Psychophysiology

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Psychophysiology is the branch of psychology that is concerned with the physiological bases of psychological processes. What used to be known as cognitive psychophysiology until the mid 1990's is currently called Cognitive neuroscience. For example, 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. He/She might, for example, try to explain arachnophobia in terms of impulses coming in and out of the amygdala. However, psychophysiologists almost always 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 study the impact of physiological states and systems on psychological states. It is this perspective of studying the interface of mind and body that makes psychophysiologists most distinct.