ABSTRACT
A stimulus triggers a sequence of physiological processes which lead to a required response. These physiological processes provide a potential source for understanding the information processing that occurs between stimulus and response. Psychophysiological research methods can evaluate these physiological processes. These methods can also examine physiological processes that occur before the S-R period and determine those occurring during that period. Most of the measures of traditional psychophysiological research are suitable for clarifying cerebral mechanisms of attentive and automatic information processing only quite indirectly. In view of the limitations of traditional methods, the noninvasive evoked-potential or event-related potential techniques raised great expectations. These new techniques made it possible to study stimulus-evoked brain responses in normal human subjects. It is, this kind of physiological activity which, if any, might interest a cognitive psychologist. The advent of the magnetoencephalographic methods of brain research has signified a major step forward in attempts at locating electrical activity of the brain.
