MPO 502 Psychophysiology
This course describes the methods of psychophysiology. It will be shown that these methods can be used to construct quantitative physiological metrics that are useful in clinical psychology and neuropsychiatry. It will be argued that while the nonspecificity of these measures typically precludes diagnostic utility, their longitudinal application may provide a means of assessing the response to treatment. Additionally, research will be reviewed indicating that it may be possible to construct physiologically based measures of psychological resilience. Clinical areas emphasized in the course will include traumatic brain injury, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and pediatric/adolescent polytrauma. The following technologies will be introduced: heart rate variability, electroencephalography (EEG), quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG), event related potentials (ERPs), eye tracking, magnetoencephalography (MEG), computed axial tomography (CAT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET).