Psychophysiological Inference: Implications for the Study of Affect and Emotion

生物电子学、成像和信号处理进展 程序和实验室计算在过去的几个 几十年来，我们记录信号的能力迅速提高， 非侵入性地从大脑和各种外周生理 系统具有比以往更高的灵敏度和保真度。 然而，生理信号采集的进步已经 还没有对理论和研究产生一致的影响， 社会科学和行为科学至少有三个原因：（a） 技术考虑不足，（B）基本信号 （c）基于以下理由的错误推理： 生理数据为了说明这一点，之前的研究表明， 情绪的变化会伴随着不同的 视觉上难以察觉的面部表情模式。 这些 重要的观察结果导致了关于 情绪背后的生理机制，以及 行为和社会领域的心理生理评估 科学的目的是衡量存在或程度的一个 特定的心理事件或过程（例如，焦虑， 情绪、群体凝聚力）。 然而，除非在某些情况下， 心理生理关系是同构的， 两个（或多个）理论对 生理反应，知识的变化， 心理/行为变量对生理反应的影响 没有提供足够的信息来进行强有力的推断 关于心理变量， 反应 为了说明，研究表明， 情绪会导致一种特定的内脏或面部模式， 肌电图活动并不意味着这种模式的 身体反应指数（例如，在此之前或伴随着） 这种负面情绪。 这是因为， 语句为真并不意味着逻辑上匡威的是 真的 目前的研究将探讨社会， 心理和生理过程参与情绪 使用设计来避免这些问题的范例。 这项研究， 因此，应该建立一个新的范式， 对重要的社会和行为的心理生理学调查 过程和产生更适当的测试现有的理论 情感/

Advances in bioelectronics, imaging and signal processing procedures, and laboratory computing over the past several decades have rapidly increased our ability to record signals noninvasively from the brain and various peripheral physiological systems with greater sensitivity and fidelity than ever before. Nevertheless, advances in physiological signal acquisition have not yet had a consistent impact on theory and research in the social and behavioral sciences for at least three reasons: (a) insufficient technical considerations, (b) elementary signal representation or analysis, and (c) fallacious reasoning based on physiological data. To illustrate, previous research has revealed that variations in emotion are followed by distinct but sometimes visually imperceptible patterns of facial expression. These important observations have led to inferences about the physiological mechanisms underlying emotion, and to psychophysiological assessments within the behavioral and social sciences for the purpose of gauging the presence or extent of a particular psychological event or process (e.g., anxiety, emotion, group cohesion). However, except in instances in which the psychophysiological relationship is isomorphic or in which two (or more) theories make competing predictions about the physiological response, knowledge of the effects of variations in psychological/behavioral variables on a physiological response does not provide sufficient information for a strong inference about the psychological variable given this physiological response. To illustrate, research showing that a negative emotion leads to a particular pattern of visceral or facial electromyographic activity does not imply that this pattern of bodily response indexes (e.g., was preceded or accompanied by) this negative emotion. This is because knowledge that a statement is true does not imply logically that the converse is true. The current research will examine the social, psychological, and physiological processes involved in emotion using paradigms designed to avoid these problems. This research, therefore, should both establish a new paradigm or psychophysiological inquiry on important social and behavioral processes and yield more appropriate tests of existing theories of emotion.//