Yu Sun Chung

Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology

Yu Sun Chung, Ph.D

Biography

Dr. Yu Sun Chung is a developmental cognitive neuroscientist. She obtained her M.A in Clinical Psychology from Korea University in Seoul, South Korea. At that time, she was a clinical psychologist studying social cognition for schizophrenia and social phobia while leading cognitive behavioral group therapies in South Korea. She felt a strong need to understand neural mechanisms underlying psychopathology to develop preventive strategies. This motivated her to pursue her Ph. D. in Cognitive Psychology along with Cognitive, Computational, & Systems Neuroscience Pathway at Washington University in St. Louis. She further obtained extensive postdoctoral training at Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center (affiliated with Yale University) and Duke University to understand developmental trajectories of psychopathology in a sex-specific way from early childhood to adolescence. The aims of her recent projects are to examine 1) how puberty influences cognitive-affective processes in adolescents with a focus on sex differences, and 2) how early stressful life events are related to adolescents’ mental health in a sex-specific way. To probe these questions, she uses large, longitudinal public fMRI data (i.e., Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study®) and EEG task paradigms along with pubertal hormones.

She enjoys spending time with her two kids. Her favorite cartoons are Bluey and Peppa Pig! 

Areas of Research Specialization

  • Adolescent brain development, development of fronto-striatal brain circuits, puberty, sex differences in developmental psychopathology

Areas of Teaching Specialization

  • Developmental Psychopathology, EEG/ERP courses, Lifespan Development Psychology