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Faculty:::

Full-time Professors:::

Tzu-Yu Hsu, Associate Professor

Tzu-Yu Hsu

Associate Professor

tzuyuhsu@ncu.edu.tw
Office: Room S5-602-3, Science Building 5
Tel: (03) 4227151 # 65226
Fax: (03) 4263502
Tzu-Yu Hsu Website 》

Education

PhD, Institute of Neuroscience, National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan
MS, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, Taiwan
Bachelor, Department of Psychology, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan

Current/ Former Position

Associate Professor, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, Taiwan (Aug 2025-present)
Director, Graduate institute of Mind, Brain and Consciousness, Taipei Medical University, Taiwan (Aug 2022- July 2025)
Associate Professor, Graduate institute of Mind, Brain and Consciousness, Taipei Medical University, Taiwan (Feb 2021-July 2025)
Assistant Professor, Graduate institute of Mind, Brain and Consciousness, Taipei Medical University, Taiwan (Apr 2015–Jan 2021)
Post-doctorial Research Fellow, Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan (Jan 2014-Dec 2014)
Internship, Department of Experimental psychology, Oxford University, UK (Apr 2011-Apr 2012)
Secretary General, Taiwan Society of Cognitive Neuroscience (TSCN), Taiwan (Mar 2023- Jan 2025)
Executive Director, Taiwan Society of Cognitive Neuroscience (TSCN), Taiwan (Feb 2025- present)
Steering committee, Consciousness Research Network (CoRN)(Sep 2022- present)
Steering committee, Taiwan Open Brain Science (2024-present)
Supervisor, Science Media Center Taiwan (SMC Taiwan), Taiwan (Sep 2021- present)

Expertise

  • Ruminative thoughts
  • Executive Control
  • EEG/MEG signal analysis
  • Non-invasive brain stimulation

Current Research Focus

  1. How the brain initiates ruminative thought
  2. Neural pathways for breaking out of negative thinking
  3. Neural mechanisms underlying the visual awareness
  4. Neural mechanisms of psychiatric disorders

Short introduction about my research

The Brain and Consciousness Lab investigates two interconnected but distinct aspects of human cognition, each offering unique insights into how our minds create and regulate conscious experience.

Our first research focus examines how subjective experience emerges from the dynamic interplay of two key mental processes. The first captures information from our external world—the vibrant green of trees or the expansive blue of sky reaching our sensory systems. The second draws from our internal landscape of memories, thoughts, and emerging ideas. We explore the fundamental question: how do these two streams merge to create our continuous, unified experience of being conscious?

Rumination presents a particularly compelling case study within this domain. This pattern of repetitive, self-focused negative thinking serves as a powerful predictor of depression onset and relapse. But why do some individuals become trapped in these mental loops while others can flexibly shift their thoughts? Understanding this difference is central to our first line of investigation.

Our second research focus centers on awareness—the brain's remarkable ability to monitor its own cognitive processes. This metacognitive capacity functions as an internal quality control system, allowing you to evaluate the accuracy of your own judgments even when no external feedback is available. This self-monitoring becomes crucial in everyday life when you must rely on your own assessment of performance, as your brain's awareness mechanism continuously calibrates your confidence, whether your judgments are accurate or mistaken.

We tackle both research domains using a comprehensive toolkit of neuroimaging methods—EEG, MEG, and fMRI—combined with behavioral approaches including questionnaires, reaction time measures, and eye-tracking. This multi-method approach allows us to map the neural mechanisms underlying both healthy consciousness and metacognitive processes, as well as their disruptions in psychiatric conditions, ultimately working toward better understanding and intervention.

