Zhongzheng Fu, Ph.D., received his bachelor’s degree in physics from University of Hong Kong. He earned his Ph.D. in Control and Dynamical Systems from California Institute of Technology. His doctoral research focuses on understanding the single neuron mechanisms of self-monitoring of action errors, which signal lapses in cognitive control. His work discovers the neuronal basis for the error-related negativity (ERN), an important biomarker for psychiatric diseases. His postdoctoral work at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center uncovers the neuronal mechanisms in the human medial frontal cortex that support robust generalization of cognitive control across different challenging cognitive tasks. In 2023, Dr. Fu joined the faculty of Department of Neurological Surgery at UT Southwestern as an Assistant Professor. 

Laboratory overview

We investigate the computational and neural bases of cognitive control in learning, memory and decision-making. A long-term goal is to understand cognitive control arises from neural processing at the cognitive, system and neural circuit level to produce flexible and generalizable goal-directed behaviors. Our experimental approaches include intracranial microelectrode recordings, electrocorticography, electroencephalography and eye tracking. We develop various computational models to parameterize and simulate human behaviors in cognitive tasks, which allows us to understand neural responses in terms of these model components and parameters.