Learn To Behave

Currently, relatively little is known about the causes of neurodevelopmental conditions such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism. My research aims to understand more about the biological basis of these impairing conditions. I do this by measuring the brain’s response to specific tasks or questions. These measurements show subtle differences between children and adults who have these conditions compared with those who do not. This information can help pinpoint the causes of these conditions and lead to the development of better treatments.

Addiction can be thought of in terms of classical conditioning, that is to say that environmental cues can be associated with the effects of a drug, whether that drug be chocolate or tobacco. Understanding the mechanism through which conditioned drug seeking behaviour is reinforced through reward e.g. acquiring the sought after drug could be the key to understanding how to break the hold of addictive cycles.

Maria is a social psychologist and some of her research interests lie within Intimate Relationships, Relationship Conflict, Sexuality, LGBT psychology Masculinity and Femininity. Maria is the Course Leader for the BSc (Hons) Psychology with Criminology and the BSc (Hons) Psychology with Sociology at Nottingham Trent University. She also teaches on several undergraduate modules, including Social and Lifespan Developmental Psychology, Gender Body Image and Identity, The Psychology of Religion and the Psychology of Sex. Maria supervises projects at undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD level.