Ioanna Markostamou

Dr Ioanna Markostamou

  • Lecturer in Psychology
  • Poole House P123, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, BH12 5BB
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Biography

Ioanna is a Lecturer at the Psychology ​Department at Bournemouth University (BU). Before joining BU, she held postdoc positions at the University of Herfordshire (UK). Ioanna completed her PhD at the University of East Anglia (UK) with a Marie Curie ECR Fellowship of the EU. She received a BSc in Psychology from the University of Crete (GR) and a MSc in Cognitive Psychology and Neuropsychology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (GR). Throughout those years, Ioanna also studied and completed research secondments in other institutions, including the Erasmus University of Rotterdam (NL), University of Salamanca (SP), and Aarhus University (DK).

Research

Ioanna's research interests lie in the areas of cognitive psychology and neuropsychology. Her research work includes behavioural, clinical, psychometric and neuroimaging/neurophysiological methods to investigate convergent and divergent cognitive changes in memory and visuospatial abilities across the lifespan and in neuropsychological conditions (e.g., stroke; mild cognitive impairment; dementias), both in the lab and in daily life.

A key focus of her work has been the investigation of the nature and mechanisms involved in the manifestation of cognitive phenomena mediated by spontaneous (or effortless) encoding and retrieval processes (e.g., incidental memory; autobiographical memory; mind-wandering and spontaneous future thinking), and how these processes emerge early in development and may be differentially affected by typical and atypical ageing relatively to effortful operations. Another focus has been the mapping between linguistic and non-linguistic representations of space in encoding, processing, and recalling visuospatial and navigation information from different perspectives across the lifespan and in pathological ageing,

Favourites

Journal Articles

  • Engelhardt, P.E., Markostamou, I., 2025. Disfluency across the lifespan: an individual differences investigation. Aging Neuropsychology and Cognition, 32 (1), 93-117.
  • Markostamou, I., Morrissey, S., Hornberger, M., 2024. Imagery and Verbal Strategies in Spatial Memory for Route and Survey Descriptions. Brain Sciences, 14 (4).
  • Markostamou, I., Coventry, K.R., 2024. Age effects on processing spatial relations within different reference frames: The role of executive functions. Applied Neuropsychology Adult, 31 (6), 1279-1295.
  • Lanciano, T., Alfeo, F., Curci, A., Marin, C., D’Uggento, A.M., Decarolis, D., Öner, S., Anthony, K., Barzykowski, K., Bascón, M., Benavides, A., Cabildo, A., de la Mata-Benítez, M.L., Ergen, İ., Filip, K., Gofman, A., Janssen, S.M.J., Kai-bin, Z., Markostamou, I., Matías-García, J.A., Nourkova, V., Oleksiak, S., Santamaría, A., Szpunar, K., Taylor, A., Watson, L.A., Zheng, J., 2024. The flashbulb-like nature of memory for the first COVID-19 case and the impact of the emergency. A cross-national survey. Memory, 32 (2), 264-282.
  • Kvavilashvili, L., Markostamou, I., 2023. Distinguishing involuntary autobiographical memories and déjà vu experiences: Different types of cues and memory representations? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 46.
  • Öner, S., Watson, L.A., Adıgüzel, Z., Ergen, İ., Bilgin, E., Curci, A., Cole, S., de la Mata, M.L., Janssen, S.M.J., Lanciano, T., Markostamou, I., Nourkova, V., Santamaría, A., Taylor, A., Barzykowski, K., Bascón, M., Bermeitinger, C., Cubero-Pérez, R., Dessenberger, S., Garry, M., Gülgöz, S., Hackländer, R., Heux, L., Jin, Z., Lojo, M., Matías-García, J.A., Roediger, H.L., Szpunar, K., Tekin, E., Uner, O., 2023. Collective remembering and future forecasting during the COVID-19 pandemic: How the impact of COVID-19 affected the themes and phenomenology of global and national memories across 15 countries. Memory and Cognition, 51 (3), 729-751.
  • Markostamou, I., Randall, C., Kvavilashvili, L., 2023. Dissociations between directly and generatively retrieved autobiographical memories: evidence from ageing. Memory, 31 (7), 931-947.
  • Cole, S.N., Markostamou, I., Watson, L.A., Barzykowski, K., Ergen, İ., Taylor, A., Öner, S., 2022. Spontaneous Past and Future Thinking About the COVID-19 Pandemic Across 14 Countries: Effects of Individual and Country-Level COVID-19 Impact Indicators. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 12 (4), 502-512.
  • Tanguay, A.F.N., Johnen, A.K., Markostamou, I., Lambert, R., Rudrum, M., Davidson, P.S.R., Renoult, L., 2022. The ERP correlates of self-knowledge in ageing. Memory and Cognition, 50 (3), 564-585.
  • Markostamou, I., Coventry, K.R., 2022. Naming Spatial Relations Across the Adult Lifespan: At the Crossroads of Language and Perception. Neuropsychology, 36 (3), 216-230.
  • Markostamou, I., Coventry, K., 2021. Memory for route and survey descriptions across the adult lifespan: The role of verbal and visuospatial working memory resources. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 78.
  • Markostamou, I., Coventry, K.R., 2020. Spatial naming deficits in mild Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.
  • Kvavilashvili, L., Niedźwieńska, A., Gilbert, S.J., Markostamou, I., 2020. Deficits in Spontaneous Cognition as an Early Marker of Alzheimer's Disease. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 24 (4), 285-301.
  • Markostamou, I., Ioannidis, A., Dandi, E., Mandyla, M.A., Nousiopoulou, E., Simeonidou, C., Spandou, E., Tata, D.A., 2016. Maternal separation prior to neonatal hypoxia-ischemia: Impact on emotional aspects of behavior and markers of synaptic plasticity in hippocampus. International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience, 52, 1-12.
  • Markostamou, I., Rudolf, J., Tsiptsios, I., Kosmidis, M.H., 2015. Impaired executive functioning after left anterior insular stroke: a case report. Neurocase, 21 (2), 148-153.
  • Tata, D.A., Markostamou, I., Ioannidis, A., Gkioka, M., Simeonidou, C., Anogianakis, G., Spandou, E., 2015. Effects of maternal separation on behavior and brain damage in adult rats exposed to neonatal hypoxia-ischemia. Behavioural Brain Research, 280, 51-61.

