Contact

Personal

Education

• 2009, Postdoctoral researcher, University of Pennsylvania.
• 2004–2008, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania (Neuroscience). Adviser: Dr. Michael Kahana. Thesis: Brain oscillations as a window into human cognition. (pdf) (defense slides)
• 2001–2002, M.Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Computer Science). Adviser: Dr. Larry Rudolph. Thesis: Improving memory performance through runtime optimization. (pdf)
• 1997–2001, S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Computer Science).

Professional

• 2009 & 2010, Director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Undergraduate Summer Training Program in Computational Neuroscience.
• 2009, Spring semester, Teaching Assistant for Brain–Computer Interfaces (BE-421/521), University of Pennsylvania.
• 2006, Fall semester, Teaching Assistant for Cellular Neurobiology (BBB-251), University of Pennsylvania.
• 2003–2004, Research Assistant, Kahana Lab, Brandeis University.
• 2002–2003, Senior Unix Software Developer, Bloomberg L.P., NY.

Publications

• Jacobs, J., Manning, J.R., Kahana, M.J. (2010). Response to Miller: “Broadband” vs. “high gamma” electrocorticographic signals. The Journal of Neuroscience. 30, online. (pdf)
• Jacobs, J., Kahana, M.J., Ekstrom, A.D., Mollison, M., & Fried, I. (2010). A sense of direction in human entorhinal cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 107(14), 6487–6492. (pdf) (supplement) (movie)
• Jacobs, J., Kahana, M.J. (2010). Direct brain recordings fuel advances in cognitive electrophysiology. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 14(4), 162–171. (pdf)
• Jacobs, J.,^* Korolev, I.O.,^* Caplan, J.B., Ekstrom, A.D., Litt, B., Baltuch, G., Fried, I., Schulze-Bonhage, A., Madsen, J. R., & Kahana, M.J. (2010). Right-lateralized brain oscillations in human spatial navigation. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 22(5), 824–836. (^* equal contributions.) (pdf)
• Manning, J.R., Jacobs, J., Fried, I., & Kahana, M.J. (2009). Broadband shifts in LFP power spectra are correlated with single-neuron activity in humans. The Journal of Neuroscience. 29(43), 13613–3620. (pdf)
• Jacobs, J., & Kahana, M.J. (2009). Neural representations of individual stimuli revealed by gamma-band electrocorticographic activity. The Journal of Neuroscience, 29(33), 10203–10214. (pdf)
• Geller, A.S., Schleifer, I.K., Sederberg, P.B., Jacobs, J., & Kahana, M.J. (2007). PyEPL: A cross-platform experiment-programming library. Behavior Research Methods, 39(4), 950–958. (pdf)
• Ekstrom, A., Viskontas, I., Kahana, M.J., Jacobs, J., Upchurch, K., Bookheimer, S., & Fried, I. (2007). Contrasting roles of single neuron activity and local field potentials in human memory. Hippocampus, 17(8), 606–17. (pdf)
• Jacobs, J., Kahana, M.J., Ekstrom, A.D. & Fried, I. (2007). Brain oscillations control timing of single-neuron activity in humans. The Journal of Neuroscience, 27(14), 3839–3844. (pdf)
• Jacobs, J., Hwang-Grodzins, G., Curran, T., & Kahana, M.J. (2006). EEG oscillations and recognition memory: Theta correlates of memory retrieval and decision making. NeuroImage, 32, 978–987. (pdf)
• Hwang-Grodzins, G., Jacobs, J., Geller, A., Danker, J., Sekuler, R., & Kahana, M.J. (2005). EEG correlates of verbal and nonverbal working memory. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 1:20. (pdf)
• Kahana, M.J. & Jacobs, J. (2000). Inter-response times in serial recall: Effects of intraserial repetition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 26, 1188–1197. (pdf)
• Jacobs, J. (1998). Reaction time in serial memory: A re-examination of the Ranschburg effect. Journal of Undergraduate Sciences, 5(1), 65–69.

Working papers

• Lega, B., Jacobs, J., & Kahana, M.J. Human hippocampal theta oscillations and the formation of episodic memories. In revision for J. Neurosci.
• Jacobs, J.^*, Lega, B.^* & Anderson, C. Explaining how brain stimulation can evoke remote memories. In Preparation. (^* equal contributions.)

