Peter Clayson

Associate Professor

CV: View CV
Phone: (813) 974-6480
Email: clayson@usf.edu
Office: PCD 4110

Campus: Tampa

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2025–Present | Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of South Florida
2020–2025 | Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of South Florida
2017–2019 | Assistant Project Scientist, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles
2017-2019 | Postdoctoral Fellow, Desert Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System

EDUCATION

2017, Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Minors in Behavioral Neuroscience and Quantitative Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
2012, M.A. in Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
2010, B.S. in Psychology - Clinical Emphasis, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT

SPECIALTY AREA

Clinical Psychophysiology, Psychometrics and Quantitative Methods, Individual Differences and Biomarker Development

TEACHING

Undergraduate Research Methods
Clinical Supervision
Open Science Practices

RESEARCH

My research focuses on the measurement and clinical translation of psychophysiological signals, particularly electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potentials (ERPs). A central goal is to determine when these measures are sufficiently reliable and valid to support individual-differences and clinical inference. This work integrates psychometric theory, generalizability theory, multilevel modeling, and open-science methods to evaluate how paradigm design, data-processing decisions, scoring procedures, and other methodological choices affect measurement quality.

A complementary line of research examines performance monitoring, reward processing, and cognitive control in healthy and clinical populations, including anxiety, depression, and psychosis. These studies characterize both between-person differences and trial-to-trial within-person variability to clarify relationships among neural activity, behavior, psychological processes, and clinically relevant outcomes.

Current projects focus on optimizing psychophysiological paradigms for individual-differences research; developing psychometric frameworks for biomarker evaluation, standardization, and clinical translation; and improving reproducibility through preregistration, registered reports, multiverse analyses, and open-source tools. This program includes an NIMH-funded R01 to develop the Psychophysiologist’s Reliability Analysis Toolbox (PsyRAT) and apply generalizability theory to psychophysiological measurement and task optimization. More broadly, this work seeks to establish the measurement foundation needed to move promising biological signals from basic research toward fit-for-purpose clinical applications.

SELECTED HONORS, FUNDING, AND PROFESSIONAL ROLES

2025 Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology, Individual Differences, American Psychological Association

2023 Award for Distinguished Early Career Contributions to Psychophysiology, Society for Psychophysiological Research

2023 Outstanding Research Achievement Award, University of South Florida

FEATURED PUBLICATIONS

Visit Dr. Clayson's Google Scholar Profile to view more publications

Clayson, P. E. (2025). Translating EEG biomarkers into clinical tools: A psychometric blueprint illustrated with the error-related negativity. American Psychologist, 80(9), 1410–1424. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0001620

Rocha, H. A., Holbrook, A., Hajcak, G., Keil, A., Rast, P., Thayer, J. F., Verona, E., Vispoel, W. P., & Clayson, P. E. (2026). Beyond classical metrics: Generalizability theory across psychophysiological modalities. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 222, 113321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2026.113321

Park, B., Holbrook, A., Rast, P., Light, G. A., Foti, D., Kotov, R., & Clayson, P. E. (2025). Trial-by-trial ERP-behavior relationships in psychosis: Between- and within-person variability in performance monitoring adjustments. Schizophrenia Research, 282, 158–165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2025.06.010

Holbrook, A., Park, B., Baldwin, S. A., Riesel, A., Larson, M. J., & Clayson, P. E. (2025). Psychometric reliability of ERN and Pe across flanker, Stroop, and go/no-go tasks: A direct and conceptual replication. Psychophysiology, 62, e70042. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.70042

Clayson, P. E., McDonald, J. B., Park, B., Holbrook, A., Baldwin, S. A., Riesel, A., & Larson, M. J. (2025). Registered replication report of the construct validity of the error-related negativity (ERN): A multi-site study of task-specific ERN correlations with internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Psychophysiology, 62, e14496. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14496

Clayson, P. E. (2024). The psychometric upgrade psychophysiology needs. Psychophysiology, 61, e14522. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14522

Clayson, P. E., & Miller, G. A. (2017). Psychometric considerations in the measurement of event-related brain potentials: Guidelines for measurement and reporting. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 111, 57–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2016.09.005