EXPLORE HIGH-LEVEL COGNITION IN THE HUMAN BRAIN
LABORATORY OF COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE
Founded in 2016, the lab is located in the Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences in DGIST, Korea. We are also the partner group working with the Department of Neuropsychology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Germany.

• We try to understand the neural correlates involved in high-level cognition in humans, emphasizing the function of the prefrontal cortex in relation to other areas in the brain.
• Particularly, we are interested in how people deal with complex sequences of inputs in everyday lives using cognitive control, in other words, complex sequence processing. This is related to various cognitive processes such as achieving goals, making inferences, grasping regularities, and making predictions and time perception.
• Brain big-data analysis is also one of our research topics, establishing cognitive models for functional as well as structural networks in the brain out of neuroimaging data.
• We also investigate how executive functions influence on human language processing in the aspects of semantics, syntax, and pragmatics.
RESEARCH METHODS
• We employ various cognitive neuroscience methods including functional & diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI & dMRI), resting-state fMRI, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), computational modeling, psychophysics (behavioral testing), and neuropsychological assessment (testing of patient populations).
• Using these methods, we unravel functional and structural networks involved in the high-level cognition in the human brain and establish computational models to increase our understanding of optimized cognitive processes in humans.
PUBLICATIONS
Interns in January, 2017
Shin, Minho
Lee, Changjun
Park, Jungtak
Yoo, Taehyun
Potential and efficiency of statistical learning closely intertwined with individuals’ executive functions: a mathematical modeling study
Park J., Yoon H.-D., Yoo T., Shin M., and Jeon H.-A.
Scientific Reports (2020)
Syntactic comprehension of relative clauses and center embedding using pseudowords
Cheon K.-H., Kim Y., Yoon H.-D., Nam K.-Ch., Lee S.-Y., and Jeon H.-A.
Brain Sciences (2020)
Evaluation of cognitive function in adult rhesus monkeys using the finger maze test
Kim K., Jeon H.-A*., Seo J., Park J., Won J., Yeo H.-G., Jeon C.-Y., Huh J.-W., Kim Y.-H., Hong Y., Choi J.-W., and Lee Y.
Applied Animal Behaviour Science (2020) *co-first author
Mathematical expertise modulates the architecture of dorsal and cortico-thalamic white matter tracts
Jeon, H.-A., Kuhl, U., Friederici, A. D.
Scientific Reports (2019)
Artificial and convolutional neural networks for assessing functional connectivity in resting-state functional near infrared spectroscopy
Behboodi, B., Lim, S.-H., Luna, M., Jeon, H.-A., Choi, J.-W.
Journal of Near Infrared Spectroscopy (2019)
What does "being an expert" mean to the brain? Functional specificity and connectivity in expertise.
Jeon, H.-A. & Friederici, A. D.
Cerebral Cortex (2017)
Degree of automaticity and the prefrontal cortex.
Jeon, H.-A., Friederici, A. D.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences (2015)
Functional network mirrored in the prefrontal cortex, caudate nucleus and thalamus: High resolution functional imaging and structural connectivity.
Jeon, H.-A., Anwander, A., Friederici, A. D.
Journal of Neuroscience (2014)
Hierarchical processing in the prefrontal cortex in a variety of cognitive domains.
Jeon, H.-A.
Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience (2014)
Two principles of organization in the prefrontal cortex are cognitive hierarchy and degree of automaticity.
Jeon, H.-A., Friederici, A. D.
Nature Communications (2013)
Effect of lexical proficiency on reading strategies used for shallow and deep orthographies.
Jeon, H.-A.
Neuroreport (2012)
Increased basal forebrain metabolism in mild cognitive impairment: An evidence for brain reserve in incipient dementia.
Kim, M.-J., Lee, K.-M., Son, Y.-D., Jeon, H.-A., Kim, Y.-B., Cho, Z.-H.
Journal of Alzheimer's Disease (2012)
Dual routes for verbal repetition: Articulation-based and acoustic-phonetic codes for pseudoword and word repetition, respectively.
