Why is genetic psychophysiology important? The significance of the field is at least three-fold: For psychophysiologists, genetic research can reveal the causal sources of individual variability in psychophysiological responses. For behavioral and psychiatric geneticists, genetic psychophysiology can provide intermediate phenotypes that can help to bridge the gap between genes and complex behaviors such as personality traits and psychopathology, as well as provide insight into the functional role of the genetic variants that have been associated with complex behavioral or psychiatric phenotypes in genome-wide association studies. Finally, by linking genetics, cerebral and autonomic functioning, and behavior, genetic psychophysiology contributes to integrative, systems-level understanding of the nature of individual psychological differences and psychopathology.
