person thinks, acts, or feels by means such as surgical intervention or the administration of drugs or other substances. However, many of these tests use devices that are attached to the outside of the body and increasingly come in wireless versions that allow a person to move around in a normal manner. This allows experts to gather information about how the person is feeling with very little effect on the person being studied. This is of particular interest to neuroscientists and neurologists because it opens a new way to study how the brain works.

As technology evolves, these devices are becoming smaller and more user-friendly, which allows studies to collect data for longer periods and may increase the accuracy of results because of the patient’s increased comfort. These devices include adhesive patches with micro-sensors called bio-patches and earbuds with physiological sensors. Combining several monitoring devices into one, called multi-sensor integration, can help broaden the range of physical responses recorded. Additionally, artificial intelligence and machine learning can help interpret and analyze physical response data and identify patterns.

With so many ways to measure various aspects of how the body works, there are increasingly broad ways to apply the field of psychophysiology. For example, there is great interest in finding ways to measure and monitor changes in how people experience and respond to stress. The research done by psychophysiologists has implications for not only physicians and psychologists but also for physical therapists, pharmacologists, and athletes and those professionals who train and coach them.

Experts can also use this information to study patterns in groups of people. By gathering information on the history and lifestyles of certain individuals and then measuring their physical reactions to tasks that generate emotions, researchers can form hypotheses about the effect of various types of life experiences on people’s future responses to different situations. For example, researchers can use the background information they have gathered to identify a group of people who have been affected by a natural disaster and a group who has not been affected. They can then have those people perform tests designed to create frustration, anger, satisfaction, etc., while their physical responses are measured. This can help researchers understand the long-term emotional effects of a natural disaster on a person’s psyche.

Bibliography

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Infantolino, Zachary, and Gregory A. Miller. “Psychophysiological Methods in Neuroscience.” Noba, 2018, nobaproject.com/modules/psychophysiological-methods-in-neuroscience. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

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“What Is Psychophysiology?” NeuroDevice, www.neurodevice.pl/en/knowledge-base/psychophysiology. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

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Wolchover, Natalie. “How to Pass a Lie Detector Test (Whether You’re Lying or Not).” LiveScience, 21 Sept. 2011, www.livescience.com/33512-pass-lie-detector-polygraph.html. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.