people | academic and research staff | support staff | PhD students

Professor Peter Rogers

Head of Department

telephone: +44 (0)117 92 88584 email: Peter.Rogers@bris.ac.uk

Room 1D24

Click here for podcast on caffeine, genes and anxiety

Biographical details

After doing degrees in biology (BSc) and experimental psychology (MSc) at the University of Sussex (1972-1976), I worked in teaching and research at the Universities of Leeds and Manchester (1976-1990). I completed a PhD on eating behaviour at the University of Leeds in 1983. Between 1990 and 1998 I was Head of Psychobiology in the Consumer Sciences Department, Institute of Food Research, Reading. During part of my last year with the Institute of Food Research I worked at CSIRO Division of Human Nutrition, Adelaide, Australia. I joined the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol as Senior Lecturer in 1999. I was Head of Department during 2001 to 2004 and I was promoted to Professor of Biological Psychology in 2003. I am a Chartered Psychologist, a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, and a Registered Nutritionist.

Research interests

Key words: nutrition and behaviour, caffeine, satiety, dieting, weight control, food preference, craving, addiction, mood, cognition, motivation, associative learning.

Broadly speaking my research is concerned with nutrition and behaviour, and involves fundamental and applied studies. A major theme is motivation, learning and cognition in relation to the control appetite and the acquisition of food preferences. This work is relevant to understanding obesity, dieting and disordered eating, and links with studies on craving and addiction. Further fundamental work has investigated dietary influences on cognitive performance and mood, and the psychopharmacology of caffeine. Both of these main themes have provided foundations for applied research, for example, in relation to food and drink ingredients for enhancing satiety effects and for improving mood and cognitive function. An example of the later is a large intervention study that found that supplementation with n-3 LCPUFAs (‘fish oil’) did not relieve depressed. My research on caffeine, which began with questions about how preferences for caffeine-containing drinks develop, involves several lines of work investigating the psychostimulant, anxiogenic and reinforcing effects of this ubiquitously consumed substance. ‘Withdrawal reversal’ is a key aspect of these studies.

Recent and current grants

Various externally-funded PhD studentships. 2005-11

Chocolate polyphenols and cognitive function. Funded Barry Callebaut. 2007

Nutrition, sleep and daytime cognitive function. Funded by GlaxoSmithKline. 2007

Factors influencing choice and consumption of caffeine-containing drinks: From genetic individuality to attitudes. Funded by BBSRC. 2004-07

Impact of n-3 LCPUFAS on depressed mood and cognitive function: a randomised, placebo-controlled trial. Funded by Food Standards Agency. 2003-05

Effects of drinks and drink constituents on mood, alertness and cognitive performance. Funded by GlaxoSmithKline. 2002-06

Improving the satiating efficiency of meal-replacement weight-control products. Funded by Unilever Research & Development, Vlaardingen. 2002-06

Caffeine, stress and task performance in individuals, dyads and groups. Funded by ESRC. 2001-03

Dietary caffeine, health and quality of life in Europe. Funded by EC Fifth Framework Programme: euro 1,459.7k, of which euro 225k (£145k) awarded to Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol. (Bristol PI.) 2001-03

Glucose, mood and mental performance. Funded by GlaxoSmithKline. 2001-02

Collaborations

University of Bristol colleagues from Social Medicine, Division of Primary Care, Psychopharmacology Unit, Chemistry, and ALSPAC.

Recent collaborators outside Bristol include:

Dr Catherine Appleton, Queen’s University, Belfast
Professor Jürgen Deckert, University of Würzburg, Germany
Dr Christa Hohoff, University of Münster, Germany
Professor Jack James, University of Gallway, Ireland.
Professor Linda Morgan, School of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Surrey.

PhD students supervised and co-supervised

Sanaya Pardiwalla (2008-11)
The psychoactive effects of chocolate and its constituents. Funded by Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Awards scheme.

Jessica Smith (2007-10)
Effects of caffeine and theanine on anxiety and neurocognition. Funded by Unilever.

