Tassinary illuminates context for interpreting psychophysiological measurement techniques

In the American Psychological Association’s forthcoming “Handbook of Research Methods in Psychology,” Lou Tassinary, professor of visualization at Texas A&M University, contributes a chapter that provides context for the interpretation of physiological signals as indicators of psychological processes.

“For well over a century the noninvasive recording of peripheral physiological activity has enriched our understanding of embodied and embedded psychological processes,” writes Tassinary, who holds a doctorate degree in psychology from Dartmouth College. “For the past two decades such measures have, in addition, afforded the necessary context for interpreting the significance of direct measures of neural activity.”

In his chapter, “Peripheral physiological measures of psychological constructs,” Tassinary provides a historical, conceptual and methodological context, with a particular focus on the three most widely used peripheral measures — the measurement of cardiovascular activity, the measurement of palmar sweating and the measurement of muscle activity.