James Howard

Assistant Professor of Psychology

Departments/Programs

Neuroscience
Psychology
Volen National Center for Complex Systems

Degrees

Northwestern University, Ph.D.
University of Akron, B.S.

Expertise

Cognitive neuroscience, reward processing, associative learning, decision making, olfaction, neuroimaging, psychophysics, non-invasive brain stimulation

Profile

Our research is aimed at understanding how the human brain constructs outcome expectations to guide decision making. We particularly focus on learning for chemosensory rewards, which constitute an ecologically crucial, but often ignored, modality of study in human cognitive neuroscience. We implement imaging techniques to understand how large scale functional networks support associative learning through coordinated activity, and how these networks can be perturbed with non-invasive stimulation.

Courses Taught

NEUR	91g	Introduction to Research Practice
NPSY	170a	Decision Neuroscience
PSYC	10a	Introduction to Psychology
PSYC	91g	Introduction to Research Practice

Scholarship

Howard JD, Kahnt T. "Causal investigations into orbitofrontal control of human decision making." Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences 38. (2021): 14-19. (forthcoming)

Howard JD, Kahnt T. "To be specific: The role of orbitofrontal cortex in signaling reward identity.." Behavioral Neuroscience (2021). (forthcoming)

Wang F, Howard JD, Voss JL, Schoenbaum G, Kahnt T. "Targeted stimulation of an orbitofrontal network disrupts decisions based on inferred, not experienced outcomes." Journal of Neuroscience 40. 45 (2020): 8726-8733.