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Biography
I obtained my PhD from Korea University, South Korea under the supervision of Prof. Stephen Jackson at the University of Nottingham with a co-professorship at Korea University. I worked as a post-doctoral research associate with Prof Matt Lambon Ralph at Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit (NARU) in the University of Manchester. Then, I moved to the University of Nottingham and work as a Beacon Anne McLaren Research Fellow in School of Psychology and Precision Imaging Beacon. In 2022, I start working as an assistant professor at the University of Nottingham.
Expertise Summary
Teaching Summary
Data analysis for Neuroimaging (PSGY4043 UNUK) for postgraduate students
Practical Methods 2 and 4 (PSGY2004 UNUK) for Yr 2 undergraduate students
Research Summary
Semantic cognition refers to our ability to use, manipulate and generalize knowledge and is a crucial function for our communication (verbal and nonverbal) and activities of daily living (e.g.,… read more
Current Research
Semantic cognition refers to our ability to use, manipulate and generalize knowledge and is a crucial function for our communication (verbal and nonverbal) and activities of daily living (e.g., object use). Therefore, impairments in semantic cognition can have a severe impact on quality of life (e.g., dementia and stroke). Although advances in neuroscience techniques have allowed important progress in understanding where and how brain systems code meaning at the cortical level, there is still a lack of any neurobiological explanation for semantic cognition.
GABA and glutamate, as major neurotransmitters in brain, play a major role in shaping cognitive functions whilst the complex interplay between them generates the neuroplasticity that enables the brain to adjust its performance. Therefore, one of the key issues in cognitive neuroscience is to link the underlying neurochemical mechanisms to our flexible cognitive behaviours, which has critical implications for clinical interventions in dementia and stroke (e.g., pharmacological treatments).
My goal is to reveal the neurochemical mechanisms of human semantic cognition and its neuroplasticity in healthy (young and old adults) and clinical populations (e.g., dementia and stroke). To provide convergent understanding of this, I combine brain stimulation techniques with advanced neuroimaging approaches, including:
- Structural and functional neuroimaging (DTI/DWI and resting-state/task-related fMRI)
- Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS)
- Transcranial magnetic stimulation/transcranial direct current stimulation/transcrainal alternating stimulation (TMS/tDCS/tACS)
- Focused ultrasound stimulation (FUS)
I am also interested in the ways in which semantic cognition interacts with other domain-general higher cognitive functions (e.g., default mode network and executive control system). To explore this complex interplay between these systems, I use advanced neuroimaging analyses such as independent component analysis, dynamic causal modelling, representational similarity analysis, and graph-theory network analysis.