Jan Zimmermann, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience

E-MAIL: [email protected]

Research Interests:

The primary research goal of the Z-LAB is to better understand decision making. Making a choice, independent of it being a complex decision about your retirement allocations or which flavor of ice-cream to pick, is the normative consequence of any behavior that is observable.

To understand this process, we combine a multitude of tools that allow us to study neural function of non human primates associated to decision making. We combine single cell electrophysiology, computational modeling of neural responses as well as careful behavioral analysis and ultra high field functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Selected Publications:

  • Shit S, Zimmermann J, Ezhov I, Paetzold JC, Sanches AF, Pirkl C, Menze BH. SRflow: Deep learning based super-resolution of 4D-flow MRI data. Front Artif Intell. 2022 Aug 12;5:928181. 

  • Grier MD, Yacoub E, Adriany G, Lagore RL, Harel N, Zhang RY, Lenglet C, Uğurbil K, Zimmermann J, Heilbronner SR. Ultra-high field (10.5T) diffusion-weighted MRI of the macaque brain. Neuroimage. 2022 Jul 15;255:119200.

  • Manea AMG, Zilverstand A, Ugurbil K, Heilbronner SR, Zimmermann J. Intrinsic timescales as an organizational principle of neural processing across the whole rhesus macaque brain. Elife. 2022 Mar 2;11:e75540. 
  • Hayden BY, Park HS, Zimmermann J. Automated pose estimation in primates. Am J Primatol. 2021 Dec 2:e23348. 
  • Maisson DJ, Cash-Padgett TV, Wang MZ, Hayden BY, Heilbronner SR, Zimmermann J. Choice-relevant information transformation along a ventrodorsal axis in the medial prefrontal cortex. Nat Commun. 2021 Aug 10;12(1):4830. 
  • Autio JA, Zhu Q, Li X, Glasser MF, Schwiedrzik CM, Fair DA, Zimmermann J, Yacoub E, Menon RS, Van Essen DC, Hayashi T, Russ B, Vanduffel W. Minimal specifications for non-human primate MRI: Challenges in standardizing and harmonizing data collection. Neuroimage. 2021 Aug 1;236:118082. 
  • Lagore RL, Moeller S, Zimmermann J, DelaBarre L, Radder J, Grant A, Ugurbil K, Yacoub E, Harel N, Adriany G. An 8-dipole transceive and 24-loop receive array for non-human primate head imaging at 10.5 T. NMR Biomed. 2021 Apr;34(4):e4472. 
  • Voloh B, Knoebl R, Hayden BY, Zimmermann J. Oscillations as a window into neuronal mechanisms underlying dorsal anterior cingulate cortex function. Int Rev Neurobiol. 2021;158:311-335.
  • Yacoub E, Grier MD, Auerbach EJ, Lagore RL, Harel N, Adriany G, Zilverstand A, Hayden BY, Heilbronner SR, Uğurbil K, Zimmermann J. Ultra-high field (10.5 T) resting state fMRI in the macaque. Neuroimage. 2020 Dec;223:117349. 
  • Grier MD, Zimmermann J, Heilbronner SR. Estimating Brain Connectivity With Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Promise and Peril. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2020 Sep;5(9):846-854.
  • Bala PC, Eisenreich BR, Yoo SBM, Hayden BY, Park HS, Zimmermann J. Automated markerless pose estimation in freely moving macaques with OpenMonkeyStudio. Nat Commun. 2020 Sep 11;11(1):4560. 
  • Grier MD, Zimmermann J, Heilbronner SR. Estimating brain connectivity with diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging: Promise and peril. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2020 Apr 27. pii: S2451-9022(20)30103-8.
  • Eisenreich BR, Hayden BY, Zimmermann J. Macaques are risk-averse in a freely moving foraging task. Sci Rep. 2019 Oct 21;9(1):15091.
  • Zimmermann J, Glimcher PW, Louie K. Multiple timescales of normalized value coding underlie adaptive choice behavior. Nature Comm. 2018; 9(1):3206.
  • Zimmermann J, Vazquez Y, Glimcher PW, Pesaran B, Louie K. Oculomatic: High speed, reliable, and accurate open-source eye tracking for humans and non-human primates. J Neurosci Methods. 2016 Sep 1;270:138-146.
  • Sengupta S, Roebroeck A, Kemper VG, Poser BA, Zimmermann J, Goebel R,Adriany G. 2016, A specialized multi-transmit head coil for high resolution fMRI of the human visual cortex at 7T. PLoS One 2016;11(12):e0165418.
  • Emmerling TC, Zimmermann J, Sorger B, Frost M, Goebel R. Time-resolved searchlight analysis of imagined visual motion using 7T ultra-high field fMRI. Data on interindividual differences' Data in Brief. 2016;7:468-471.
  • mmerling TC, Zimmermann J, Sorger B, Frost M, Goebel R. Decoding the direction of imagined visual motion using 7T ultra-high field fMRI' NeuroImage. 2016;125:61-73.
  • Petro L, Smith F, Zimmermann J, De Martino F, Muckli L. Measuring the precision of feedback fields in V1 using 3T and 7T fMRI. J Vis. 2015;15:517-517. 
  • Goncalves NR, Zimmermann J, Ban H, Goebel R, Welchman AE. A preference for stereopsis in deep layers of human primary visual cortex' Perception. 2015;44:317-317. 
  • Gross J, Woelbert E, Zimmermann J, Okamoto-Barth S, Riedl A, Goebel, R. Value signals in the prefrontal cortex predict individual preferences across reward categories. J Neurosci. 2014;34:7580-7586.
  • Zilverstand A, Sorger B, Zimmermann J, Kaas A, Goebel R. Windowed correlation: A suitable tool for providing dynamic fMRI-based functional connectivity neurofeedback on task difficulty. PLoS One 2014;9:e85929.
  • De Martino F, Zimmermann J, Muckli L, Ugurbil K, Yacoub E, Goebel R. Cortical depth dependent functional responses in humans at 7T: Improved specificity with 3D GRASE. PLoS One 2013;8:e60514.

Current Graduate Students

Blair Vail (Neuroscience, University of Minnesota)

Picture of Jan Zimmermann