Jessica F. Cantlon

Jessica Cantlon is the Ronald J. and Mary Ann Zdrojkowski Professor of Developmental Neuroscience at the Carnegie Mellon University. In 2017 she was selected as Time Person of the Year as one of the Silence Breakers.

Early life and education Cantlon studied anthropology at Indiana University Bloomington. She moved to Duke University for her graduate studies, where she worked with Elizabeth Brannon on the neural bases of mathematical knowledge. Early in her graduate studies, Cantlon trained herself in functional MRI, recognising that neuroimaging could be used to further our understanding of learning. Her research involved investigations into the origin of the human and primate capacity for mathematics. Cantlon showed that monkeys can perform mental arithmetic. Working with Brannon, Cantlon constructed a mathematical task that asked monkeys to deduce whether a series of numbers were larger or smaller than the ones that proceeded them. This study showed that the mechanism that monkeys use to make comparisons are the same as the ones humans use. Whilst the capacity for complicated symbolic mathematics appears to be unique to humans, it is not clear where this numerical prowess emerges from. She combines psychological investigations with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) to understand mathematical intuition.

In 2017, Cantlon was one of several whistleblowers who sued the University of Rochester for its handling of sexual harassment complaints. Later that year Cantlon left her position at the University of Rochester alleging that they failed to act while the investigation was proceeding and took up a position at Carnegie Mellon. Ultimately, in 2020, Cantlon and the other plaintiffs settled with the University or Rochester for $9.4 million.

In 2018 Cantlon was made the Zdrojkowski Chair in Developmental Neuroscience at Carnegie Mellon University. Using MRI, Cantlon studied activity in the intraparietal sulcus of young people during numerical tasks. She demonstrated that boys and girls have identical capabilities.

Awards and honours 2016 Science News 10 Scientists to Watch

Selected publications

Personal life Cantlon is married to Brad Mahon, a cognitive neuroscientist at Carnegie Mellon University.

Cantlon's 9th great grandmother is Rebecca Nurse.