Dr. Todd has expertise in working memory, attention, visual perception, cognitive capacity limits, awareness, decision-making, the interaction of emotions and cognition, and performance in low- and high-stress situations. His experience allows him to understand why our moment-to-moment awareness can be limited and how we can change our behavior to mitigate the potentially adverse consequences of such limits. He applies his knowledge and experience to investigate human performance with consumer products, motor vehicle accidents, slip/trip-and-fall incidents and eyewitness memory. Dr. Todd also performs evaluations of perception-response time, attention and visual conspicuity.
As part of his practice, Dr. Todd employs tools including eye tracking technology and low-light photography to help study human perception and attention. He is a skilled computer programmer who has programmed custom software for applications ranging from image processing to statistical analyses of large data sets.
Dr. Todd’s doctoral work focused on the rate at which information is encoded into, and how much information is maintained in, human visual working memory. He employed functional neuroimaging and behavioral techniques to track these working memory capacity-limited processes. As a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Chicago, he first investigated the susceptibility of cognitive processes to performance failure in high-stakes situations (“choking under pressure”). He used these findings to optimize novel behavioral interventions that minimize the possibly negative effects of social performance pressure.
Todd J, Sala J, Heckman G, Krauss D. Validation of high dynamic range photography as a tool to accurately represent low-illumination scenes. SAE Technical Paper 2012-01-0078, Society for Automotive Engineers, Inc., 2012.
Krauss DA, Todd JJ, Kim R, Scher I. A risk analysis of fall-related injuries using the NEISS database. Proceedings, 55th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Las Vegas, NV, 2011.
Todd, JJ, Han, SK, Harrison S, Marois R. The neural correlates of visual working memory encoding: A time-resolved fMRI study. Neuropsychologia 2011; 49(6):1527–1536.
Asplund CL, Todd JJ, Snyder AP, Gilbert CM, Marois R. Surprise-induced blindness: A stimulus driven attentional limit to conscious perception. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 2010, 36(6):1372–1382.
Asplund CL, Todd JJ, Snyder AP, Marois R. A central role for the ventral prefrontal cortex in attention and awareness. Nature Neuroscience 2010; 13(4):507–512.
Robitaille N, Marois R, Todd JJ, Grimault S, Cheyne D, Jolicoeur P. Distinguishing between lateralized and nonlateralized brain activity associated with visual short-term memory: fMRI, MEG, and EEG evidence from the same observers. NeuroImage 2010; 53(4):1334–1345.
Todd JJ, Fougnie D, Marois R. Visual short-term memory load suppresses temporo-parietal junction activity and induces inattentional blindness. Psychological Science 2005; 16(12):965–972.
Todd JJ, Marois R. Posterior parietal cortex activity predicts individual differences in visual short-term memory capacity. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience 2005; 5(2):144–155.
Todd JJ, Marois R. Capacity limit of visual short-term memory in human posterior parietal cortex. Nature 2004; 428(6984):751–754.
Published Abstracts
Todd JJ, Beilock SL. The fractionation of working memory in high-stakes situations. Psychonomic Society, St. Louis, MO, 2010.
Mattarella-Micke A, Todd J, Beilock S. Choking under pressure in mathematical problem solving: Neural regions sensitive to working memory demand predict high-stakes performance. Social and Affective, Neuroscience, Chicago, IL, 2010.
Chu H, Todd JJ, Beilock S, Lleras A. Endogenous attentional control “chokes” under pressure. Vision Sciences Society, Naples, FL, 2010.
Asplund C, Todd JJ, Snyder A, Gilbert C, Marois R. Convergence of goal-directed and stimulus-driven selection in lateral prefrontal cortex. Vision Sciences Society, Naples, FL, 2009.
Robitaille N, Grimault S, Todd JJ, Marois R, Cheyne D, Jolicoeur P. Multiple physiological markers of visual short-term memory: Convergence and divergence. Vision Sciences Society, Naples, FL, 2009.
Todd JJ, Han SW, Harrison S Marois R. The neural correlates of visual working memory consolidation: A time-resolved fMRI study. Vision Sciences Society, Naples, FL, 2009.
Asplund CL, Todd JJ, Snyder AD., Gilbert CM, Marois R. The ventral, but not dorsal, attention network mediates a stimulus-driven attentional limit to conscious perception. Society for Neuroscience, Washington D.C., 2008.
Todd JJ, Marois R. Endogenous orienting of attention is impervious to masked priming. Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL, 2007.
Todd JJ, Harrison S, Marois R. Neural dissociation of visual working memory consolidation and maintenance. Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL, 2006.
Todd JJ, Marois R. Posterior parietal cortex activity predicts individual differences in visual short-term memory capacity. Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL, 2005.
Fougnie D, Todd JJ, Marois R. Visual short-term memory load induces inattentional blindness. Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL, 2005.
Todd JJ, Snyder AP, Marois R. Neural correlates of surprise blindness. Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL, 2004.
Todd JJ, Marois R. Reciprocal response of the intra-parietal cortex and right temporo-parietal junction with visual short-term memory load. Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, CA, 2004.
Todd JJ, Marois R. Neural correlates of visual short-term memory capacity. Society for Neuroscience, New Orleans, LA, 2003.
Todd JJ, Marois R, Gauthier I. Neural correlates of visual short-term memory capacity. Psychonomic Society, Vancouver, Canada, 2003.
Marois R, Todd JJ, Gilbert C. Surprise blindness: A distinct limit to explicit perception? Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL, 2003.
Marois R, Larson JM, Chun MM, Shima D, Todd JJ. Neural correlates of the response selection bottleneck. Society for Neuroscience, New Orleans, LA, 2002.
Marois R, Todd JJ, Chun MM. The impact of reaching visual short-term memory capacity on the attentional blink. Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL, 2002.