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Professors

Inah Lee (이인아) (Dept. Chair)

Dr. Lee is interested in how the brain remembers episodic events (involving objects and places) and use it for adaptive behavior. Animal models are used with memory tasks to uncover the functional relationships between hippocampal memory systems and cognitive functions. Drug injections and neurotoxic lesions are used in addition to electrophysiological techniques in freely moving animals in VR environments.

Jeehyun Kwag (곽지현)

Dr. Kwag joined the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences in fall of 2022. She uses interdisciplinary approaches (e.g., in vitro electrophysiology, in vivo calcium imaging and in silico computational neural network modeling) to elucidate how the complex neural circuits perform efficient neural computation and memory processing. Recent research interests are neural circuit mechanisms of memory with Alzheimer’s disease therapeutics applications and neuroscience-inspired computational models of memory/sensory perception for AI applications.

Ki Woong Kim (김기웅)

Dr. Kim is an expert in geropsychiatry. He founded and led the National Institute of Dementia for 8 years. His research interests are pathophysiology, diagnosis and intervention of cognitive disorders (dementia and mild cognitive impairment) and late-life depression. He has been leading the Korean Longitudinal Study on Cognitive Aging and Dementia (KLOSCAD), and published more than 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals including Lancet, Alzheimers & Dementia, Annals of Neurology and Biological Psychiatry.

Euitae Kim (김의태)

Dr. Kim received his PhD with a focus on the measurement of antipsychotic drug effect on the brain by using PET imaging. He completed the research fellowship program in King’s College London and Imperial College London. His scientific focus has been advancing the prevention of developing psychosis in high-risk for psychosis and the treatment of patients with schizophrenia. Currently, he is working on antipsychotic effect on the neurotransmission in the brain.

Sang Ah Lee (이상아)

Dr. Lee received her B.S. in astronomy from Caltech and Ph.D. from Harvard Univ. in cognitive development. She did her postdoctoral training in neuroscience at the Center for Mind/Brain Sciences in Trento, Italy, where she worked as a faculty member before coming to Korea. Her research interests concern the neurocognitive foundations of event memory and symbolic representation, and how they change over the course of the lifespan and in neurological disorders.

Sang-Hun Lee (이상훈)

Dr. Lee’s laboratory combines fMRI, computational modeling, and psychophysics to address how sensory and non-sensory information flows in the human brain for decisive resolution of perceptual choices under an environment with high degree of uncertainty. Recent publications involve computational neuroimaging studies of cortical point spread functions, choice probability, motion adaptation and time perception in the human visual cortex.

Suk-Ho Lee (이석호)

How the mind works is a question that has captivated philosophers and scientists alike over millenia. Dr. Lee aims to contribute to our knowledge of the neural mechanisms of learning and memory by investigating its fundamental aspects at the cellular level, utilizing ex vivo electrophysiology combined with calcium imaging, computational models, behavioral study, optogenetics, and others.

Hyeon-Ae Jeon (전현애)

Dr. Jeon is dedicated to investigating sequential processing in human cognition and language, as well as exploring the diverse factors influencing individuals' time estimation abilities across different contexts. Her current research explores three main areas: (1) the acquisition and generalization of sequential rules, (2) effective strategies for second language acquisition compared to native language learning, and (3) variations in time estimation during fun activities or in familiar environments. Dr. Jeon employs a multidisciplinary approach to gain insights into these complex processes from psychological, computational, and biological perspectives, including behavioral experiments, functional MRI (fMRI), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), eye-tracking, and mathematical modeling.

Hyung Jin Cho (최형진)

Dr. Hyung Jin Cho joined the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences as a full-time professor in 2024. Professor Choi started his brain science research on food addiction and obesity problems when he was a clinical professor of endocrinology. His main research topics are (1) brain circuits responsible for the cognition of desire, pleasure, addiction, hunger, and food, (2) development of appetite suppressant drugs, medical devices, and digital therapeutics. His research methods include opto/chemogenetics, miniscope, fiber photometry, neuropeptide sensors, behavioral experiments, Arduino, deep learning behavior analysis, electronic drugs, and digital therapeutics for mice, monkeys, and humans.

Woo-Young Ahn (안우영) Affiliated (겸무)

The missions of the Computational Clinical Science (CCS) Lab directed by Dr. Ahn are to (1) elucidate the neurocognitive mechanisms of decision-making using computational approaches and (2) develop transdiagnostic phenotypes and cost-effective markers of psychiatric disorders, especially addictive disorders. To accomplish the missions, we use decision neuroscience as a framework to understand both normative and abnormal behavior, computational modeling to delineate the cognitive processes responsible for decision-making deficits, neuroimaging (e.g., fMRI) methods to probe their neural substrates, and cutting-edge machine learning algorithms to maximize prediction accuracy and generalizability.

Jiook Cha (차지욱) Affiliated (겸무)

In SNU Connectome Lab, we are interested in the following areas of research: 1. Human connectomes : "How does the human brain connectome lead to the complex traits of cognition, emotion, and behavior in normal and diseases?" 2. Development and aging of human connectomes: "What are the gene-environmental relationships shaping one's brain and mind in children and elders?" 3. Data-driven human neuroscience. With the ultimate goal of the early prediction of cognitive and behavioral alterations, SNU Connectome Lab pursues data-driven science using large-scale, multimodal brain imaging and related data, such as genome data, and high performance data analytics.

Visiting Faculty

Jeansok J. Kim (김진석)

Dr. Kim utilizes multi-level analyses toward understanding (i) the effects of stress on brain and behavior, and (ii) the neuronal mechanisms underlying basic associative learning in mammalian brain. These investigations consist of employing lesion, pharmacological, and in vitro and in vivo neurophysiological techniques. Recently, his laboratory began employing a predator-like Robogator (video) (programmable LEGO Mindstorms robot) and a closed economy (video) (self-contained living setting comprised of safe nest and dangerous foraging zones) to investigate rat's foraging behavior in semi-naturalistic, dynamic fear environments. This novel approach might be useful in revealing how fear (and stress) influences risky decision making in humans, in screening drug effects, and in addressing the neuronal basis of the basic approach-avoid conflicts that contribute to human psychopathologies.

Daeyeol Lee (이대열)

Daeyeol Lee is the Bloomberg Distinguished professor of Neuroscience and Psychological and Brain Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Lee is a renowned expert in the field of decision-making neuroscience. The main goal of his research is to understand the brain mechanisms of adaptive behavior. Current projects investigate the prefrontal and striatal mechanisms underlying the dynamic process of updating the values of various objects and actions through experience. He is also interested the brain mechanisms underlying the estimation of temporal intervals and numerical quantities and behavioral control based on such estimates. His research team also develops novel behavioral paradigms that can probe the core processes of decision making. Combined with the use of multi-electrode recording systems, his research seeks to unravel the biological basis of cognition and willful actions.