  For a smooth projective variety X of dimension 2n-1 over complex field, Zhao
defined the topological Abel-Jacobi map, which sends vanishing cycles on a
smooth hyperplane section Y to the middle dimensional primitive intermediate
Jacobian of X. It agrees with Griffiths' Abel-Jacobi map on vanishing cycles
that are algebraic and varies holomorphically on the locus of Hodge classes as
hyperplane section deforms. On the other hand, Schnell proposed an alternative
construction using the real-splitting property of the mixed Hodge structure on
H^{2n-1}(X\Y). We show that the two definitions coincide, which answers a
question of Schnell.
