Aikaterini Fotopoulou, also known as Katerina Fotopoulou, is a Greek psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist. She is Professor of Psychodynamic Neuroscience in the Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology at University College London.
She is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, past co-chair of its International Convention, and a past President of the Psychology Section of the British Science Association.
Fotopoulou was born in Greece. As a child she wanted to become a journalist. She studied psychology at Panteio University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens. She subsequently earned Master's degrees in cognitive neuropsychology and theoretical psychoanalysis at University College London. Her doctoral research, where she focused on neurological confabulation, was completed at Durham University in 2005.
Fotopoulou's research revolves around the interaction between mental and somatic health. Her work examines how individualsâ perceptions of selfâÂÂwhether related to bodily awareness or autobiographical memoryâÂÂare affected by neurological conditions such as stroke and dementia, as well as psychiatric disorders including eating disorders, somatic symptom disorders, and functional neurological conditions.
Fotopoulou has also conducted research on social affective regulation, or the ways in which individuals support one anotherâÂÂs emotional states. She has investigated neural responses to pain when family and friends are present. In related work, she has studied the use of affective touch in mitigating experiences of social exclusion, identifying an association between gentle tactile contact and social bonding. These findings suggested the existence of a physiological system linking the skin with neural processes involved in social affiliation.
Fotopoulou is also the founder and current Director of the Centre of Equality Research in Brain Sciences (the ERB Centre), which was the first research body of this kind.