​Featured Research - Psychopharmacology 2018

When given appetite-suppressing medication, many people eat less food afterwards, but others show no effect or may even consume more food. For the first time, we reported that these 'responders' and 'non-responders' differ in how their brains respond food before they take even a single dose of the medication. This suggests that we might be able to predict who will respond to a given anti-obesity medication to ensure that people are only given medication that will work for them.

​Published Papers

19. Spetter, M. S., Higgs, S., Dolmans, D., Thomas, J. M., Reniers, R. L. E. P., Rotshtein, P., & Rutters, R. (2020). Neural correlates of top-down guidance of attention to food: an fMRI study. Physiology & Behaviour,  113085.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2020.113085

18. Hawkins, L. K., Farrow, C., & Thomas, J. M. (2020). Do perceived norms of social media users’ eating habits and preferences predict our food consumption and BMI? Appetite, 149, 104611.                                                                                  doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2020.104611. Click here for link

17. Farrow, c., Belcher, E., Coulthard, H., Thomas, J. M., Lumsden, J., Hakobyan, L., & Haycraft, E. (2019). Using repeated visual exposure, rewards and modelling in a mobile application to increase fruit and vegetable acceptance in children. Appetite. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2019.104327. Click here for link

16. ​​Salmon, N. J., Farrow, C., & Thomas, J. M. (2019). Assessing the Effects of Vegetable Consumption on the Psychological Health of Healthy Adults: A Systematic Review of Prospective Research. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqz080. Click here for link

15. Liu, J., Thomas, J. M.,  & Higgs, S. (2019). The Relationship Between Social Identity, Social Norm and Eating Intentions and Behaviours. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 82, 217-230. Click here for link

​14. Higgs, S., Liu, J., Collins, E. I. M., & Thomas, J. M. (2019). Using social norms to encourage healthier eating. Nutrition Bulletin, 44, 43-52. Click here for link

13. Collins, E. I. M., Thomas, J. M., Robinson, E. L., Aveyard, P.  Jebb, S. A., Herman, C. P., & Higgs, S. (2019). Two observational studies examining the effect of a social norm and a health message on the purchase of vegetables in student canteen settings. Appetite, 132, 122-130. Click here for link

12. Thomas, J. M., Dourish, C. T., Tomlinson, J., Hassan-Smith, Z., Hansen, P. C., & Higgs, S. (2018). The 5-HT2C receptor agonist meta-chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP) reduces palatable food consumption and BOLD fMRI responses to food images in healthy female volunteers. Psychopharmacology, 235, 257-267. Click here for link

11. Higgs, S., Spetter, M., Thomas, J. M., Rotshtein, P., Lee, M., Hallschmid, M., & Dourish, C. T. (2017). Interactions between metabolic, reward and cognitive processes in appetite control: implications for novel weight management therapies. Psychopharmacology, 31, 1460-1474. Click here for link

10. Thomas, J. M., Robinson, E. L., Aveyard, P., Jebb, S. A., Herman, C. P., & Higgs, S. (2017). Using a descriptive norm message to increase vegetable selection in a workplace restaurant setting. Health Psychology, 36, 1026-1033. Click here for link

9. Thomas, J. M., Liu, J., Robinson, E., Aveyard, P., Herman, C. P., & Higgs. S. (2016). The effects of liking norms and descriptive norms on vegetable consumption: a randomised experiment. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 442. Click here for link

8. Higgs, S. & Thomas, J. M., (2016). Social influences on eating. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences​, 9, 1-6. Click here for link

7. Thomas, J. M., Higgs, S., & Dourish, C. T. (2016). Test-retest reliability and effects of repeated testing and satiety on performance of an Emotional Test Battery. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 38, 416-33. Click here for link

6. Thomas, J. M., Dourish, C. T. & Higgs, S. (2015). Effects of awareness that food intake is being measured by a universal eating monitor on the consumption of a pasta lunch and a cookie snack in healthy female volunteers. Appetite, 92, 247-251. Click here for link

5. Thomas, J. M., Higgs, S., Dourish, C. T., Hansen, P., Harmer, C. J., & McCabe, C. (2015). Satiation attenuates BOLD activity in brain regions involved in reward and increases activity in an inhibitory control area: an fMRI study in healthy volunteers. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 101, 697-704. Click here for link

4. Thomas, J. M., Tomlinson, J., Hassan-Smith, Z., Dourish, C. T., & Higgs, S. (2014). Effects of the 5-HT2C receptor agonist meta-chlorophenylpiperazine on appetite, food intake and emotional processing in healthy volunteers. Psychopharmacology (Berl), 231, 2449-59. Click here for link

3. Robinson E, Thomas, J. M., Aveyard, P., & Higgs, S. (2014). What everyone else is eating: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect of informational eating norms on eating behavior. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 114, 414-429. Click here for link

2. Robinson, E., Harris, E., Thomas, J. M., Aveyard, P., & Higgs, S. (2013). Reducing high calorie snack food in young adults: A role for social norms and health based messages. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 10, 73. Click here for link

1. Higgs, S., Rutters, F., Thomas, J. M., Naish, K., & Humphreys, G. (2012). Motivational modulation of top-down attentional guidance: Enhanced capture of attention by food in working memory. Appetite, 59, 71-75. Click here for link

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