Physiological Methods

The Chair of Biopsychology has technical equipment for the acquisition of various physiological parameters:

• Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
• Actigraphie 

Heart Rate Variability

The term heart rate variability (HRV) describes the normal periodic fluctuations of the interval between heart beats. HRV occurs at different frequencies and is a natural phenomenon in healthy individuals. HRV is increasingly seen as an important measure in biopsychological research, the investigation of which may provide detailed insights into cardiac regulation by the autonomic nervous system. Evidence of a predictive value for the course of disease in different clinical conditions makes HRV an additional interesting measure for biopsychological research.

Actiheart

(Camntech Ltd., Cambridge, UK) 

• Simultaneous measurement of heart interbeat intervals (IBI) & motility data 

Polar RS800

(Polar Electro GmbH, Büttelborn, Germany)

• Measurement of heart IBI data

Actigraphie

The ambulatory recording of motility by watch-like units (wrist actigraphy) is often used in biopsychological research, e.g. to observe activity patterns over longer periods of time or to gain an objective measure of sleep/wake rhythms. 

At the Department of Biopsychology Actiwatch units (Camntech Ltd., Cambridge, UK) are used for outpatient motility assessment.