Jeff Zacks

Jeff Zacks serves as Chair of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and holds dual professorships in Psychological and Brain Sciences and Radiology at Washington University in St. Louis. He earned his B.A. from Yale University and M.A./Ph.D. from Stanford University.

His research investigates the interplay between neural and environmental representations in cognition, with two primary focuses:

• Event perception: How continuous behavior is segmented into discrete meaningful events and its impact on memory and cognitive processing
• Mental imagery: The role of spatial reasoning in updating bodily representations during imagery tasks and cognitive operations

His laboratory employs behavioral experiments, functional MRI, computational modeling, and neurological patient studies. Teaching contributions include Advanced Cognitive Psychology (Psychology 5087), Cognitive Psychology (Psychology 360), and The Cognitive Neuroscience of Film (Psychology 488/PNP 4488).