A field of study that endeavors to integrate developmental psychology and developmental biology, largely by means of experimental methods. Mainly this is done by combining topics in psychology (e.g., attachment, emotion) with techniques from biology (e.g., heart rate), neurophysiology (e.g., single cell recordings) and genetics (e.g., gene mapping). A large part of the research is animal based, with the rat being s prominent model, but attempts are made to forge theoretical links between this research and that on developing humans. Sometimes one comes across the term ‘developmental biopsychology’ (associated with Theodore C. Schneirla (1902-1968), and wonders whether it is some way different from developmental psychobiology. If there is a difference, and nobody has so far attempted to make one, then perhaps developmental psychobiology is a top-down approach going from psychological functions to genetic and neurobiological processes and mechanisms, while developmental biopsychology is more a bottom-up approach.
See Behavioral embryology, Developmental biology, Developmental cognitive neuroscience, Developmental genetics, Developmental psychology, Neurophysiology, Neuroscience