Research Experience

Currently, my research at Elton Lab at The University of Florida explores the psychosocial correlates and neurocognitive mechanisms in alcohol use disorder (AUD). Using self-report measurements, electroencephalogram (EEG), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), my works examine the pathways between social interaction, cognitive control, and AUD at behavioral and neurophysiological levels. There are five projects that I am currently working on:

1. The longitudinal relationships between social mistreatment and AUD along among college students, and we also examined the moderation of inhibition- and error-related brain activations by the Stop Signal Task and fMRI at baseline, and questionnaires were distributed at baseline and three yearly follow-ups.

2. The effects of methylephenidate (MPH) on alcohol craving and attentional ability among young adults with comorbid AUD/ADHB through a doule-blind, placebo-controlled, and randomized experiment. We employed a resting-state and Alcohol Cue Task while congurent EEG-fMRI data was collected, while self-report craving was measured pre- and post-MPH. In this study, we aim to determine the underlying neural mechanisms that MPH reduces craving.

3. The development trajectories of error processing from teenagers to young adults using Stop Signal Task and fMRI data from a publicly available longitudinal dataset. In this project, we also examine the longitudinal associations between error responses and alcohol-related problems using machine leanrning approach.

4. The longitudinal relationships between alcohol-related problems, family history of AUD, reward-based learning, cognitive control, and attentional ability with a congurent EEG-fMRI experiment. We attempt to integrate information from EEG and fMRI (e.g., EEG source reconstruction and fMRI-EEG fusion) to understand the risk/resilience factors linking to AUD development.

5. Examining the relationships between substance use, problematic smart phone/internet use, social sotracism, cognitive control among young adults using Cyberball Paradigm, Emotional Stop Signal Task, fMRI, and questionnaires. This project is led by Dr. Shanting Chen at Department of Psychology at The University of Florida, and I am responsible for task design and task/fMRI data analysis.

University of Texas at Austin

2019 - 2024, Health Behavior & Health Education Program
Kinetic Kidz Lab (PI: Darla M. Castelli, Ph.D.)

Supervised by Dr. Castelli, I'm conducting my doctoral dissertation research to investigate the psychosocial determinants of EA using self-report questionnaires, computerized tasks (i.e., Stop Signal Task and the Cyberball Paradigm), along with fNIRS. My research aims to: (1) identify the social determinants of EA and examine the interaction between these upstream social variables and emotional regulation on EA; and (2) determine the association between social ostracism and the risk of EA, and examine the moderation effect of emotional regulation and the mediation role of cognitive control.

National Chung Cheng University

2017 - 2018, Dept. of Criminology
PI: Chiao-Yun Chen Ph.D.

After I got my master degree, I worked as a research assistant in Dr. Chen's lab for the project Recidivism Risk Assessment Tool for Drug Abusers (毒品犯罪人再犯風險評估工具之研究) which was funded by the Ministry of Justice of Taiwan. This study aimed to develop a comprehensive scale for evaluating the recidivism incidents among illicit drug users. Additionally, this research also determined the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) among abusers' craving levels and their behavioral performance and ERPs activities of inhibitory control (i.e., N2 and P3 amplitudes). In Dr. Chen's lab, I also assisted in other studies that investigated the associations between drug misuse, violent behaviors, social ostracism, and cognitive control using ERPs along with cognitive assessment tasks such as Stop Signal Task, Cyberball Paradigm, and Taylor Aggression Paradigm.

National Chung Cheng University

2014 - 2017, Graduate Institute of Sport & Leisure Education
Psychology of Health & Physical Activity Lab (PI: Suyen Liu, Ph.D.)

This is where my academic journey began. I was a master student and a research assistant in Dr. Liu's lab in which we examined the influences of acute exercise on cognitive control among violent offenders. With the co-advising by Dr. Chiao-Yun Chen, we used both behavioral and ERPs measures with the Emotional Stop Signal Task to investigate whether a 30-min aerobic exercise on a cycle ergometer improves the stop signal reaction time (SSRT) and post-error slowing (PES), as well as the ERPs components of inhibitory control, error monitoring, and error adjustment (i.e., N2, P3, ERN, and Pe).