About

As a former undergraduate and postgraduate student at the University of Derby, I graduated with BSc (Hons) in Psychology in 2017 and an MSc in Health Psychology in 2018. My PhD is concerned with the examination of cognitive biases in acute and chronic pain populations, to understand if:

• These biases exist
• A single instance of pain is sufficient to influence these biases, and
• How these biases may change over time

Since 2019, I have been an Associate Lecturer at the University, and in June 2022 took up the position of Lecturer in Health Psychology.

Teaching responsibilities

I am currently responsible for leading the following modules:

• Health Psychology (L5 - BSc Psychology)
• Health Promotion and Behaviour Change (L7 – MSc Health Psychology, online and on-campus)
• Psychological Approaches to Behaviour Change (L7 – MSc Public Health)

I have experience teaching across a range of undergraduate Psychology modules, including those pertaining to Cognitive Psychology (L4, L5), Health Psychology (L5) and Research Methods (L4, L5, L7).

Research interests

As an early career researcher, my research to date has centred on the role of cognitive biases (attention, interpretation and memory) in the aetiology and maintenance of chronic pain. I have experience using a range of psychophysiological methods (e.g., eye-tracking technology) and experimental paradigms (e.g., emotional Stroop, visual probe, free-viewing) to measure cognitive biases in acute and chronic pain populations. At present I am interested in exploring whether pain sensitivity influences the transition from acute to chronic pain, and whether the potency of cognitive biases differ as a function of origin (e.g., visceral pain vs. somatic pain). I am currently involved in projects that explore the role of cognitive biases in other populations, including those suffering from mathematics anxiety and individuals with tendencies towards disordered eating.

I also have considerable interest in the following research areas:

• Evolutionary Psychology - particularly concerning sex differences in mate selection and reciprocal altruism in both human and non-human species
• Cognitive Psychology - specifically attention and memory (recall and recognition) processes
• Health Psychology - more specifically, understanding the barriers and facilitators of health behaviour uptake in specific populations (e.g., vaccination in parents with young children, screening uptake, medication adherence). Additionally, I am also interested in the use of persuasive communication in Health, particularly the use of fear appeals and message framing

Membership of professional bodies

Midlands Health Psychology Network (MHPN) - Deputy Chair.

Qualifications

BSc (Hons) Psychology (First Class) - University of Derby
Dissertation title – Examining Attentional Bias in Mathematics Anxiety: a visual-probe approach

MSc Health Psychology (Distinction) - University of Derby
Thesis title: Exploring Attentional Bias in Acute Experimental Pain: a visual-probe and eye-tracking approach

*Doctor of Philosophy - University of Derby
Thesis title: Exploring Cognitive Biases in Pain: Investigating Attention, Interpretation and Memory Bias.

*External examiners: Professor Christopher Eccleston and Professor Tamar Pincus.

Recent conferences

British Psychological Society. (2019). Cognitive Psychology Section & Developmental Psychology Section Joint Conference. Poster Presentation: "Exploring Attentional Biases in Acute Experimental Pain: a Visual-Probe and Eye-tracking Study".

East Midlands Doctoral Network. (2021). 3MT. Oral Presentation: "Exploring Cognitive Biases in Pain: The role of Attention, Interpretation and Memory Biases".

British Pain Society. (2023). 56th Annual Scientific Meeting. Poster presentation: "Do individuals with chronic pain display interpretation and memory (recall and recognition) biases for pain-related information?".

Additional interests and activities

Supervisions:

Miss Stephanie Davey. MSc Health Psychology. Thesis: Predicting COVID-19 Vaccination Behaviour in UK Parents of Children Aged 5-11.

Mr Georgios Trachanis. MSc Health Psychology. Thesis: The effects of Pain Sensitivity on Attentional Bias: A Free-viewing and Eye-tracking Paradigm.

Miss Ida Lassing. BSc (Hons) Psychology. Attentional Bias and Sports Anxiety. The Effects of Positive and Negative Sports Words on Attention using Visual-probe Methodology.

Miss Charis Merrils. BSc (Hons) Psychology. The Effects of Music Genre on Pain Outcomes: An Experimental Approach.

Mr Uyi Lewis Ogbeifun. Undergraduate Research Scholarship Scheme.

Miss Faye Sharman-Armitage. Undergraduate Research Scholarship Scheme.

Recent publications

Gaffiero, D. (2017). A literature review examining the utility and effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Exercise Therapy (ET) in treating adults suffering from chronic pain. The Undergraduate Library.

Gaffiero, D. (2018). Exploring Attentional Bias in Mathematics Anxiety: a dot-probe approach. The Undergraduate Library.

Gaffiero, D., Elander, J., & Maratos, F. A. (2019). 'Do individuals with Chronic Pain show attentional bias to pain-related information? An early-stage systematic review of the eye-tracking evidence'. The Cognitive Psychology Bulletin, (4), pp. 37-45

Gaffiero, D., Staples, P., Staples, V., & Maratos, F. A. (2021). Interpretation Biases in Pain: Validation of Two New Stimulus Sets. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 784887-784887

Courses

• Health Psychology MSc (online)