[Physiological research and clinical psychiatry. Approach studies].

One of the research approaches followed at the Psychophysiology Unit of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, is described. After clarifying the broad concept of physiology employed in these studies, the notion of behavior is put forward as a function of tre whole living organism. Some reasons for its being neglected in traditional physiological research are briefly presented, along with comments on its relation to clinical work in psychiatry, especially in description and diagnosis. Electrophysiological studies conducted at the Psychophysiology Unit have been aimed at generating data of behavioral relevance during well-defined experimental conditions in order to obtain information complementing that obtained in other observational settings, such as psychometric testing or clinical interview. It is hoped that such approach might be used in the establishment of diagnostic categories of high consensual validity and based on culturefair indicators. As an example of methodical strategy in clinical phychophysiology, work on slow brain potentials (contingent negative variation, CNV) is briefly reviewed.