Psychophysiology is the branch of psychology that is concerned with the physiological bases of psychological processes. While psychophysiology was a general broad field of research in the 1960s and 1970s, it has now become quite specialized, based on methods, topic of studies and scientific traditions. Methods vary as combinations of electrophysiological methods, neuroimaging, and neurochemistry. Topics have branched into subspecializations such as social, sport, cognitive, cardiovascular, clinical and other branches of psychophysiology.
Data acquisition is the process of sampling signals that measure real-world physical conditions and converting the resulting samples into digital numeric values that can be manipulated by a computer. Data acquisition systems, abbreviated by the acronyms DAS,DAQ, or DAU, typically convert analog waveforms into digital values for processing. The components of data acquisition systems include:
Joseph Frank Ossanna, Jr. was an American electrical engineer and computer programmer who worked as a member of the technical staff at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey. He became actively engaged in the software design of Multics, a general-purpose operating system used at Bell.
A transducer is a device that converts energy from one form to another. Usually a transducer converts a signal in one form of energy to a signal in another. Transducers are often employed at the boundaries of automation, measurement, and control systems, where electrical signals are converted to and from other physical quantities. The process of converting one form of energy to another is known as transduction.
Biofeedback is the technique of gaining greater awareness of many physiological functions of one's own body by using electronic or other instruments, and with a goal of being able to manipulate the body's systems at will. Humans conduct biofeedback naturally all the time, at varied levels of consciousness and intentionality. Biofeedback and the biofeedback loop can also be thought of as self-regulation. Some of the processes that can be controlled include brainwaves, muscle tone, skin conductance, heart rate and pain perception.
Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) is a system-design platform and development environment for a visual programming language developed by National Instruments.
Dissection is the dismembering of the body of a deceased animal or plant to study its anatomical structure. Autopsy is used in pathology and forensic medicine to determine the cause of death in humans. Less extensive dissection of plants and smaller animals preserved in a formaldehyde solution is typically carried out or demonstrated in biology and natural science classes in middle school and high school, while extensive dissections of cadavers of adults and children, both fresh and preserved are carried out by medical students in medical schools as a part of the teaching in subjects such as anatomy, pathology and forensic medicine. Consequently, dissection is typically conducted in a morgue or in an anatomy lab.
Biorobotics is an interdisciplinary science that combines the fields of biomedical engineering, cybernetics, and robotics to develop new technologies that integrate biology with mechanical systems to develop more efficient communication, alter genetic information, and create machines that imitate biological systems.
Fetal pigs are unborn pigs used in elementary as well as advanced biology classes as objects for dissection. Pigs, as a mammalian species, provide a good specimen for the study of physiological systems and processes due to the similarities between many pig and human organs.
Analogue electronics are electronic systems with a continuously variable signal, in contrast to digital electronics where signals usually take only two levels. The term analogue describes the proportional relationship between a signal and a voltage or current that represents the signal. The word analogue is derived from the Greek word ανάλογος analogos meaning proportional.
The Favaloro University is a private university in the city of Buenos Aires in Argentina. It was founded by surgeon René Favaloro in 1992; it obtained its definitive authorization on October 23, 2003, by decree 963/03 of president Néstor Kirchner. Favaloro did not see his project completely realised, for he committed suicide a few years before completion.
Sonomicrometry is a technique of measuring the distance between piezoelectric crystals based on the speed of acoustic signals through the medium they are embedded in. Typically, the crystals will be coated with an epoxy 'lens' and placed into the material facing each other. An electrical signal sent to either crystal will be transformed into sound, which passes through the medium, eventually reaching the other crystal, which converts the sound into electricity, detected by a receiver. From the time taken for sound to move between the crystals and the speed of sound in the medium, the distance between the crystals can be calculated.
PowerLab is a data acquisition system developed by ADInstruments comprising hardware and software and designed for use in life science research and teaching applications. It is commonly used in physiology, pharmacology, biomedical engineering, sports/exercise studies and psychophysiology laboratories to record and analyse physiological signals from human or animal subjects or from isolated organs. The system consists of an input device connected to a Microsoft Windows or Mac OS computer using a USB cable and LabChart software which is supplied with the PowerLab and provides the recording, display and analysis functions. The use of PowerLab and supplementary ADInstruments products have been demonstrated on the Journal of Visualised Experiments.
Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) is an activity-based, group-learning instructional strategy.
Body reactivity is usually understood as an organism's functional ability of its body to react adequately in response to influence the environment. It is not to be confused with resistance, which is its physiological stability against the influence of pathogenic factors. The body reactivity can range from homeostasis to a fight or flight response. Ultimately, they are all governed by the nervous system.
Neuromechanics is an interdisciplinary field that combines biomechanics and neuroscience to understand how the nervous system interacts with the skeletal and muscular systems to enable animals to move. In a motor task, like reaching for an object, neural commands are sent to motor neurons to activate a set of muscles, called muscle synergies. Given which muscles are activated and how they are connected to the skeleton, there will be a corresponding and specific movement of the body. In addition to participating in reflexes, neuromechanical process may also be shaped through motor adaptation and learning.
The Golgi tendon organ (GTO) is a proprioceptor – a type of sensory receptor that senses changes in muscle tension. It lies at the interface between a muscle and its tendon known as the musculotendinous junction also known as the myotendinous junction. It provides the sensory component of the Golgi tendon reflex.
Anant B. Parekh is professor of Physiology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford.
TIMS, or Telecommunication Instructional Modeling System, is an electronic device invented by Tim Hooper and developed by Australian engineering company Emona Instruments that is used as a telecommunications trainer in educational settings and universities.
