We are a developmental social affective neuroscience group directed by Dr. Leehyun Yoon.

We aim to understand the neurobiological and environmental mechanisms of developmental changes, individual differences, and alterations of self-related processing, internally-oriented cognitions, and social behaviors across the lifespan with a particular focus on adolescence. We understand these psychological processes in relation to the functional development of fronto-striatal-limbic pathways and default mode networks.

Our ultimate goal is to promote healthy socioemotional functioning across the lifespan and prevent mental disorders early in life through behavioral and brain research. Our research is often motivated by societal problems that today’s youth faces, such as mental health crises, negative effects of social media use, achievement pressures, heightened competition, and minority stress.

We use various methods to address our research questions, such as developing novel behavioral and fMRI experiments, multimodal neuroimaging analysis, computational modeling, ecological momentary assessment, and longitudinal data analysis with structural equation modeling.

Our lab is a part of the Psychology department and the Center for Vital Longevity at UT Dallas, exciting places for collaborations on lifespan development research, social neuroscience, and clinical neuroscience!