Yoona Kang’s research investigates psychological and neural mechanisms that support the development and changes in social cognition, emotions, and health outcomes. Her main research interests are in 1) linking social cognitive and affective processing in the brain to health outcomes across various developmental stages, and 2) designing intervention strategies that guide adaptive changes in social processing to promote emotional and physical well-being. Yoona’s work draws conceptual and methodological tools from psychology, cognitive neuroscience, contemplative science, and health communication. She examines converging evidence across a wide range of tools, including first-person reports, implicit measures, behavioral outcomes, and neuroimaging data (fMRI, fNIRS, EEG). Yoona received her B.A. in psychology from UCLA and Ph.D. in psychology from Yale University.
