Dr Frances Maratos

I pursued both my undergraduate degree (Psychology) and PhD (Cognitive Neuroscience) at Aston University, Birmingham, before moving to the University of Southampton as a post-doctoral research fellow (Centre for the Study of Emotion and Motivation). I joined the Psychology team at Derby in October 2006 (seeking fame and fortune!) and have been here ever since, in various roles from UCP Programme Leader to Chair of the Psychology Research Ethics Committee.

Currently:

• I lead/teach on a range of on-campus modules mainly within the fields of biological, cognitive and abnormal psychology
• I host a specialist final year module 'Emotion in Context'.

PhD Completions

Lauren Kelly

PhD Title: Investigations of the Relationship between Affect and Attentional Biases in Children

Awarded Spring 2014

Kornanong Yuenyongchaiwat

PhD Title:Do cardiovascular responses to mental stress tests predict blood pressure?

Awarded Summer 2013

Kirsten McEwan
PhD Title: Non-conscious processing: Threat, Safeness, Self-esteem and compassionate Mind Games
Awarded Spring 2012

Current PhD Students

PhD Director of Studies for:

Jayne Trovati

PhD Title:Investigations of the relationship between attentional bias, affect and disordered eating in children.

Completion Expected: Autumn 2018

PhD Second Supervisor for:
Mimi Said
PhD Title:The psychology of painkiller use in the general population: A comparison between the UK & Egypt
Completion Expected: Summer 2017

PhD Second Supervisor for:

Julia Wahl

PhD Title: Compassion based interventions (training) with later stage cancer patients

Completion Expected: Summer 2017

PhD Second Supervisor for:

Ann Kirkman

PhD Title: The relationship between pain and optimisim, utilising implicit and explicit measures 

Completion Expected: Autumn 2018

PhD Second Supervisor for:

Alistair Turville

PhD Title: Long-term impact of Pain Management Programs on health Related Quality of Life  

Completion Expected: Autumnn 2020

Internship Supervisor for:

Daniel Gaffiero, University of Derby
Summer 2016

Kar-Man Chu, University of Birmingham
September 2015 - August 2016

Gabrielle Leciester, University of Derby
Summer 2014

Joana Duarte, University of Coimbra
1 February 2010 - 31 July 2010

My main research interests include:

1. Emotion processing including well-being, compassion and attentional biases
2. Visual attention and a wide range of associated psychological phenomena (e.g. memory, phobias & development)

To aid the comprehensive and robust investigation of research in these (related) fields I have chosen to adopt an integrative approach, and regularly use a wide variety of experimental methods to pursue research questions. These include psychophysiological methods (measures of reaction time and eye tracking), behavioural methods (e.g. questionnaire measures and performance accuracy measures), physiological measues (e.g. stress hormones, blood pressure and heart-rate variability) and neuroimaging methods (measures of MEG, EEG and fMRI).

• I am the Chair of the Psychology Research Ethics Committee
• I am a member of the British Association of Cognitive Neuroscience, the American Psychological Society and the British Psychological Society.

Undergraduate qualifications

• BSc Human Psychology (First class Honours), Aston University, Birmingham.

Postgraduate qualifications

• PGCert in Learning & Teaching in HE, University of Derby, Derby.

Research qualifications

• PhD Cognitive Neuroscience, Aston University, Birmingham.

Occupational qualifications

• Occupational Ability Test User, Psytech International
• Occupational Personality Assessment User, Psytech International.

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles:

Maratos, F. A.*, Duarte, J., Barnes, C., McEwan, K., Sheffield, D., & Gilbert, P. (2017). The physiological and emotional effects of touch: Assessing a hand-massage intervention with high self-critics. Psychiatry Research, 250, 221-227.

Elander, J., Said, O., Maratos, F. A., Dys, A., Collins, H., & Schofield, M. B. (2017). Development and validation of a short-form Pain Medication Attitudes Questionnaire (PMAQ-14). Pain, 158, 400-407

Stupple, E. J., Maratos, F. A., Elander, J., Hunt, T. E., Cheung, K. Y., & Aubeeluck, A. V. (2017). Development of the Critical Thinking Toolkit (CriTT): A measure of student attitudes and beliefs about critical thinking. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 23, 91-100

Elmore, N., Burt, J., Abel, G., Maratos F. A., Montague, J., Campbell, J. & Roland, M. (2016). Investigating the relationship between consultation length and patient experience: a cross-sectional study in primary care. British Journal of General Practice, bjgp-dec16

Kelly, L., Maratos, F.A.*, Lipka, S., & Croker, S. (2016). Attentional Bias towards Threatening and Neutral Facial Expressions in High Trait Anxious Children. Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, 7(3) 343-359

Richardson, M., McEwan, K., Maratos, F.A., & Sheffield, D. (2016). Joy and calm: how an evolutionary functional model of affect regulation informs positive emotions in nature. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 2(4) 308-320

Yuenyongchaiwat, K., Baker, I., Maratos, F.A., & Sheffield, D. (2016). Do Cardiovascular Responses to Active and Passive Coping Tasks predict Future Blood Pressure 10-Months Later? The Spanish journal of psychology. 19 (E10)

Owen, S., and Maratos, F. A.* (2016) Recognition of subtle and universal facial expressions in a community-based sample of adults classified with intellectual disability. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 60(4), 344-354

Maratos, F. A.*, Garner, M., Hogan, A. M., & Karl, A. (2015). When is a Face a Face? Schematic Faces, Emotion, Attention and the N170. AIMS Neurosci, 2, 172-182. 

