Research Byte: Psychoinformatics: New Horizons at the Interface of the Psychological and Computing Sciences

PT J
AU Yarkoni, T
AF Yarkoni, Tal
TI Psychoinformatics: New Horizons at the Interface of the Psychological
and Computing Sciences
SO CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE
AB Psychologists live in an increasingly data-rich world, and our ability
to make continued progress in understanding the mind and brain depends
on finding new ways to organize and synthesize an ever-expanding body of
knowledge. In this article, I review current research in
psychoinformatics-an emerging discipline that uses tools and techniques
from the computer and information sciences to improve the acquisition,
organization, and synthesis of psychological data. I focus on several
areas where the application of informatics approaches has already paid
large dividends, leading to advances including novel data-collection
approaches, the adaptation of computational techniques and insights, the
enhanced aggregation and organization of psychological data, large-scale
data mining and synthesis, and improved research and publication
practices. I argue that in the coming years, informatics approaches are
likely to play the same instrumental role in shaping psychological
research that they have already played in other fields, such as genetics
and neuroscience.
PD DEC
PY 2012
VL 21
IS 6
BP 391
EP 397
ER