
Dr Dani Ferriday
B.Sc.(Leeds), MSc(Bristol), Ph.D.(Bristol)
Current positions
- Associate Professor in Nutrition and BehaviourSchool of Psychological Science
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Research interests
My research is concerned with the psychology of human dietary behaviour. I have particular expertise in the assessment of beliefs about food, episodic memory, oral processing behaviours and understanding drivers of portion size in adults and children. I have been involved with studies exploring how ‘food-cue reactivity’ may lead to overeating and overweight. I have also been involved with projects exploring the incidence of meal-planning in free-living humans, the determinants of 'expected satiation' (the extent to which a food is expected to deliver satiation), and the factors that might promote/compromise ‘flavour-nutrient’ learning in humans. The focus of my Ph.D. was to explore the hypothesis that modern humans exhibit ‘adaptive memory’ for food and that this is expressed as enhanced memory for foods that are energy dense and/or those that promote satiation. As a post-doctoral researcher, I worked on projects exploring; i) how an increase in 'dietary variety' (eating different brands of the same food, in particular) might be enouraging individuals to eat more, ii) the mechanism underlying effects of eating rate (i.e., slow eating) on satiety, and iii) the effectiveness of consuming a 50% smaller lunch (a small 'nudge') in reducing energy intake in adults and whether small enhancements to foods comprising a meal can increase meal enjoyment and preserve meal satisfaction for a smaller portion.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
- BRC2 - Diet and Physical Activity Theme- Principal Investigator- Role- Co-Investigator - Managing organisational unitBristol Medical School (PHS)- Dates- 01/12/2022 to 30/11/2027 
- Consumer Lab: Building academic-industry partnerships to ensure sustained acceptance of healthy foods- Principal Investigator- Role- Co-Investigator - Managing organisational unitSchool of Psychological Science- Dates- 14/11/2022 to 13/11/2027 
Thesis supervisions
- Thirst, hunger or sweetness? What motivates humans to drink in the modern beverage environment?- Supervisors
- How and how much to feed a child? Exploring parental decision-making and impact on child satiety responsiveness and adiposity- Supervisors
- “That portion is too small, I’ll have something else”- Supervisors
- Measuring, understanding, and reducing food disgust- Supervisors
- Predictors of UK consumers’ acceptance of alternatives to conventional meat products in the early 2020s- Supervisors
Publications
Recent publications
01/08/2025A systematic review of the relationship between portion size and indexes of adiposity in children
Obesity Reviews
Mindful eating and food intake
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied
Investigating the psychology of eating after exercise — a scoping review
Journal of Nutritional Science
Associations between body mass index and episodic memory for recent eating, mindful eating, and cognitive distraction
Obesity Science & Practice



