Why Behavioral Measures as Indirect Measures of Neurophysiological Activity Are Important for Progress in the NeuroIS discipline

Since the genesis of the discipline almost 20 years ago, there is the question whether certain measures belong in NeuroIS research at all, because they do not, strictly speaking, provide a direct measure of neurophysiological activity or a closely related neurobiological measurement such as hormone assessment. Examples include eye-tracking measures such as gaze direction, saccades, and fixation times, electromyography and related measures such as the startle reflex, and verbal expression measures (e.g., vocal pitch analysis). In this article, we briefly summarize this discussion and then outline ten arguments as to why behavioral measures as one major category of indirect measures of neurophysiological activity should be part of the accepted range of measures in NeuroIS. We conclude that the use of these behavioral measures in NeuroIS research advances the field by fostering a deeper and often more ecologically valid understanding of the interplay between humans and information and communication technologies.