Читать книгу Lifespan Development - Tara L. Kuther - Страница 82

Physiological measures are increasingly used in developmental research because cognition, emotion, and behavior have physiological indicators. For example, when speaking in public, such as when you give a class presentation, do you feel your heart beat more rapidly or your palms grow sweaty? Increases in heart rate and perspiration are physiological measures of anxiety that might be measured by researchers. Other researchers might measure cortisol, a hormone triggered by the experience of stress (Simons, Cillessen, & de Weerth, 2017).

Some researchers measure eye movements or pupil dilation as indicators of attention and interest. For example, researchers who tracked participants’ eye movements as they viewed Facebook feeds learned that people are naturally attracted to social and news posts that are rich with pictures and links, yet most people are unable to report what they have viewed, even immediately after viewing it (Vraga, Bode, & Troller-Renfree, 2016). A researcher who employs physiological measures might use an infant’s pupil dilation as a measure of interest (Wetzel, Buttelmann, Schieler, & Widmann, 2016). An advantage of physiological measures is they do not rely on verbal reports and generally cannot be faked. A challenge to physiological measures is that, although physiological responses can be recorded, they may be difficult to interpret. For example, excitement and anger may both cause an increase in heart rate. Physiological measures of brain activity are a particularly promising source of data, as discussed in the Brain and Biological Influences on Development feature. Data collection methods are summarized in Table 1.6.