Conferences

  • Todd, E., Kvavilashvili, L., Markostamou, I., Henson, R., 2025. Effects of instructions on direct and generative autobiographical memory retrieval in ageing. In: SARMAC XV 11/06/2025 Ireland.
  • Markostamou, I., Kvavilashvili, L., 2025. Incidental memory in typical and atypical ageing. In: SARMAC XV 10/06/2025 Ireland.
  • Kvavilashvili, L., Aslam, R., Markostamou, I., 2024. Music-evoked visual imagery in sequence-space synaesthesia: the role of music familiarity. In: 2024 Meeting in Autobiographical Processing and Psychopathology 27/05/2024 Leuven, Belgium.
  • Markostamou, I., Kvavilashvili, L., 2023. Incidental memory in typical ageing and mild cognitive impairment. In: 8th Meeting of the Federation of the European Societies of Neuropsychology 2023 Thessaloniki, Greece.
  • Markostamou, I., 2023. Imagery and verbal strategies in memory recall of spatial descriptions. In: 23nd Meeting of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology 2023 Porto, Portugal.
  • Kvavilashvili, L., Ford, R., Waddington, H., Markostamou, I., 2023. Involuntary autobiographical memories and thoughts about the future in everyday life: Results from interview studies of children and adults. In: 23nd Meeting of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology 2023 Porto, Portugal.
  • Kvavilashvili, L., Brazauskiene, B., Markostamou, I., 2023. Effects of age on memory strategy use in everyday life: A diary study. In: SARMAC XIV 2023 2023 Nagoya, Japan.
  • Markostamou, I., Kvavilashvili, L., 2022. Dissociable age effects on direct and generative autobiographical memory retrieval. In: 63rd Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society 2022 Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
  • Kvavilashvili, L., Brazauskiene, B., Markostamou, I., 2022. Stereotypical views in people across the lifespan on everyday memory and aging: An online survey. In: 63rd Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society 2022 Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
  • Brazauskiene, B., Markostamou, I., Kvavilashvili, L., 2022. The stability of everyday memory failures in young and older adults: A longitudinal diary study. In: 63rd Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society 2022 Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
  • Markostamou, I., Kvavilashvili, L., 2022. Direct and generative autobiographical memory retrieval in mild cognitive impairment. In: International Conference on Autobiographical Memory in Ageing and Dementia 2022 Aarhus, Denmark.
  • Watson, L.A., Cole, S., Markostamou, I., Barzykowski, K., Ergen, I., Taylor, A., Oner, S., 2022. Spontaneous past and future thinking of the COVID-19 pandemic across 14 countries: Effects of individual- and country-level COVID-19 impact indicators. In: International Conference on Autobiographical Memory in Ageing and Dementia 2022 Aarhus, Denmark.
  • Waddington, H., Markostamou, I., Kvavilashvili, L., 2022. Spontaneous future thinking in children. In: 2nd Conference on Spontaneous Future Cognition 2022 York, UK.
  • Markostamou, I., Kvavilashvili, L., 2022. Direct and generative autobiographical memory retrieval in ageing. In: 22nd Meeting of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology 2022 Lille, France.
  • Kvavilashvili, L., Markostamou, I., Brazauskiene, B., 2022. Importance of studying cognitive ageing in everyday life: Findings from diary studies of everyday memory failures. In: 22nd Meeting of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology 2022 Lille, France.
  • Markostamou, I., Kvavilashvili, L., 2022. Autobiographical memory deficits in mild cognitive impairment. In: British Neuropsychological Society Annual Spring Meeting 2022 London, UK.
  • Johnen, A.K., Tanguay, A., Markostamou, I., Lambert, R., Rudrum, M., Davidson, P.S.R., Renoult, L., 2021. Reduced differentiation of declarative memory subtypes in ageing: An ERP study. In: 62nd Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society 01/11/2021 USA.
  • Brazauskiene, B., Markostamou, I., Kvavilashvili, L., 2021. Everyday memory failures in healthy adults across the lifespan: An online survey. In: 2021 SARMAC 2021 USA.
  • Watson, L.A., Oner, S., Ergen, I., Bilgin, E., Curci, A., Cole, S., de la Mata, M.L., Janseen, S.M.J., Lanciano, T., Markostamou, I., Nourkova, V., Santamaria, A., Taylor, A., Barzykowski, K., Bscon, M., Bermeitinger, C., Cubero-Perez, R., Dessenberger, S., Zheng, J., Marias-Garcia, J.A., Roediger, H.L., Szpunar, K., Tekin, E., Uner, O., 2021. Collective remembering and future forecasting of global and national events during the COVID-19 pandemic across 15 countries. In: 2021 SARMAC 2021 USA.
  • Brazauskiene, B., Markostamou, I., Kvavilashvili, L., 2020. Everyday memory errors and the use of memory strategies in young and older adults. In: 61st Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society 2022 California, USA.
  • Markostamou, I., Coventry, K., 2019. Spatial naming across the adult-lifespan. In: 5th International Conference on Aging & Cognition 2019 Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Markostamou, I., Coventry, K., 2018. Visuospatial perspective taking through language across the adult-lifespan. In: 16th European Workshop on Imagery and Cognition 2018 Padova, Italy.
  • Markostamou, I., 2016. Spatial language across the adult life span. In: International Conference on Language and Perception 2016 Trondheim, Norway.
  • Markostamou, I., Coventry, K., Fox, C., McInnes, L., 2015. Both Symbolic and Embodied Representations Contribute to Spatial Language Processing; Evidence from Younger and Older Adults. Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society Cogsci 2015, 1518-1523.