Emma Keenan (2007-11)
Sleep, mood and cognitive function. Funded by Industrial CASE award (BBSRC and GlaxoSmithKline).

Michael Irvine (2007-10)
Determinants of appetite and satiety for confectionery. Funded by Great Western Research (industrial partner is Cadbury plc).

Michelle Brown (2005-08)
Benefits of essential fatty acid supplementation in the cognitively impaired. Funded by the Sir Halley Stewart Trust.


Some recent publications

Rogers PJ, Hohoff C, Heatherley SV, Mullings EL, Maxfield J, Evershed RP, Deckert J & Nutt DJ (2010) Association of the anxiogenic and alerting effects of caffeine with ADORA2A and ADORA1 polymorphisms and habitual level of caffeine consumption. Neuropsychopharmacology, doi:10.1038/npp.2010.71

Hohoff C, Mullings EL, Heatherley SV, Freitag C, Neumann L, Domschke K, Krakowitzky P, Rothermundt M, Keck, ME, Erhardt A, Binder EB, Jacob C, Fritze J, Bandelow B, Maier W, Rogers PJ & Deckert J (2010) Adenosine A2A receptor gene and anxiety: evidence for the association of risk variants with panic disorder and anxious personality. Journal of Psychiatric Research, doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2010.02.06

Calitri R, Pothos EM, Tapper K, Brunstrom JM & Rogers, PJ (2010) Cognitive biases to healthy and unhealthy foods predict change in BMI. Obesity, doi:10.1038/oby.2010.78

Brunstrom JM, Collingwood J & Rogers PJ (2010) Perceived volume, expected satiation, and the energy content of self-selected meals. Appetite, doi:10.1016/jappet.2010.03.005

Appleton KM, Rogers PJ & Ness AR (2010) Updated systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids on depressed mood. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 91, 757-770.

St Claire L, Stothart G, McKenna L & Rogers PJ (2010) Caffeine abstinence: An ineffective and potentially distressing tinnitus therapy. International Journal of Audiology, 49, 24-29.

Brunstrom JM & Rogers PJ (2009) How many calories are on our plate? Expected fullness, not liking, determines meal-size selection. Obesity, 17, 1884-89.

Pothos EM, Calitri R, Tapper K, Brunstrom JM & Rogers PJ (2009) Comparing measures of cognitive bias relating to eating behaviour. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23, 936-952.

Theodoridou A, Rowe AC, Penton-Voak IS & Rogers PJ (2009) Oxytocin and social perception: Oxytocin increases perceived facial trustworthiness and attractiveness. Hormones and Behaviour, 56, 128-132.

Rogers PJ, Smith JE, Heatherley SV & Pleydell-Pearce CW (2008) Time for tea: Mood, blood pressure and cognitive performance effects of caffeine and theanine administered alone and together. Psychopharmacology, 195, 569-577.

Rogers PJ, Appleton KM, Kessler D, Peters TJ, Gunnell D, Hayward RC, Heatherley SV, Christian LM, McNaughton SA & Ness AR (2008) No effect of n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (EPA and DHA) supplementation on depressed mood and cognitive function: a randomised controlled trial.
British Journal of Nutrition, 99, 421-431.

Brunstrom JM, Rogers PJ, Pothos EM, Calitri R & Tapper K (2008) Estimating everyday portion size using a ‘method of constant stimuli’: In a student sample portion size is predicted by gender, dietary behaviour, and hunger, but not BMI. Appetite, 51, 296-301.

Appleton KM, Rogers PJ & Ness AR (2008) Is there a role for n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in the regulation of mood and behaviour? A review of the evidence to date from epidemiological studies, clinical studies and intervention trials. Nutrition Research Reviews, 21, 13-41.

Appleton K M, Gunnell D, Peters TJ, Ness AR, Kessler D & Rogers PJ (2008) No clear association between plasma concentrations of n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and depressed mood in a non-clinical population. Prostaglandins, Leukotrines and Essential Fatty Acids, 78, 337-342.

people | academic and research staff | support staff | PhD students