Samantha Mattheiss

Assistant Professor
Psychology

Phone: Ext 6226
Email: mattheisss@felician.edu

Academic Accomplishments

  • PhD in Psychology, concentration in Neuroscience from Rutgers University-Newark
  • MA in Psychology from Rutgers University-Newark
  • BS in Special Education from The College of New Jersey

Biography

Samantha Mattheiss is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and the Coordinator of the Adult Undergraduate Program at Felician University. She completed a PhD in Psychology with a concentration in neuroscience at Rutgers University – Newark, where she studied the neural basis of effective feedback in literacy instruction. She also worked in the field of educational technology and conducted postdoctoral research in a clinical lab at Rowan University. After college, Samantha spent time living and serving abroad as a Salesian Lay Missionary at an orphanage in Montero, Bolivia. She also taught special and general education in Newark, NJ, and Philadelphia, PA. These real-world experiences inspired her interests in adversity, resilience, and human flourishing. She has published in scholarly journals such as Cerebral Cortex and Frontiers in Psychology, and has presented talks at national and international conferences, such as the Society for Catholic Scientists.

Positions Held

  • Assistant Professor of Psychology, Felician University
  • Coordinator of the Adult Undergraduate Program, Felician University
  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, Rowan University
  • Adjunct Professor, Seton Hall University
  • Research Analyst in educational technology
  • Teacher, K-5th grade; Special Education and General Education

Interests

  • Positive psychology
  • Engagement with beauty
  • Self-transcendent emotions
  • Student success and flourishing
  • Feedback
  • Literacy instruction
  • Neural basis of reward processing
  • The intersection of faith and science

Publications

  • Mattheiss, S. R. “Precious beyond measure”: Rethinking the current approach to diversity. (2023). Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1336590. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1336590/full
  • Mattheiss, S. R., Levinson, H., Rosenberg-Lee, M., & Graves, W. W. (2022). Exposure to violence is associated with decreased neural connectivity in emotion regulation and cognitive control, but not working memory, networks after accounting for socioeconomic status: a preliminary study. Behavioral and brain functions, 18(1), 15. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12993-022-00201-8
  • Mattheiss, S. & Laracy, J. (2022). Beauty, a Path to Christ: A Psychological and Neuroscientific Perspective. International Journal of Evangelization and Catechetics, 3(2), 149-166.
  • Schwartzman, J. M., Williams, Z. J., Richards, J. K., Mattheiss, S. R., & Gotham K.O. (2022). Neuroticism drives associations between repetitive behaviors and depression in autistic adults. Frontiers in Psychiatry, Special Issue Internalizing Disorders Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, 13.
  • Mattheiss, S.R. (2021, May 20). Mother Church, Tota Pulchra: A call for ecclesial communities. Homiletic and Pastoral Review. https://www.hprweb.com/2021/05/mother-church-tota-pulchra/
  • Mattheiss, S.R. (2020, July 2). Father, receive these gifts. Homiletic and Pastoral Review. https://www.hprweb.com/2020/07/father-receive-these-gifts/
  • Mattheiss, S. R., Levinson, H., & Graves, W. W. (2018). Duality of function: Activation for meaningless nonwords and semantic codes in the same brain areas. Cerebral Cortex, 28(7), 2516-2524.
  • Mattheiss, S. R., Alexander, E. J., & Graves, W. W. (2017). Elaborative feedback: Engaging reward and task-relevant brain regions promotes learning in nonword reading aloud. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience. https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13415-017-0553-5
  • Graves, W. W., Boukrina, O., Mattheiss, S. R., Alexander, E. J., & Baillet, S. (2017). Reversing the standard neural signature of the word-nonword distinction in lexical decision: A multimodal neuroimaging study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 3–6. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-8191.2009.00972.x

Courses Taught at Felician

  • PSYC 414: Positive Psychology
  • PSYC 311: Biopsychology
  • PSYC 401: Psychology of the Mind
  • PSYC 380: Family Psychology
  • PSYC 377: Psychology of Health and Illness
  • PSYC 445: Research Practicum I
  • PSYC 446: Research Practicum II
  • PSYC 452: Career Internship in Psychology
  • PSYC 410: Undergraduate Research in Psychology
  • PSYC 309: Research Design in Psychology
  • PSYC 250: Writing and Reading in Psychology
  • PSYC 203: Adult Development
  • PSYC 201: Child Development
  • PSYC 101: Introduction to Psychology