Profile

Assoc Prof Georgios CHRISTOPOULOS

Principal Investigator

Associate Professor Georgios Christopoulos (PhD, Cambridge; PostDoc: BCM, VT) has extensive research experience in examining neurobehavioral accounts of human cognition and decision making. He is co-director of the Culture Science Innovations, member of the Advisory Council of the Academy of Neuroscience For Architecture (ANFA) and a collaborator of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Neuroaesthetics. His lab page can be accessed here: https://deonlabblog.com/

Singapore - NTU

Researchers

CLIC

Research Interest

In Assoc Prof Christopoulos' lab, they use advanced neurobehavioral methods to examine the following questions:
- Methods to record and evaluate human psychocognitive status (especially fatigue).
- Human learning and decision making (risk and trust), with a focus on cognitive flexibility and computerised training of working adults.
- Environmental (Urban) Neuroscience: focusing on the effects of indoor and outdoor spaces and their architectural characteristics on human performance, health and happiness.

A recent grant examines the effect of soundscaping and sounds on human cognition about beauty and how they affect consumption of cosmetics, and how culture and cultural symbols (statues, images, buildings) affect emotions as well aesthetic and other judgments.
Methods: besides traditional methods, they are interested in Virtual Reality and Wearables and how they can be used to assess human behavior.

Besides pure academic research, they also collaborate with industry (such as cosmetics companies) to understand how consumers choose and use cosmetics and other products, using implicit and explicit methods.

His research aims to uncover, explain, predict and improve human decision making in dynamic and complex environments. A central topic is on neurobehavioral and social aspects of individual learning and computerised cognitive training. Recently, they are also interested in understanding the relationship between human behaviour and the built environment especially in Mega-Cities.

A current focus is on the effects of sound and soundscaping on human cognition. Methodologically they employ the two research traditions of decision theory and cognitive neuroscience. These include behavioural methods derived from psychology; computational methods stemming from game theory, learning theory and microeconomics; and biological measurements such as human neuroimaging using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and eye-tracking.

Key Publications

Google Scholar Link

Dunleavy G, Bajpai R, Tonon AC, Cheung KL, Thach, T.-Q., Rykov, Y., Soh C-K, Vries H, Car J. & Christopoulos G* (2020). Prevalence of psychological distress and its association with perceived indoor environmental quality and workplace factors in under and aboveground workplaces. Building and Environment, 175, doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106799

Christopoulos, G., & Hong, Y. (2020). The multicultural mind as an epistemological test and extension for the thinking through other minds approach. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 43, E97. doi:10.1017/S0140525X19002711.

Rykov, Y., Thach, T. Q., Dunleavy, G., Roberts, A. C., Christopoulos, G., Soh, C. K., & Car, J. (2020). Activity Tracker–Based Metrics as Digital Markers of Cardiometabolic Health in Working Adults: Cross-Sectional Study. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 8(1), e16409.

Truong N., Chatterjee, A. Christopoulos G., (2019) Faust, N. T., Chatterjee, A., & Christopoulos, G. I. (2019). Beauty in the eyes and the hand of the beholder: Eye and hand movements\' differential responses to facial attractiveness. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 85, 103884.

Roberts, A. C., Yap, H. S., Kwok, K. W., Car, J., Soh, C. K., & Christopoulos, G. I. * (2019). The cubicle deconstructed: Simple visual enclosure improves perseverance. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 63, 60-73.

Roberts, A. C., Christopoulos, G. I.*, Yeap, Y. W., Seah, H. S., Chan, E., & Soh, C. K. (2018). Assessing the suitability of Virtual Reality for psychological testing. Journal of Psychological Assessment (APA). DOI: 10.1037/pas0000663.

Christopoulos G.*, Ang Uy, M., Yap W.-J. (2016). The Body and the Brain: Measuring Skin Conductance Responses to Understand the Emotional Experience. Organizational Research Methods.

Yap, W., Christopoulos, G.*, & Hong, Y. (2017). Physiological responses associated with cultural attachment. Behavioural Brain Research, 325, 214-222. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2017.01.017.

Chung, D., Christopoulos, G. I., King-Casas, B., Ball, S. B., & Chiu, P. H. (2015). Social signals of safety and risk confer utility and have asymmetric effects on observers\' choices. Nature neuroscience, 18(6), 912-916.

Christopoulos, G., Tobler, P., Bossaerts, P., Dolan, R., & Schultz, W. (2009). Neural Correlates of Value, Risk, and Risk Aversion Contributing to Decision Making under Risk. Journal of Neuroscience, 29(40), 12574-12583. doi: 10.1523/jneurosci.2614-09.2009#.

Tobler, P., Christopoulos, G., O\'Doherty, J., Dolan, R., & Schultz, W. (2009). Risk-dependent reward value signal in human prefrontal cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 106(17), 7185-7190. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0809599106#.

Christopoulos, G. & Tobler P. (2016). Culture as a response to uncertainty: foundations of computational cultural neuroscience. In J. Chiao, S-C. Li, R. Seligman & R. Turner (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Cultural Neuroscience. Oxford: Oxford University Press. #

Achievements