Yoo, S., Chung, J.-Y., Jeon, H.-A., Lee, K.-M., Kim, Y.-B., Cho, Z.-H.
Brain and Language (2012)
Impairments of syntactic comprehension in Korean and the location of ischemic stroke lesions: A voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping study.
Kim, M.-J., Jeon, H.-A., Lee, K.-M.
Behavioural Neurology (2010)
Diagnostic utility of sound naming in early Alzheimer’s disease.
Jeon, H.-A., Lee, K.-M.
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society (2009)
Neuroimaging features in a case of developmental central auditory processing disorder.
Kim, M.-J., Jeon, H.-A., Lee, K.-M., Son, Y.-D., Kim, Y.-B., Cho, Z.-H.
Journal of the Neurological Sciences (2009)
Neural substrates of semantic relationships: Common and distinct left-frontal activities for generation of synonyms vs. antonyms.
Jeon, H.-A., Lee, K.-M., Kim, Y.-B., Cho, Z.-H.
Neuroimage (2009)
Functional MRI study on working memory of orthography.
Jeon, H.-A., Lee, K.-M.
Experimental Neurobiology (2006)
NEWS
Jungtak's first paper got accepted in Scientific Reports.
October 2020
Modeling study with statistical learning! Congratulations!
Hee Dong, Taehyun, and Jungtak have joined the Ph.D. program.
March 2020
We are looking forward to more exciting research!
Taehyun and Jungtak obtained their Master's degree.
February 2020
Congratulations on your achievement!
Hee Dong obtained his Master's degree.
August 2019
Warmest congratulations on your success!
Minho joined our lab.
March 2019
Welcome, Minho!
Taehyun joined the internship at the Institut für Neurowissenschaften und Medizin (INM-1) Forschungszentrum in Jülich, Germany.
January & February 2019
Taehyun had a great opportunity to work with Dr. Jan Schreiber learning diffusion MRI at Institut für Neurowissenschaften und Medizin (INM-1).
Jungtak presented his study at SfN in San Diego, USA.
November 2018
Jungtak enjoyed lots of comments and suggestions from researchers all around the world. Thanks for showing interest in our study.
Hee Dong presented his study at the Society for The Neurobiology of Language (SNL) in the beautiful Quebec City, Canada.
August 2018
Hee Dong received lots of suggestions and advice! Thanks for showing interest in our study.
Kyung Hwan joined the internship at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany.
July & August 2018
Kyung Hawn has joined the internship at Neurophysics Department in Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Germany for two months. We wish you the best in Leipzig!
Hee Dong and Jungtak presented their studies at the Korean Society for Cognitive Science.
June, 2018
Hee Dong and Jungtak presented their studies in the Korean Society for Cognitive Science. All the lab members enjoyed the scientific gathering!
Kyung Hwan successfully presented his study in Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting in Boston, USA.
March, 2018
Kyung Hwan participated in the Cognitive Neuroscience Society annual meeting in Boston and presented his work successfully.
Hee Dong won the travel fund for international conferences.
March 2018
Hee Dong was selected as one of the recipients of the International Conference Travel Fund at the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at DGIST. Two thumbs up! :)
New graduate students have joined the lab.
March, 2018
Taehyun and Jungtak joined our lab! Welcome!
Kyung Hwan won the best presentation award in Korean Society for Psycholinguistics.
February 9, 2018
Kyung Hawn won the best presentation award at the 2018 conference of The Korean Society for Psycholinguistics. Congratulations!
Launch of the DGIST-MPI Research Partner Center
November 29, 2017
The Jeon Lab became the Research Partner Center of the Max Planck Institute of the Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences. For more information, click here in English or in Korean.
Distinguished lecture presented by Dr. Angela D. Friederici
November 29, 2017
Hyeon-Ae's post-doc supervisor (a.k.a. her scientific mama) visited DGIST and talked about her research at the Distinguished Lecture Series. Thanks, Dr. Friederici!
