Bob Jacobs received his Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics at UCLA, where he worked with John Schumann and Arnold B. Scheibel. He has lived for extended periods of time in Germany, Japan, and China. He became a member of the Colorado College Psychology department in 1993 and developed the Neuroscience major in 1996.

His research interests include language acquisition, non-human animal communication, cognitive neuroethology, and comparative neuroantomy. Most recently, he has been conducting collaborative quantitative neuromorphological research on several more exotic species: elephants, humpback whale, giraffe, manatee, and Siberian tiger.

Professor of Psychology: 2007-present
First Year at Colorado College: 1993

Research Interests

Neuroscience, language acquisition, non-human animal communication, cognitive neuroethology, evolutionary biology, comparative neuroanatomy

Representative Publications & Presentations

Jacobs, B., Lubs, J., Hannan, M., Anderson, K., Butti, C., Sherwood, C.C., Hof, P.R., & Manger, P.R. (2010). Neuronal morphology in the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) neocortex. Brain Structure and Function, 215, 273-298. doi: 10.1007/s00429-010-0288-3. pdf Science announcement

Anderson, K., Yamamoto, E., Kaplan, J., Hannan, M., & Jacobs, B. (2010). Neurolucida lucivid versus Neurolucida camera: A quantitative and qualitative comparison of three-dimensional neuronal reconstructions. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 186, 209-214. doi:10.1016/ j.jneumeth.2009.11.024.pdf

Anderson, K., Bones, B., Robinson, B., Hass, C. Lee, H., Ford, K., Roberts T-A., & Jacobs, B . (2009). The morphology of supragranular pyramidal neurons in the human insular cortex: A quantitative Golgi study. Cerebral Cortex 19 ,2131-2144. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhn234. pdf

Travis, K., Ford, K., & Jacobs, B. (2005). Regional dendritic variation in neonatal human cortex: A quantitative Golgi study. Developmental Neuroscience, 27, 277-287. Abstract pdf

Jacobs, B. Creswell, J., Britt. J.P., Ford, K.L., Bogen J.E., & Zaidel, E. (2003). Quantitative analysis of cortical pyramidal neurons following corpus callosotomy. Annals of Neurology, 54, 126-130. Abstract pdf

Jacobs, B., & Scheibel, A.B. (2002). Regional dendritic variation in primate cortical pyramidal cells. In A. Schüz & R. Miller, Cortical areas: Unity and diversity (Conceptual advances in brain research series; pp. 111-131). London: Taylor & Francis. Abstract pdf

Jacobs, B., Schall, M., Prather, M., Kapler, L., Driscoll, L., Baca, S., Jacobs, J., Ford, K., Wainwright, M. & Treml, M. (2001). Regional dendritic and spine variation in human cerebral cortex: A quantitative Golgi study. Cerebral Cortex, 11, 558-571.Abstract pdf

Jacobs, B., Driscoll, L., & Schall, M. (1997). Lifespan dendritic and spine changes in areas 10 and 18 of human cortex: A quantitative Golgi study. The Journal of Comparative Neurology, 386, 661-680. Abstract pdf

Jacobs, B., Chugani, H.T., Allada, V., Chen, S., Phelps, M.E., Pollack, D.B., & Raleigh, M.J. (1995). Developmental changes in brain metabolism in sedated rhesus macaques and vervet monkeys revealed by positron emission tomography. Cerebral Cortex, 5, 222-233. Abstract pdf

Jacobs, B. (1995). Dis-integrating perspectives of language acquisition: A response to Eubank and Gregg. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 17, 65-71.

Chugani, H.T., & Jacobs, B. (1994). Metabolic recovery in caudate nucleus of children following cerebral hemispherectomy. Annals of Neurology, 36, 794-797.

Jacobs, B., Batal, H. A., Lynch, B., Ojemann, G., Ojemann, L., & Scheibel, A. B. (1993). Quantitative dendritic and spine analyses of speech cortices: A case study. Brain and Language, 44, 239-253. Abstract

Jacobs, B., & Scheibel, A. B. (1993). A quantitative dendritic analysis of Wernicke's area in humans. I. Lifespan changes. The Journal of Comparative Neurology, 327, 83-96. Abstract pdf

Jacobs, B., Schall, M., & Scheibel, A. B. (1993). A quantitative dendritic analysis of Wernicke's area in humans. II. Gender, Hemispheric, and Environmental Factors. The Journal of Comparative Neurology, 327, 97-111. Abstract pdf

Jacobs, B., & Schumann, J. (1992). Language acquisition and the neurosciences: Towards a more integrative perspective. Applied Linguistics, 13, 282-301. Abstract

Jacobs, B. (1988). Neurobiological differentiation of primary and secondary language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 10, 303-337. Abstract

Awards & Honors

2007-10: Thomas M. McKee Professor in the Natural Sciences