Theodore Zanto, PhD
Associate Professor
Neurology
School of Medicine

Ted's research revolves around 1) the characterization of neural networks and mechanisms underlying cognitive control, 2) understanding how these systems change with age and 3) exploring cognitive training and non-invasive brain stimulation approaches to remediate cognitive control declines.

Education & Training

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• Postdoctoral Studies Neurology & Physiology University of California, San Francisco 2012
• Ph.D. Complex Systems & Brain Sciences Florida Atlantic University 2006
• B.S. Physics University of Wisconsin Whitewater 2001
• B.S. Psychology University of Wisconsin Whitewater 2001

Websites

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• Neuroscape (neuroscape.ucsf.edu)

Grants and Projects

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• Neural markers of impending task performance, NIH, 2021-2023
• Enhancing cognitive control in amnestic mild cognitive impairment via non-invasive brain stimulation, NIH, 2018-2021
• Feasibility gamma stimulation to reduce beta-amyloid load across species, NIH, 2018-2021
• Age Related Changes in the Top-Down Modulation of Working Memory, NIH, 2009-2012

Publications (57)

Top publication keywords:
Memory, Short-TermAnticipation, PsychologicalAttentionTouch PerceptionAgingPsychomotor PerformanceVisual PerceptionFacial RecognitionCuesCognitive DysfunctionReaction TimeMotion PerceptionMusicTranscranial Direct Current StimulationPrefrontal Cortex

• Digital rhythm training improves reading fluency in children.
  Developmental science 2024 Zanto TP, Giannakopoulou A, Gallen CL, Ostrand AE, Younger JW, Anguera-Singla R, Anguera JA, Gazzaley A
• Effects of transcranial alternating current stimulation on cognitive function in people with multiple sclerosis: A randomized controlled trial.
  Multiple sclerosis and related disorders 2023 Hsu WY, Zanto T, Park JE, Gazzaley A, Bove RM
• Intensity-dependent gamma electrical stimulation regulates microglial activation, reduces beta-amyloid load, and facilitates memory in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.
  Cell & bioscience 2023 Liu Q, Contreras A, Afaq MS, Yang W, Hsu DK, Russell M, Lyeth B, Zanto TP, Zhao M
• Stimulus specific cortical activity associated with ignoring distraction during working memory encoding and maintenance.
  Scientific reports 2023 Ashton C, Gouws AD, Glennon M, Das A, Chen YK, Chrisp C, Felek I, Zanto TP, McNab F
• Enhancing cognitive control in amnestic mild cognitive impairment via at-home non-invasive neuromodulation in a randomized trial.
  Scientific reports 2023 Jones KT, Ostrand AE, Gazzaley A, Zanto TP