Kyung Hwan received the DGIST Presidential Fellowship.
September 2017
Kyung Hwan was awarded the DGIST Presidential Fellowship (DPF) scholarship. Congrats, Kyung Hwan!
ICCS 2017 IN TAIPEI, TAIWAN
August 2017
Hyeon-Ae attended ICCS (The 11th International Conference on Cognitive Science). There, she met lots of great researchers, getting inspired and highly motivated by great works. The good news is that the 2019 ICCS will be held in Seoul, Korea!
A new graduate student has joined the lab.
July, 2017
We have the second newbie here! Let's welcome Hee Dong! We wish you all the best :)
OHBM 2017 in Vancouver, Canada
June, 2017
Hyeon-Ae Jeon participated in OHBM (Organization of Human Brain Mapping) conference in Vancouver. She and her collaborator, Ulrike Kuhl, presented their diffusion MRI data about mathematical expertise. Thanks for all the feedback and comments!
The very first behavioral experiment
April, 2017
The very first behavioral experiment of our lab has just launched! Find out more on the facebook.
The first lab member has joined the lab.
March, 2017
Attention! We have a newbie! Please welcome Kyung Hwan Cheon, a new graduate student! His enthusiasm for cognitive neuroscience has finally found its place here in Jeon lab. We wish him all the best!
The Jeon Lab goes into partnership with Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences.
September, 2016
Five years of joint research and shared curiosity in a variety of open research issues have facilitated the establishment of a partner group between the Department of Neuropsychology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences and the DGIST in Korea. The overall goal of the group is to understand how we process language in individual sequences and to determine which role Broca’s area plays in other cognitive abilities.
PUBLICATIONS
Join The Lab
INTERNSHIP (인턴쉽)
We strongly recommend students to join the internship program and experience our lab before you apply for graduate school.
* 우리 랩에 관심있는 학생들은 대학원에 지원하기 전에, 반드시 인턴십을 통해 먼저 연구와 실험실 생활, 그리고 실험실 구성원을 경험해 보기를 강.력.히. 추천합니다.
POSITIONS AVAILABLE FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS
The Jeon lab has openings available for new graduate students. If you are interested, please contact me via email (jeonha@dgist.ac.kr) and see the web-page below.
* 우리 랩에 관심있는 학생들이 학부에서 들었으면 좋을 것 같은 과목을 아래 추려보았습니다. 참고로 이 과목들은 DGIST 학부에서 제공하는 과목들로 구성되어 있으며, 아래 리스트가 반드시 필수는 아닙니다만, 미리 조금이라도 공부를 할 수 있기를 강.력.히. 추천합니다.
특히 수학, 통계, 프로그래밍, 그리고 인지심리학을 열심히 공부하면 많은 도움이 됩니다.

JOB OPENING FOR A POST-DOCTORAL RESEARCHER
Position Description:
We are seeking a postdoctoral researcher who can augment and extend the current research strengths of the lab and who have strong research potential.
Key Responsibilities:
The position entails contribution to ongoing research involving neuroimaging (functional/structural MRI, diffusion MRI) as well as behavioral experiment in cognitive neuroscience. In addition to hands-on conduct of experiments, duties will also include manuscript preparation, presentation of findings at conferences, and oversight of research activities of PhD students.
Skills and Qualifications:
A PhD degree in psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science, cognitive neuroscience, neuroimaging, biomedical engineering or equivalent.
Research experience in behavioral experiment and brain imaging.
If you are interested, please send your CV to jeonha at dgist.ac.kr with "Job application for a post-doctoral researcher" in the title.

VOLUNTEERS FOR EXPERIMENTS
We invite you to participate in various experiments raging from behavioral studies to brain imaging. Please see our facebook lab page.

CONTACT US!
Email: jeonha at dgist.ac.kr
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
DGIST (Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology)
333 Techno jungang-daero, Hyeonpung-myeon, Dalseong-gun, Daegu, 42988, Korea