Biography

UNLV psychology assistant professor Yvonne Chen is a cognitive neuroscientist whose research explores how the brain turns everyday experiences into lasting memories, and why some memories endure while others fade.

Using fMRI brain imaging, electroencephalography (EEG), and behavioral experiments, she investigates the neural mechanisms underlying memory formation, strengthening, and retrieval, and how memory representations change over time. Chen's NeuroMEM (Neuro Multimodal Episodic Memory) Lab also examines how mental imagery — such as imagined movements or sights — interacts with how we remember things.

Her scholarly works have appeared in academic publications including the Journal of Neuroscience and Cell Reports.