Dr Jennifer Todd

Jennifer’s work focuses on bodily awareness and its impact on wellbeing, particularly in conditions that primarily affect women. She is currently involved in projects spanning interoception, psychometrics, body image, breast health, breastfeeding, fibromyalgia, and women’s health more broadly.

[email protected]

Visit the Self & Body Lab website

View Jennifer's profile on ResearchGate

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-0238-4813

Background

Jenny is a member of our Body and Self Group which forms part of our ARU Centre for Mind and Behaviour.

Jenny’s PhD project was entitled 'An investigation of the link between body image and interoception' and examined the nature and strength of relationships between interoception (the sense of the physiological state of the body) and body image. Funded by and working in partnership with the Centre for Psychological Medicine at Perdana University in Malaysia, she was investigating the cross-cultural reliability of established relationships between interoceptive processing and body image. She is utilising this research to develop interventions which reduce negative body image, and promote positive body image.

Areas of research supervision

Jennifer welcomes applications from students interested in PhD projects on bodily awareness and its implications for health and wellbeing. She particularly supervises projects focusing on interoception, psychometrics, body image, breast health, breastfeeding, chronic pain, and women’s health.

Jennifer has experience supervising doctoral research, including serving as third supervisor to Dr Phaedra Longhurst (2022-2025) and currently as second supervisor to Elly Anastasiades Loizou.

Teaching

Neuroscience of Self (undergraduate)

Cognitive Neuroscience (undergraduate)

Current Theoretical Issues in Cognitive Neuroscience (postgraduate)

Memberships, editorial boards

• Fellow, Higher Education Academy
• Guest editor: Interoception and Women’s Health – Special Issue, Brian Sciences. Co-editor: Dr Jenny Murphy
• Guest editor: Mindfulness, Interoception and the Body – Special Issue, Brain Sciences. Co-editor: Prof Jane Aspell
• Editorial Board member, BMC Psychology
• Editorial Board member, Body Image

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

Health, Performance, and Wellbeing Research Funding (Anglia Ruskin University, 2023), awarded to Jane Aspell (PI), Lee Cheng, Baris Isikguner, Kirk Woolford, and Jennifer Todd (co-applicants). Value: £22,253

The Urology Foundation Innovation and Research Award (2021) to Nikesh Thiruchelvam (PI), Jennifer Todd, Michael Lee, Jane Aspell, Kelly Leonard, Amanda Stranks (co-applicants). Value: £57,290

Awards

• Vice Chancellor’s Award - Outstanding Early Career Researcher
• Best Doctoral Thesis Award - FSE Inaugural Postgraduate Research Awards

PhD students

• Elly Anastasiades Loizou (2nd supervisor)

Selected recent publications

For a full publication list view Jennifer's profile on ResearchGate.

Todd, J., Plans, D., Lee, M. C., Bird, J. M., Morelli, D., Cunningham, A., ... & Aspell, J. E. (2024). Heightened interoception in adults with fibromyalgia. Biological Psychology, 186, 108761. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2024.108761

Tylka, T. L., Maïano, C., Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, M., Linardon, J., Burnette, C. B., Todd, J., & Swami, V. (2024). The Intuitive Eating Scale-3: Development and psychometric evaluation. Appetite, 199, 107407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2024.107407

Longhurst, P., Todd, J., Aspell, J. E. and Swami., V. (2024) 'Psychometric Evaluation of a Revised Version of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 for Autistic Adults (BAS-2A)', Body Image, 49, 101706.

Longhurst, P., Aspell, J., Todd, J., & Swami, V. (2024). “There’s No Separating My View of My Body from My Autism”: A qualitative study of positive body image in autistic individuals. Body Image, 48, 101655. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2023.101655

Todd, J., Swami, V., Aspell, J. E., Furnham, A., Horne, G., & Stieger, S. (2022). Are some interoceptive sensibility components more central than others? Using item pool visualisation to understand the psychometric representation of interoception. PLoS One, 17(12), e0277894. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0277894.

Todd, J., & Aspell, J. E. (2022). Mindfulness, interoception and the body. Brain Sciences, 12, 696. doi: 10.3390/brainsci12060696.

Swami, V., Todd, J., Tylka, T. L. (2022). Measuring positive breast experience: Development and psychometric evaluation of the Breast Appreciation Scale (BrAS). Body Image, 43, 275-291. doi: org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.09.007.

Todd, J., Aspell, J. E., Lee, M.C., & Thiruchelvam, N. (2022). How is pain associated with pelvic mesh implants measured? Refinement of the construct and a scoping review of current assessment tools. BMC Women's Health, 22, 396. doi: org/10.1186/s12905-022-01977-7.

