About
last update: Apr, 2026
I study the paradoxical nature of human emotion; its individuality and universality. In particular, my work has focused on 1) identifying the human affect system, 2) modeling how such affect is constructed with individual differences, and 3) capturing how it converges into sharable representations through social dynamics. To this end, I combine experimental approaches (e.g., naturalistic neuroimaging) with computational techniques (e.g., representational learning/alignment, machine learning). I have also spent my time improving analytic methods and translating psychological findings to relevant fields, such as mental health, empirical aesthetics, and robotics.
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Curriculum Vitae
Education
2025.09 - Present | Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology
UC San Diego
Advisor: Dr. Eshin Jolly (UCSD, Psychology)
2022.09 - 2024.08 | M.S. in Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Seoul National University
Thesis: Awe is characterized as an ambivalent experience in the human behavior and cortex
Advisor: Dr. Jiook Cha (SNU, Psychology)
Committee: Dr. Sang Ah Lee (SNU, Brain and Cognitive Sciences)
Dr. Choong-Wan Woo (SKKU, Biomedical Engineering)
2016.03 - 2022.08 | B.A. in Psychology (Double: Aesthetics)
Seoul National Univerisity, Summa Cum Laude
Thesis: How we get pleasures from painful artworks
Advisor: Dr. Jiook Cha (SNU, Psychology)
News
only five recent items shown | click titles for details!
Apr, 2026 My first PhD project was selected for an oral talk at SANS2026 with a travel award! 🏆 Mar, 2026 I gave a guest lecture to undergraduate students in UCSD Psychology! 🎤
Nov, 2025 My second-authored paper was published at Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry! 📕
Aug, 2025 My wife and I gave poster presentations at CCN2025, along with our honeymoon! 🎤 Jul, 2025 My master thesis on awe was published at Communications Psychology! 📕
Research Highlight
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Awe is characterized as an ambivalent affect in the human behavior and cortex:
integrated VR-EEG study
2025 | Comms Psych | paper
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#valence #contrastive_learning #VR
Revisiting Your Memory: reconstruction of
affect-contextualized memory via EEG-guided
audiovisual generation
2025 | ACM Multimedia Workshop | paper
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#reconstruction #multimodal_generation The twofold role of subjective fluency in displeasing but preferable visual artworks:
self-report and eye-tracking analysis
2024 | Emp Std Arts | paper
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#aesthetics #eye_tracking #bayesian_modeling
© 2026 Jinwoo Lee. All rights are reserved.