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Staff Profile

Dr Franziska Hartung

Lecturer in Cognitive Psychology

Background

I am a cognitive neuroscientist and psychologist interested in narrative, communication, aesthetics, stigma, and social cognition.


Since 2021, I am a lecturer for Cognitive Psychology at Newcastle University. Before coming to the UK, I completed my PhD at the Max-Plank Institute for Psycholinguistics and the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour in the Netherlands followed by 4+ years of postdoctoral training at the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.


I have just been awarded a Career Development Award from The VTCT Foundation for the project Facing Stigma: Understanding the Mechanisms Underlying Cognitive and Social Impacts of Facial Differences on Human Interaction (2026-2029), so much of my current research is cntered around face perception and interaction with people with visible facial differences. I also work on a research and public outreach program on reading and wellbeing.


I am also consulting for facial/visible difference or facial injury related topics. For instance, I have worked as a consultant on several lawsuits involving acquired (facial) injuries that permanently affected a person’s appearance and function. As part of the research program funded by The VTCT Foundation, I am also currently working on a protype for a public education resource on visible differences. Please contact me if you are interested. 


My personal website has more detailed information about my research, open access links to most of my publications and other things I think are useful. 


My complete list of publications is on Google Scholar. 

Research

If you found my page because you are a person with lived experiences with a visible facial difference and you have received (surgical) treatment for this facial difference in the past, please consider partaking in our ongoing survey of quality of life changes after surgery: https://nclpsych.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_da37cRPOzx9Io5w


I use a wide range of research methods including functional (connectivity) MRI, eye tracking, (large scale) behavioral experiments with healthy adults, semantic network modeling, and mixed method longitudinal intervention study designs. I practice open science and try to preregister all my studies, publish as much data and code as possible, and upload preprints of my manuscripts. You can find information about individual projects on on my Open Science profile.


Stigma and Social Bias 

We know that the appearance of people does not only affect how we perceive them, but also how we relate to and communicate with them. Beautiful people are often treated with preference while people whose appearance deviates from the norm are often associated with unfavorable stereotypes and treated poorly. While the existence of stereotypes is established, it is not clear how these affect cognition and communication when people engage with each other. I am investigating how stigma affects social interaction and testing potential applications for overcoming social bias. Currently, I am working on several projects related to facial differences, racial, and weight related biases in professional settings, health care provision, and legal contexts. Together with my students, I designed a phone app to test the effectiveness of educational interventions to reduce racial and religious bias.


Mechanisms Underlying the Cognitive and Social Bias against Facial Differences (Funded by VTCT Foundation) 

Faces are central to how people communicate and connect. They help us recognise others, read emotions, and build relationships. Our perceptual and cognitive systems are finely tuned to process facial information, but deviations from typical facial configurations can disrupt typical face processing, possibly inhibiting empathy and social engagement. These responses are shaped by cognitive and neural mechanisms, cultural narratives, and social learning that associate facial typicality with normality and anomaly with stigma. Consequently, facial differences often lead to reduced eye contact, distorted emotional processing, and implicit bias even among well-intentioned observers. We know little about why such biases occur or their cognitive and neural foundations. Research suggests that people focus more on the visible difference rather than the face, which may make it harder to recognise emotions and connect. Other possible explanations include instinctive avoidance, reduced emotional engagement, and difficulties interpreting unfamiliar facial expressions. Many studies used highly artificial face images, which do not reflect real people’s faces. This project uses photographs of individuals with varying facial differences, combined with behavioural, eye-tracking, and fMRI methods, to uncover what drives these biases. People with lived experience will shape the research and ensure relevance and sensitivity to their perspectives. This project is developed in collaboration with Face Equality International (https://faceequalityinternational.org/). The findings will clarify how people perceive and respond to facial differences and inform the development of a practical educational resource for clinicians and educators. This educational tool will promote understanding, empathy, and practical guidance to reduce stigma and lessen the self-advocacy burden faced by people with visible differences.


Reading for Wellbeing and Learning

Most people agree that reading is ‘good for you’ and we encourage children to enjoy reading from early on. Though this evidence is disputed, a few studies found a link between reading and better social skills. But how this connection works and whether there is in fact a causal connection is far from clear. Together with a group of students and Angela Kennedy (https://www.innovatingforwellbeing.co.uk), we conducted a large intervention bibliotherapy study to look at the effects of fiction reading and wellbeing. There are several new projects underway that are connecting reading and wellbeing research.


I am affiliated with the following research themes at Newcastle University:

Behavioural Science and Psychology

Neuroscience, Neurodisability and Neurological Disorders

Teaching

I am leading the BSc in Psychology Cognitive Psychology module (PSY1004) and co-leading the MSc in Clinical Foundations Research Apprenticeship (PSY8040) in the Clinical Master's program. I am also contributing to Psychological Enquiry 2 (PSY2008). 

I love academic writing and good scientific practice, and one of my favorite things is teaching others to love writing and doing science as well. I am an Open Science Champion at Newcastle Unioversity and give workshops and summer schools on Open Science. I am currently co-writing a student Handbook on Open Science for students and beginners. 

Publications