PhD Students

  • Emily Todd. Dissociable mechanisms of spontaneous and strategic retrieval: Evidence from fMRI studies of healthy ageing, (In progress)
  • Brigita Brazauskiene. Everyday memory failures and strategy use in healthy adults across the lifespan: a mixed methods approach, (Completed)

Profile of Teaching PG

  • Key Transferable Skills
  • Advanced Statistics
  • Research Project Supervision
  • Cognitive and Clinical Neuropsychology

Profile of Teaching UG

  • Research Project Supervision
  • Developmental and Applied Psychology
  • Statistics and Research Methods
  • Current Trends in Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience

Grants

  • Involuntary future thinking and spontaneous mind-wandering in 5-, 7-, 9-year-old children and young adults (CRIPSS QR funding (University of Hertfordshire), 01 Jan 2023). In Progress
  • Memory recall of familiar routes in typical and atypical ageing (CRIPSS QR funding (University of Hertfordshire), 01 Jan 2022). In Progress
  • Autobiographical memory for unique and repeated events (CRIPSS QR funding (University of Hertfordshire), 01 Jan 2021). In Progress

External Responsibilities

  • PLOS ONE, Academic Editor

Internal Responsibilities

  • Global Engagement and Student Exchange Lead, Department of Psychology

Honours

  • Skill Up! award (Research Development Fund (University of Hertfordshire), 2023)
  • Staff commitment to engaging students with research (Dean's Awards (LMS, University of Hertfordshire), 2021)

Memberships

  • British Neuropsychological Society (London, UK), Member,
  • International Neuropsychological Society (Salt Lake City, Utah, USA), Member,
  • European Society for Cognitive Psychology (Zurich, Switzerland), Member,
  • European Cognitive Ageing Society (Bochum, Germany), Member,
  • Psychonomic Society (Chicago, Illinois, USA), Member,
The data on this page was last updated at 22:00 on February 17, 2026.