Ya-Yun Chen received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Virginia Tech in 2025. She is a Postdoctoral Associate working with Dr. Tae-Ho Lee in the Affective Neurodynamics and Development Lab and with Dr. Jungmeen Kim-Spoon in the JK Lifespan Development Lab at Virginia Tech.
She is passionate about affective neuroscience, using neuroimaging techniques (e.g., fMRI) across different age groups, and is excited to apply various computational skills to her research. Her research primarily focuses on understanding the neural circuitry underlying negative behaviors and experiences, and exploring how these processes can be modulated and regulated.
In her free time, she enjoys using data for social good, promoting the field of neuroscience (e.g., writing popular science articles and organizing camps for high schoolers), and immersing herself in creating art. By the way, Ya-Yun is from Taiwan, a beautiful country with a wide variety of tasty street foods and drinks. She would be pleased to share all of them with you!
Research interests: Emotional Well-being, Aggression, Prosociality, Violence Prevention, Developmental Neuroscience.