Jacob FisherJacob Fisher, an assistant professor of advertising, accepted an affiliate faculty appointment at the Beckman Institute. He will be a member of the Mechanisms of Cognitive Control and Brain Connectivity and Networks working groups within the Intelligent Systems research theme. Fisher also holds an appointment in the Institute of Communications Research.

Fisher's research at the Beckman Institute takes place at the intersection of communication, cognitive neuroscience, and human-computer interaction. He seeks to understand how design and content features of digital technologies influence processes related to attention and cognitive control. Using state-of-the-art brain imaging technologies like fMRI and EEG, as well as behavioral and computational methods, he will investigate how cognitive load, perceptual load, and reward in digital environments influence attention-related brain activation and behavior, as well as how technology habits influence attentional control.

He also conducts research in the domain of moral messaging, seeking to understand how morally-charged content uniquely motivates attention and action at the individual and societal levels. This project leverages tools from computational social science, including natural language processing, machine learning, and big data. Ultimately, his research group aims to develop and deploy digital media technologies that help users resist distraction, achieve their goals, and direct their attention in more effective ways.

"I am honored to be a part of the vibrant research community at the Beckman Institute and am looking forward to engaging more deeply with the broader neuroimaging, attention, and cognitive control research clusters here at the University of Illinois," he said.