Todd, J., Cardellicchio, P., Swami, V., Cardini, F., & Aspell, J. (2021). Weaker implicit interoception is associated with more negative body image: Evidence from gastric-alpha phase amplitude coupling and the heartbeat evoked potential. Cortex. Advance Online Publication. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2021.07.006.

Eggart, M., Todd, J., & Valdés-Stauber, J. (2021). Validation of the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA-2) questionnaire in hospitalized patients with major depressive disorder. PLoS One, 16(6), e025391. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253913.

Swami, V., Todd, J., Barron, D., Wong, K.Y., Zahari, H.S., & Tylka, T. (2021). The Body Acceptance By Others Scale-2 (BAOS-2): Psychometric properties of a Bahasa Malaysia (Malay) translation and assessment of invariance across Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Body Image, 38, 346-357. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.05.009.

Todd, J., Aspell, J.E., Toh, E.K.L., Zahari, H.S., Mohd Khatib, N.A., & Swami, V. (2021). Examining relationships between interoceptive sensibility and body image in a non-Western context: A study with Malaysian adults. International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation. Accepted for publication.

Swami, V., Todd, J., & Barron, D. (2021). Translation and Validation of Body Image Instruments: An Addendum to Swami and Barron (2019) in the form of frequently asked questions. Body Image, 37, 214-224. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.03.002.

Todd, J., Barron, D., Aspell, J. E., Toh, E. K. L., Zahari, H. S., Mohd. Khatib, N. A., & Swami, V. (2020). Translation and validation of a Bahasa Malaysia (Malay) version of the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA). PLoS One, 15(4), e0231048. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231048.

Swami, V., Todd, J., Steiger, S., Furnham, A., Horne, G., Tylka, T., 2020. Body acceptance by others: refinement of the construct, and development and psychometric evaluation of a revised measure – the Body Acceptance by Others Scale-2. Body Image, 36, 238-253. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.11.007.

Jones, A., Silas, J., Todd, J., Stewart, A., Acree, M., Coulson, M., Mehling, W., 2020. Exploring the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness in youth aged 7-17 years. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 77(3), 661-682. doi: 10.1002/jclp.23067.

Todd, J., Aspell, J. E., Barron, D., Toh, E. K. L., Zahari, H. S., Mohd. Khatib, N. A., Laughton, R., Swami, V., 2020. Greater gastric interoception is associated with more positive body image: Evidence from adults in Malaysia and the United Kingdom. Body Image, 34, pp. 101-111. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.05.011.

Todd, J., Swami, V., 2020. Assessing the measurement invariance of two positive body image instruments in adults from Malaysia and the United Kingdom. Body Image, 34, pp. 112-116. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.05.009.

Todd, J., Hina, F., Aspell, J. E., 2020. Reduction of auditory input improves performance on the heartbeat tracking task, but does not necessarily enhance interoception. Experimental Brain Research, 238, pp. 621–629. doi: 10.1007/s00221-020-05740-y.

Todd, J., Aspell, J. E., Barron, D., Swami, V., 2019. An exploration of the associations between facets of interoceptive awareness and body image in adolescents. Body Image, 31, pp. 171-180. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2019.10.004.

Todd, J., Aspell, J. E., Barron, D., Swami, V., 2019. Multiple dimensions of interoceptive awareness are associated with facets of body image in British adults. Body Image, 29, pp. 6-16. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2019.02.003.

Book chapters:

Todd, J. (2025). Interoception. In C. Cook-Cottone & T.L. Tylka (Eds). Yoga as Embodied Mindfulness: Integrating Research and Practice (pp. 89-109). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-83418-9_6

Mehling, W., Todd, J., & Schuman-Olivier, Z. (2025) Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, Version 2 (MAIA-2). In O. N. Medvedev, C. U. Krägeloh, R. J. Siegert, & N. N. Singh (Eds.), Handbook of assessment in mindfulness research (pp. 1509-1530). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47219-0_40

Recent presentations and conferences

• British Pain Society 56th Annual Scientific Meeting, Glasgow, 2023. Heightened interoception in adults with fibromyalgia. Poster presentation.
• Body Image and Society, University College Dublin, 2022. Guest Speaker: Turning bodies inside out - Interoception and body image.
• Cambridge Festival, 2022. Interactive exhibition: Generating the foundations of the self.
• Versus Arthritis Pain Research in the UK Conference, Kings College London, 2022. Examining the representation of peripersonal space in adults with fibromyalgia. Poster presentation.
• Versus Arthritis Pain Research in the UK Conference, 2021. Using smartphone technology to explore associations between interoception and fibromyalgia. Oral presentation.
• Appearance Matters 9 Online Conference, 2021. Bodies from the inside out: Exploring relationships between interoception and body image in adults from the UK and Malaysia. Poster presentation.
• Body Representation Network (BRNet) 3 Online Workshop, 2021. Weaker implicit interoception is associated with more negative body image. Poster presentation.