Podium presentations

• Lega, B., Jacobs, J., & Kahana, M.J. Human Hippocampal Theta Oscillations and the Formation of Episodic Memories. Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, 2010. (pdf)
• Zaghloul, K.A., Burke, J.F., Jacobs, J., & Kahana, M.J. Differential theta and gamma coherence associated with successful memory encoding. Program No. 503.10. 2009 Abstract and Itinerary Planner, Chicago, IL: Society for Neuroscience, 2009. Online. (pdf)
• Jacobs, J., Kahana, M.J., Ekstrom, A.D., Mollison, M., & Fried, I. Representation of direction and location in human entorhinal cortex. Program No. 118.3. 2008 Abstract and Itinerary Planner, Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2008. Online. (pdf)
• Jacobs, J., & Kahana, M.J. Spatial patterns of gamma oscillations in humans encode cognitive stimuli. Neural Information Processing Systems: Large-scale Brain Dynamics Workshop. Whistler, BC, Canada, Dec. 2007. (pdf)
• Jacobs, J., Kahana, M.J., Ekstrom, A.D., Mollison, M., & Fried, I. A sense of direction in human entorhinal cortex. University of Pennsylvania Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Retreat, Philadelphia, PA, Oct. 2007. (pdf)
• Jacobs, J., Kahana, M.J., Ekstrom, A.D., & Fried, I. Phase locking of neuronal activity and EEG oscillations during human spatial navigation. Program No. 581.4. 2005 Abstract and Itinerary Planner, Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2005. Online. (pdf)
• Ekstrom, A.D., Viskontas, I., Kahana, M.J., Jacobs, J., Upchurch, K., Bookheimer, S., & Fried, I. Contrasting human hippocampal single cell responses and local field potentials in a virtual navigation and episodic recognition task. Program No. 814.10. 2005 Abstract and Itinerary Planner, Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2005. Online.
• Jacobs, J., Kahana, M.J., Ekstrom, A.D., & Fried, I. Phase locking of neuronal activity and EEG oscillations during human spatial navigation. Penn–Princeton Graduate Student Symposium on Cognitive Neuroscience. Princeton, NJ, Oct. 2005.

