A PSYCHOMETRIC PERSPECTIVE ON PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL MEASURES

Psychophysiological measures are a useful complement to self-report or behavioral measures because they can assess Fundamentally different p rocesses or more sensitively assess the same processes as those target ed by other types of measures. To be maximally beneficial, psychophysi ological measures must meet the psychometric criteria that are commonl y applied to self-report or behavioral measures. Empirical findings to date indicate that the temporal stability of psychophysiological meas ures thought to assess individual differences is variable and that res earchers should devote more attention to systematic assessment of reli ability, stability, and generalizability. The most critical psychometr ic issue involves construct validity and the establishment of linkages between psychophysiological measures and specific psychological proce sses. Several methodological and conceptual reasons for the difficulti es that researchers encounter in the attempt to establish such linkage s are discussed. Methodological guidelines for maximizing the reliabil ity, temporal stability, and psychological meaningfulness of psychophy siological measures are proposed.