Theodoros Karapanagiotidis

Theodoros Karapanagiotidis

Lecturer

University of Sussex

Biography

I am a lecturer at the School of Psychology, University of Sussex, UK. I have a PhD in cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging and I am interested in the functional hierarchy of the human brain, information flow, neural trait-state interactions, as well as their associations with behaviour and ongoing experience.

Born in Veria, Greece, I received my bachelor’s degree in physics from the department of Physics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Following several years of physics tutoring in Greece, I changed my career path and moved to the UK, where I obtained my master’s degree in cognitive neuroscience at the department of Psychology at the University of York, under the supervision of Prof. Gary Green.

Upon graduating my master’s programme, I worked as a research assistant in Prof. Jonathan Smallwood’s lab at the University of York. A year later, I was awarded a studentship for a PhD under the joint supervision of Prof. Smallwood and Prof. Elizabeth Jefferies, from the department of Psychology at the University of York. After a 5-month break in my 2nd PhD year, in order to work on a pilot neuroimaging study investigating experiences in virtual/augmented reality led by Prof. Alex Wade, I completed my PhD and then worked as a postdoctoral research associate for 3 years (1st post - Prof. Smallwood’s lab, University of York, UK, 2nd post - a collaborative neuroimaging project funded by the York Maastricht Partnership, with Profs Antony Morland and Alex Wade (YNiC), and Profs Elia Formisano and Rainer Goebel (M-BIC), until I started my current post.

My PhD thesis investigated the neural correlates of ongoing experience. We utilised different neuroimaging modalities (DWI, resting state fMRI) and analysis techniques (static connectivity and dynamic hidden Markov modelling) in order to explore how the structural and functional organisation of the brain at different temporal scales can help us identify the cognitive processes that support different types of unconstrained ongoing experience at different moments in time.

Interests
  • Ongoing thought
  • Brain Connectivity
  • Functional Hierarchy and Information Flow
  • Neural Dynamics
  • Neural Trait-State Interactions
Education
  • PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 2019

    University of York, UK

  • MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience, 2014

    University of York, UK

  • BSc in Physics

    Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Skills

Python
Data analysis

FSL/FMRIB Software Library
Brainstorm
NAF/YNiC Software

Matlab
Source control
Shell
Scripting

PsychoPy
Unity

Scanner operator

GE 3T Signa Excite HDX
Siemens Prisma 3T
4D Neuroimaging Magnes 3600 MEG

Teaching

Undergraduate & postgraduate level

Experience

 
 
 
 
 
Lecturer
School of Psychology
2022 – Present University of Sussex, UK
  • Investigating and teaching about the functional hierarchy of the human brain, information flow, neural trait-state interactions, as well as their associations with behaviour and ongoing experience.
 
 
 
 
 
Research associate
York Maastricht Partnership
2020 – 2022 University of York, UK, Maastricht University, Netherlands
  • Working on a collaborative neuroimaging project funded by the York Maastricht Partnership
 
 
 
 
 
Research associate
Prof. Jonathan Smallwood’s lab
2019 – 2020 University of York, UK
  • Working on the ERC funded project titled “Not all minds that wander are lost: A neurocognitive test of mind-wandering state’s contribution to human cognition”
 
 
 
 
 
Research assistant
Prof. Alex Wade’s lab
2016 – 2017 University of York, UK
  • Coordinating & running fMRI & MEG experiments on experiencing virtual/augmented reality
  • Developing 3D tasks using the Unity game engine
  • Analysing acquired fMRI data
  • Contributing to NeuroImaging Analysis Framework (NAF) codebase & documentation
 
 
 
 
 
Research assistant
Prof. Jonathan Smallwood’s lab
2014 – 2015 University of York, UK
  • Coordinating & running neuroimaging studies at full length, on the neural correlates of spontaneous thoughts:
    • designing an experiment
    • setting up scanning protocols
    • coding behavioural tasks (PsychoPy)
    • recruiting participants
    • acquiring & analysing behavioural & neuroimaging data (fMRI, DWI, MEG)
    • preparing manuscripts for publication
    • presenting results at science meetings
  • Developing data analysis pipelines in Python
 
 
 
 
 
Research collaborator
York Neuroimaging Centre, UK
2014 – 2015 University of York, UK
  • Analysing fMRI & MEG neuroimaging data from a clinical study on epilepsy
 
 
 
 
 
Physics tutor
2007 – 2013 Thessaloniki, Greece

Awards, Conferences & Activities

British Science week 2021
A brief description of my job in neuroscience and neuroimaging for primary school students
Organization for Human Brain Mapping - Annual meeting
Poster presentation
Brainhack Global
Member of the organising committee
Member of the YNiC Research Governance Committee
PhD departmental studentship

Recent Publications

All Publications

(2024). Self-reports map the landscape of task states derived from brain imaging. Research Square.

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(2024). Mapping patterns of thought onto brain activity during movie-watching. bioRxiv.

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(2023). Experience sampling reveals the role that covert goal states play in task-relevant behavior. Scientific reports.

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(2023). Memory control deficits in the sleep-deprived human brain. bioRxiv.

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(2023). Unsupervised identification of internal perceptual states influencing psychomotor performance. bioRxiv.

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(2022). Physical distance to sensory-motor landmarks predicts language function. Cerebral Cortex.

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(2022). Individual differences in gradients of intrinsic connectivity within the semantic network relate to distinct aspects of semantic cognition. Cortex.

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(2021). Exploring patterns of ongoing thought under naturalistic and conventional task-based conditions. Consciousness and cognition.

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(2021). Interactions between the neural correlates of dispositional internally directed thought and visual imagery. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

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(2021). The neural correlates of ongoing conscious thought. iScience.

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(2020). The psychological correlates of distinct neural states occurring during wakeful rest. Scientific reports.

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(2020). Missing the forest because of the trees: Slower alternations during binocular rivalry are associated with lower levels of visual detail during ongoing thought. Neuroscience of Consciousness.

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(2020). Reductions in task positive neural systems occur with the passage of time and are associated with changes in ongoing thought. Scientific reports.

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(2020). The relationship between individual variation in macroscale functional gradients and distinct aspects of ongoing thought. NeuroImage.

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(2020). A role for ventromedial prefrontal cortex in self-generated episodic social cognition. NeuroImage.

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