Poster presentations

• Jacobs, J., Ungar, L.H. & Kahana, M.J. ECoG correlates of specific human cognitive representations. Computational Cognitive Neuroscience, Boston, MA, 2009. (pdf)
• Jacobs, J., Ungar, L.H. & Kahana, M.J. Gamma-band ECoG correlates of human cognitive representations. Program No. 279.2. 2009 Abstract and Itinerary Planner, Chicago, IL: Society for Neuroscience, 2009. Online. (pdf)
• Manning, J.R., Jacobs, J., Fried, I., & Kahana, M.J. Broadband shifts in EEG power spectra are correlated with single-neuron activity in humans. Program No. 397.6. 2008 Abstract and Itinerary Planner, Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2008. Online. (pdf)
• Manning, J.R., Jacobs, J., Fried, I., & Kahana, M.J. Broadband shifts in EEG power spectra are correlated with single-neuron activity in humans. Society for Mathematical Psychology Annual Meeting, 2008. Washington, D.C. (pdf)
• Jacobs, J., Kahana, M.J., Ekstrom, A.D., Mollison, M., & Fried, I. Human entorhinal neurons encode movement direction. Program No. 422.8. 2007 Abstract and Itinerary Planner, San Diego, CA: Society for Neuroscience, 2007. Online. (pdf)
• Mollison, M.V., Weidemann, C.T., Jacobs, J., Korolev, I.O., & Kahana, M.J. Oscillatory correlates of implicit landmark recognition during virtual navigation. Program No. 422.9. 2007 Abstract and Itinerary Planner, San Diego, CA: Society for Neuroscience, 2007. Online. (pdf)
• Jacobs, J., Kahana, M.J., Ekstrom, A.D., & Fried, I. Oscillatory synchronization of human single-neuron activity and local-field potentials. Coherent Behavior in Neuronal Networks, Mallorca, Spain, 2007. (pdf)
• Ellner, S., Kahana, M.J., Jacobs, J., Kearns, M., & Fried, I. Using machine learning for the prediction of cognitive state: How virtual navigation illustrates fundamental cellular mechanisms. Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, 2007.
• Jacobs, J., Kahana, M.J., Ekstrom, A.D., Mollison, M., & Fried, I. Human entorhinal neurons encode route information. Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, 2007. (pdf, picture)
• Mollison, M., Jacobs, J., Korolev, I.O., & Kahana, M.J. An EEG study of implicit landmark recognition during virtual navigation. Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, 2007. (pdf)
• Jacobs, J., Kahana, M.J., Ekstrom, A.D., Mollison, M., & Fried, I. Representation of movement direction in the human entorhinal cortex. No. 259. Computational and Systems Neuroscience (Cosyne) 2007. Salt Lake City, UT. (pdf)
• Jacobs, J., Kahana, M.J., Ekstrom, A.D., & Fried, I. Oscillatory synchronization of human single-neuron activity during spatial navigation. Program No. 366.9. 2006 Abstract and Itinerary Planner, Atlanta, GA: Society for Neuroscience, 2006. Online. (pdf)
• Ekstrom A.D., Viskontas I., Kahana M.J., Jacobs, J., Upchurch K., Bookheimer S., & Fried I. Dissociation of cellular firing rate and local field potentials during memory encoding and retrieval in the human medial temporal lobe. Program No. 366.8. 2006 Abstract and Itinerary Planner, Atlanta, GA: Society for Neuroscience, 2006. Online.
• Mollison, M.V., Jacobs, J., Korolev, I.O., & Kahana, M.J. Event-related potentials to landmarks during “Yellow Cab” — a virtual spatial navigation task. Society for Mathematical Psychology Annual Meeting, 2006. Vancouver, BC, Canada. (pdf)
• Korolev, I.O., Jacobs, J., Mollison, M.V., & Kahana, M.J. Human oscillatory activity during virtual navigation: a comparison between scalp and intracranial recordings. Program No. 65.16. 2005 Abstract and Itinerary Planner, Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2005. Online. (pdf)
• Hwang, G., Jacobs, J., Danker, J., Sekuler, R., & Kahana, M.J. Neural correlates of verbal and non-verbal memory in working memory. Program No. 65.21. 2005 Abstract and Itinerary Planner, Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2005. Online. (pdf)
• Jacobs, J., Hwang, G., Curran, T., & Kahana, M.J. EEG Oscillations Illustrate Cortical Roles in Memory Retrieval. Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, 2005. (pdf)
• Hwang-Grodzins, G., Jacobs, J., Danker, J., Sekuler, R., & Kahana, M.J. Neural correlates of verbal and non-verbal memory in a modified Sternberg Task. Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, 2005. (pdf)
• Jacobs, J., Hwang-Grodzins, G., Curran, T., & Kahana, M.J. Oscillatory Correlates of Verbal Working Memory. Program No. 433.18. 2004 Abstract and Itinerary Planner, San Diego, CA: Society for Neuroscience, 2004. Online. (pdf)

Unpublished manuscripts

• Jacobs, J., Wortman, J., Kearns, M., Kahana, M., & Fried, I. Machine learning for multi-cell human intent inference. (pdf)

Awards

• Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Annual Meeting, selected as one of the top posters (2009).
• Saul Winegrad, M.D., Award for Outstanding Dissertation (2009).
• Westinghouse (Intel) Science Talent Search Finalist (1997).
• International Science and Engineering Fair, Second Place in Social Science (1997).
• International Science and Engineering Fair, Naval Science Award (1997).

Funding

• NIH Neuroimaging training grant postdoctoral fellowship (1/2009–present).
• NIH predoctoral National Research Service Award (5/2008–12/2008).
• NIH Computational Neuroscience Training fellowship (5/2007–4/2008).
• NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) fellowship (11/2005–5/2007).

Professional Society Memberships and Service

• Member: Society for Neuroscience (2003–present), Cognitive Neuroscience Society (2004–present).
• Ad-hoc peer reviewer: Current Biology, Human Brain Mapping, NeuroImage, The Journal of Neuroscience, Science.

Last updated: May 18, 2010