Duarte, J., McEwan, K., Barnes, C. & Maratos, F.A.* (2015) Do therapeutic imagery practices affect physiological and emotional indicators of threat in high self-critics? Psychology and Psychotherapy: Therapy, Research and Practice  88(3) 270-284 

Maratos, F.A* & Staples, P. (2015) Attentional biases toward familiar and unfamiliar foods in Children: The role of food neophobia. Appetite, 91, 220-225. 

Yuenyongchaiwat, K., Sheffield, D., Baker, I., & Maratos, F.A. (2015). Hemodynamic responses to active and passive coping tasks and the prediction of future blood pressure in Thai participants: A preliminary prospective cohort study. Japanese Psychological Research, 57(4), 288-299. 

Simione L, Calabrese L, Marucci FS, Belardinelli MO, Raffone A, & Maratos, F.A.* (2014) Emotion Based Attentional Priority for Storage in Visual Short-Term Memory PLoS ONE 9(5): e95261. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0095261 

McEwan K, Gilbert P, Dandeneau S, Lipka S, Maratos F.A., et al. (2014) Facial Expressions Depicting Compassionate and Critical Emotions: The Development and Validation of a New Emotional Face Stimulus Set. PLoS ONE 9(2): e88783. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0088783 

Elander, J., Duarte, J., Maratos, F.A. & Gilbert, P. (2014) Predictors of painkiller dependence among people with pain in the general population. Pain Management 15 (4), 613-624 

Duro, E., Elander, J., Maratos F. A., &Stupple E. J. N., (2013). In Search of Critical Thinking: An Exploration of University Students’ and Tutors’ Understandings. Psychology, Learning & Teaching, 12, 275-281 

Maratos. F.A.*, Rippon, G.,Mogg, K., Bradley, B.P. & Senior, C. (2012)Threatening faces modulate early gamma band activity in occipital cortex. Cognitive Neuroscience 3, 62-68 

Maratos, F.A*. (2011) Temporal processing of emotional stimuli: The capture and release of attention by angry faces,  Emotion, 11, 1242-1247 [IF: 3.02]

Croker, S & Maratos, F.A. (2011) Visual Processing Speeds in Children. Child Development Research, Article ID 450178 

Longe, O., Maratos, F.A., Gilbert, P., Evans, G., Volker,F., Rockliffe, H & Rippon G (2010). Having a word with yourself:  Neural correlates of self-criticism and self-reassurance. Neuroimage, 49, 1849-1856 

Maratos, F.A*., Mogg, K, Bradley, B.P, Rippon, G. & Senior, C. (2009). Course threat images reveal oscillations in the amygdala: A magnetoencephalography study. Behavioural, Affective & Cognitive Neurosciences, 9, 133-143

Maratos F.A*., Mogg, K. & Bradley, B.P. (2008). Identification of angry facial expressions in the attentional blink. Cognition & Emotion, 22, 1340-1352 

Maratos F.A., Anderson S.J., Hillebrand A., Singh K.D & Barnes G. (2007). The spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of brain regions activated during the perception of object and non-object patterns. Neuroimage. 34, 371-383 

* = Corresponding Author

Recent Invited Talks

•             Evaluation of a compassionate mind training intervention with teachers to improve well-being

Mental Health UK, London 2017

•             What drives the prioritisation of threatening information?

International Conference on Emotion & Cognition, University of Allahabad, December 2015

•             Using self-compassion and/or touch to aid general well-being and cooping: Implications for physical health care 

4th International Conference of the Compassionate Mind Foundation, October 2015

•             Self-compassion: Is it useful in emotion regulation, coping or when considering general well-being?

University of Sheffield, October 2014

•             Quick, Dirty & All Consuming ...Emotion Processing

University of Leicester, March 2013

Recent Conference Presentations

•             Quick, Dirty & All Consuming: The prioritisation of angry faces across domains of attention and memory

BPS Cognitive Section, Nottingham-Trent University, September 2014

•             Does compassionate imagery increase physiological and behavioural indices of threat in high self-critics?

1st International Mindfulness Conference, University of Sapienza, Rome. May 2013.

Selected examples:

https://inews.co.uk/essentials/lifestyle/wellbeing/compassion-muscle-heres-strengthen/

http://www.educationforeverybody.co.uk/new-research-calls-for-greater-support-for-adults-with-intellectual-disabilities/

http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/Picky-eaters-help-University-Derby-researchers/story-26350379-detail/story.html

http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2009/08/20/angry-faces-attract-our-attent

I have additionally appeared on BBC Radio Derby & BBC East Midlands several times