Woon Ju Park

Assistant Professor

Education

Ph.D. (2017) Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester

M.S. (2012) Cognitive Science, Yonsei University

B.A. (2010) Psychology, Yonsei University

Research Interests

Brain plasticity; Sensory perception; Neurodevelopmental and sensory disorders

About

I study how the human brain adaptively represents a constantly changing sensory world.

My research asks:

• How does the brain encode sensory information?
• How does perception change with development, sensory loss, and brain disorders?
• What anatomical, functional, and computational principles govern brain plasticity?
To answer these questions, I combine behavioral experiments, computational modeling, and multimodal neuroimaging.

Awards

NIH NEI K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award

Selected Publications

Park, W. J., & Fine, I. (2023) The perception of auditory motion in sighted and early blind people. PNAS.

Fine, I., & Park, W. J. (2023). Do you hear what I see? How do early blind individuals experience object motion?. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 378(1869), 20210460.

Barbot, A., Park, W. J., Ng, C. J., Zhang, R. Y., Huxlin, K. R., Tadin, D., & Yoon, G. (2021). Functional reallocation of sensory processing resources caused by long-term neural adaptation to altered optics. eLife, 10, e58734.

Park, W. J., & Fine, I. (2020). New insights into cortical development and plasticity: from molecules to behavior. Current Opinion in Physiology, 16, 50-60.

Park, W. J., Schauder, K. B., Zhang, R., Bennetto, L., & Tadin, D. (2017). High internal noise and poor external noise filtering characterize perception in autism spectrum disorder. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 17584.