About
I am a Wu Tsai Institute postdoctoral fellow at Yale University, working with Profs. John Murray and Amy Arnsten. Previously, I completed my Ph.D. in 2021 under the mentorship of Mark D’Esposito at the University of California, Berkeley. In January 2025, I am starting as an Assitant Professor in the Department of Psychology (Cognitive & Behavioral Neuroscience Division) at the University of Miami. Check out the lab website here: www.jam-lab.org
Research interests
My graduate research focused on the neuroanatomical and functional basis for human prefrontal cortex function, with a specific interest in working memory. At Yale, I'm using computational models of cortical circuits to link between systems-level data from animal models and the more complex neural and behavioral circuitry in humans. Ultimately, I seek a convergent understanding of how the prefrontal cortex supports successful working memory behavior and the remarkable flexibility of human cognition. How do the few centimeters of cortical tissue in prefrontal cortex support such a vast array of behaviors? What about prefrontal anatomical and functional circuitry leads to stark behavioral capacity limits on our working memory systems (and disrupted across neuropsychiatric disorders)? Does the prefrontal cortex serve comparable functions in humans and other primates, with shared neural mechanisms for successful behavior?
To probe the remarkable functional and anatomical circuitry in prefrontal cortex underlying complex behavior such as working memory, I use converging methodologies to analyze and link data across scales and species: human neuroimaging (collecting and analyzing functional and anatomical MRI), behavioral manipulations and modeling, non-human primate electrophysiology (data analysis), and computational modeling of neural circuitry.
You can find more in my full CV
Research topics
Functional neuroanatomy of human prefrontal cortex
Cortical circuitry for working memory
Publications
Miller, J.A., & Constantinidis, C. Timescales of learning in prefrontal cortex. Nature Reviews Neuroscience (2024). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41583-024-00836-8
Tambini, A., Miller, J.A., Ehlert, L., Kiyonaga, A., D'Esposito, M. Structured memory representations develop at multiple time scales in hippocampal-cortical networks. bioRxiv (2023) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.04.06.535935v2
Miller, J.A., Kiyonaga, A., Tambini, A., D'Esposito, M. Long-term learning transforms prefrontal cortex representations during working memory. Neuron (2022)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2022.09.019
Miller, J.A., Weiner, K.S. Unfolding the evolution of human cognition. Trends in Cognitive Sciences (2022)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2022.06.008
Willbrand, E.H., Parker, B.J., Voorhies, W.I, Miller, J.A., Lyu, I., Hallock, T., Aponik-Gremillion, L., Bunge, S.A., Foster, B.L., Weiner, K.S. A new tripartite landmark in posterior cingulate cortex. Science Adavances (2022)
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abn9516
Miller, J.A., Voorhies, W.I., Lurie, D.J., D'Esposito, M., Weiner, K.S. Overlooked tertiary sulci serve as a meso-scale link between microstructural and functional properties of human lateral prefrontal cortex. Journal of Neuroscience (2021)
https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2362-20.2021
Voorhies, W.I., Miller, J.A., Yao, J.K., Bunge, S.A., Weiner, K.S. Cognitive insights from tertiary sulci in prefrontal cortex. Nature Communications (2021) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25162-w
Miller, J.A., D'Esposito, M., Weiner, K.S. Using tertiary sulci to map the “cognitive globe” of the prefrontal cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (2021)
https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01696
Lyu, I. Hao, L., Bao, S., Yao, J., Miller, J.A., Voorhies, W., Taylor, W., Bunge, S.A., Weiner, K.S., Landman, B.A. Labeling Lateral Prefrontal Sulci using Spherical Data Augmentation and Context-aware Training. Neuroimage (2021)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117758
Miller, J.A.*, Kiyonaga, A.K.*, Ivry, R., D'Esposito, M. Prioritized working memory content biases ongoing action. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. 46(12), 1443–1457 (2020) *Co-first authors
https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000868
Miller, J.A., Voorhies, W.I., Li, X., Raghuram, I., Palomero-Gallagher, N., Zilles, K., Sherwood, C., Hopkins, W., Weiner, K.S. Sulcal morphology of ventral temporal cortex is shared between humans and other hominoids. Scientific Reports (2020)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-73213-x
Miller, J.A., Scult, M.A., Conley, E.D., Chen, Q., Weinberger, D.R., Hariri, A.R. Effects of schizophrenia polygenic risk scores on brain activity and performance during working memory subprocesses in healthy young adults. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 44(4): 844-853 (2017)