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• Gamma neuromodulation improves episodic memory and its associated network in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: a pilot study.
  Neurobiology of aging 2023 Jones KT, Gallen CL, Ostrand AE, Rojas JC, Wais P, Rini J, Chan B, Lago AL, Boxer A, Zhao M, Gazzaley A, Zanto TP
• Musical Training Facilitates Exogenous Temporal Attention via Delta Phase Entrainment within a Sensorimotor Network.
  The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 2023 Nandi B, Ostrand A, Johnson V, Ford TJ, Gazzaley A, Zanto TP
• How musical rhythm training improves short-term memory for faces.
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2022 Zanto TP, Johnson V, Ostrand A, Gazzaley A
• Structural and functional network mechanisms of rescuing cognitive control in aging.
  NeuroImage 2022 Jones KT, Johnson EL, Gazzaley A, Zanto TP
• Research outside the laboratory: Longitudinal at-home neurostimulation.
  Behavioural brain research 2022 Jones KT, Smith CC, Gazzaley A, Zanto TP
• Individual differences in neuroanatomy and neurophysiology predict effects of transcranial alternating current stimulation.
  Brain stimulation 2021 Zanto TP, Jones KT, Ostrand AE, Hsu WY, Campusano R, Gazzaley A
• Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Cognition, Mood, Pain, and Fatigue in Multiple Sclerosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
  Frontiers in neurology 2021 Hsu WY, Cheng CH, Zanto TP, Gazzaley A, Bove RM
• Multimodal sensory integration: Diminishing returns in rhythmic synchronization.
  Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance 2020 Johnson V, Hsu WY, Ostrand AE, Gazzaley A, Zanto TP
• Intracranial alternating current stimulation facilitates neurogenesis in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.
  Alzheimer's research & therapy 2020 Liu Q, Jiao Y, Yang W, Gao B, Hsu DK, Nolta J, Russell M, Lyeth B, Zanto TP, Zhao M
• Temporal attention is not affected by working memory load.
  Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior 2020 Zanto TP, Liu H, Pan P, Gazzaley A
• Neural Correlates Underlying the Precision of Visual Working Memory.
  Neuroscience 2019 Zhao Y, Kuai S, Zanto TP, Ku Y
• A Tablet-Based Assessment of Rhythmic Ability.
  Frontiers in psychology 2019 Zanto TP, Padgaonkar NT, Nourishad A, Gazzaley A
• Gyrification abnormalities in presymptomatic c9orf72 expansion carriers.
  Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry 2019 Caverzasi E, Battistella G, Chu SA, Rosen H, Zanto TP, Karydas A, Shwe W, Coppola G, Geschwind DH, Rademakers R, Miller BL, Gorno-Tempini ML, Lee SE
• Aging of the frontal lobe.
  Handbook of clinical neurology 2019 Zanto TP, Gazzaley A
• Parametric effects of transcranial alternating current stimulation on multitasking performance.
  Brain stimulation 2018 Hsu WY, Zanto TP, Gazzaley A
• Enhancement of multitasking performance and neural oscillations by transcranial alternating current stimulation.
  PloS one 2017 Hsu WY, Zanto TP, van Schouwenburg MR, Gazzaley A
• Spatial Attention and the Effects of Frontoparietal Alpha Band Stimulation.
  Frontiers in human neuroscience 2017 van Schouwenburg MR, Zanto TP, Gazzaley A
• In: Cabeza, R., Nyberg, L., Park, D.C. (Eds.). Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging: Linking cognitive and cerebral aging
  Selective attention and inhibitory control in the aging brain 2017 Zanto, T.P. & Gazzaley, A.
• In: Egner, T (Ed.). Handbook of Cognitive Control
  Cognitive control and the aging brain 2017 Zanto, T.P. & Gazzaley, A.
• Network degeneration and dysfunction in presymptomatic C9ORF72 expansion carriers.
  NeuroImage. Clinical 2016 Lee SE, Sias AC, Mandelli ML, Brown JA, Brown AB, Khazenzon AM, Vidovszky AA, Zanto TP, Karydas AM, Pribadi M, Dokuru D, Coppola G, Geschwind DH, Rademakers R, Gorno-Tempini ML, Rosen HJ, Miller BL, …
• Dance Experience and Associations with Cortical Gray Matter Thickness in the Aging Population.
  Dementia and geriatric cognitive disorders extra 2016 Porat S, Goukasian N, Hwang KS, Zanto T, Do T, Pierce J, Joshi S, Woo E, Apostolova LG
• Predictive cues and age-related declines in working memory performance.
  Neurobiology of aging 2016 Padgaonkar NA, Zanto TP, Bollinger J, Gazzaley A
• Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition
  2016 Zanto, T.P. (Ed.)
• Young-onset frontotemporal dementia in a homozygous tau R406W mutation carrier.
  Annals of clinical and translational neurology 2015 Ng AS, Sias AC, Pressman PS, Fong JC, Karydas AM, Zanto TP, De May M, Coppola G, Geschwind DH, Miller BL, Lee SE
• Neural sources of performance decline during continuous multitasking.
  Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior 2015 Al-Hashimi O, Zanto TP, Gazzaley A
• Delayed enhancement of multitasking performance: Effects of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation on the prefrontal cortex.
  Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior 2015 Hsu WY, Zanto TP, Anguera JA, Lin YY, Gazzaley A
• Effects of noninvasive brain stimulation on cognitive function in healthy aging and Alzheimer's disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
  Neurobiology of aging 2015 Hsu WY, Ku Y, Zanto TP, Gazzaley A
• Expectations of Task Demands Dissociate Working Memory and Long-Term Memory Systems.
  Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) 2015 Zanto TP, Clapp WC, Rubens MT, Karlsson J, Gazzaley A
• In: Toga, AW (Ed.). Brain Mapping: An Encyclopedic Reference
  Top-down suppression 2015 Zanto, TP, Rissman, J.
• Structural and functional differences in medial prefrontal cortex underlie distractibility and suppression deficits in ageing.
  Nature communications 2014 Chadick JZ, Zanto TP, Gazzaley A
• In: Nobre, AC, Kastner, S (Eds.). Handbook of Attention
  Attention and aging 2014 Zanto, TP, Gazzaley, A.
• Fronto-parietal network: flexible hub of cognitive control.
  Trends in cognitive sciences 2013 Zanto TP, Gazzaley A
• Rapid functional reorganization in human cortex following neural perturbation.
  The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 2013 Zanto TP, Chadick JZ, Satris G, Gazzaley A
• Reconciling the influence of task-set switching and motor inhibition processes on stop signal after-effects.
  Frontiers in psychology 2013 Anguera JA, Lyman K, Zanto TP, Bollinger J, Gazzaley A
• Reliability measures of functional magnetic resonance imaging in a longitudinal evaluation of mild cognitive impairment.
  NeuroImage 2013 Zanto TP, Pa J, Gazzaley A
• Age-related changes in expectation-based modulation of motion detectability.
  PloS one 2013 Zanto TP, Sekuler R, Dube C, Gazzaley A
• Anticipatory alpha phase influences visual working memory performance.
  NeuroImage 2013 Zanto TP, Chadick JZ, Gazzaley A
• Comparable mechanisms of working memory interference by auditory and visual motion in youth and aging.
  Neuropsychologia 2013 Mishra J, Zanto T, Nilakantan A, Gazzaley A
• Parameterization of transcranial magnetic stimulation.
  Journal of neurophysiology 2011 Rubens MT, Zanto TP
• Age-related changes in orienting attention in time.
  The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 2011 Zanto TP, Pan P, Liu H, Bollinger J, Nobre AC, Gazzaley A
• Characterizing the involvement of rostrolateral prefrontal cortex in prospective memory.
  The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 2011 Rubens MT, Zanto TP
• Causal role of the prefrontal cortex in top-down modulation of visual processing and working memory.
  Nature neuroscience 2011 Zanto TP, Rubens MT, Thangavel A, Gazzaley A
• Neural responses to complex auditory rhythms: the role of attending.
  Frontiers in psychology 2010 Chapin HL, Zanto T, Jantzen KJ, Kelso SJ, Steinberg F, Large EW
• Expectation-driven changes in cortical functional connectivity influence working memory and long-term memory performance.
  The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 2010 Bollinger J, Rubens MT, Zanto TP, Gazzaley A
• The influence of perceptual training on working memory in older adults.
  PloS one 2010 Berry AS, Zanto TP, Clapp WC, Hardy JL, Delahunt PB, Mahncke HW, Gazzaley A
• Top-down modulation of visual feature processing: the role of the inferior frontal junction.
  NeuroImage 2010 Zanto TP, Rubens MT, Bollinger J, Gazzaley A
• Delays in neural processing during working memory encoding in normal aging.
  Neuropsychologia 2010 Zanto TP, Toy B, Gazzaley A
• Predictive knowledge of stimulus relevance does not influence top-down suppression of irrelevant information in older adults.
  Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior 2009 Zanto TP, Hennigan K, Ostberg M, Clapp WC, Gazzaley A
• Practice-related improvement in working memory is modulated by changes in processing external interference.
  Journal of neurophysiology 2009 Berry AS, Zanto TP, Rutman AM, Clapp WC, Gazzaley A
• Neural suppression of irrelevant information underlies optimal working memory performance.
  The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 2009 Zanto TP, Gazzaley A
• Neural correlates of rhythmic expectancy
  Advances in Cognitive Psychology 2006 Zanto, TP, Snyder, JS, Large, EW
• Gamma-band responses to perturbed auditory sequences: Evidence for synchronization of perceptual processes
  Music Perception 2005 Zanto, TP, Large, EW, Fuchs, A, Kelso, JAS