 

Publications

  1. Cheng, P.Z., Lee, H.C., Lane, T.J., Hsu, T.Y., Duncan, N.W. (2024) Structural alterations in a rumination-related network in patients with major depressive disorder. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.
  2. Chou, K.P., Hsu, T.Y.* (2023) Relationship between the P300 and sequence knowledge in a changing environment. bioRxiv.
  3. Martin, A, Lane, T., Hsu, T.Y.* (2023) DLPFC-PPC-cTBS effects on metacognitive awareness. Cortex.
  4. Hsu, T-Y, Wang, H-Y, Chen, J-T, Wang, C-A (2022) Investigating role of human frontal eye field in the pupil light reflex modulation by saccade planning and working memory. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
  5. Chen, J-T, Kuo, Y-C, Hsu, T-Y, Wang, C-A (2022). Fatigue and arousal modulations revealed by saccade and pupil dynamics. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 19(15), 9234.
  6. Chen, P.H., Ku, H.L., Wang, J.K., Kang, J.H. *, Hsu, T.Y. * (2022). EEG Microstates Are Correlated With Global Functioning in Schizophrenia But Not Bipolar Disorder. Clinical EEG & Neuroscience. 15500594221098286.
  7. Hsu, T-Y†, Zhou, J-F†, Yeh, S-L*, Northoff, G, Lane, T. J.* (2022) Intrinsic neural activity predisposes susceptibility to a body illusion. Cerebral Cortex Communication. 3(1):tgac012.
  8. Hsu, T.Y. ┼, Chen, J.T. ┼, Tseng, P., Wang, C.A. * (2021) Role of the frontal eye field in human microsaccade responses: a TMS study. Biological psychology. 165:108202.
  9. Hsu, T.Y.┼, Liu, T.L., Cheng, P.Z., Lee, H.C., Lane. T. J.*, Duncan, N.W.* ┼ (2021). Depressive rumination is correlated with the difference between self-oriented decision-making. Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience (┼ equal contribution).
  10. Lau, L.I.D., Tseng, L.Y., Walsh, V., Hsu, T.Y.* (2021). Revisiting the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation on pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials. Neuroscience Letters (* corresponding author).
  11. Hsu, T.Y., Hsu, Y.F., Wang, H.Y., Wang, C.A. (2021). Role of the frontal eye field in human orienting pupil and saccade responses. European Journal of Neuroscience.
  12. Truong, V., Cheng, P. Z., Lee, H.C., Lane, T.J, Hsu, T.Y., Duncan, N.W. (2021). Occipital gamma-aminobutyric acid and glutamate-glutamine alterations in major depressive disorder: An MRS study and meta-analysis. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.
  13. Duncan, N.W.*, Hsu, T.Y.*, Cheng, P.Z., Wang, H.Y., Lee, H.C., and Lane, T.J. (2020). Intrinsic activity temporal structure reactivity to behavioural state change is correlated with depressive symptoms. European Journal of Neuroscience. (* First and second authors are equal contributions).
  14. Rahnev, D., Desender, K, Lee, A.L.F.,…, Hsu, T.Y.…. (2020). The Confidence Database. Nature Human Behavior. 4, 317–325.
  15. Hsu, T.Y., Lee, H.C., Lane, T.J., Missal, M. (2019). Temporal Preparation, Impulsivity and Short-Term Memory in Depression. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.
  16. Juan, CH., Tseng, P., Hsu, T.Y. (2017). Elucidating and modulating the neural correlates of visuospatial working memory via noninvasive brain stimulation. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 26(2), 165-173.
  17. Hsu, T.Y., Juan, C.H., Tseng, P. (2016). Individual Differences and State-dependent Responses in Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
  18. Lee, H.W., Lu, M.S., Chen, C.Y., Muggleton, N.G., Hsu, T.Y., Juan, C.H. (2016). Roles of the pre-SMA and rIFG in conditional stopping revealed by transcranial magnetic stimulation. Behavioural Brain Research, 296, 459-67.
  19. Hsu, T.Y., Tseng, P., Liang, W.K., Cheng, S.K., Juan, C.H. (2014). Transcranial direct current stimulation over right posterior parietal cortex changes prestimulus alpha oscillation in visual short-term memory task. Neuroimage, 98, 306-313.
  20. Tseng, P.*, Hsu, T.Y.*, Chang, C.F., Tzeng, O.J.L., Hung, D.L., Muggleton, N.G., Walsh, V., Liang, W.K., Cheng, S.K., & Juan, C.H. (2012) Unleashing potential: tDCS over the right posterior parietal cortex improves change detection in low-performing individuals. Journal of Neuroscience, 32(31), 10554 –10561.
  21. Hsu, T.Y., Tzeng, LY., Yu, J.X., Liang, W.K., Hung, D.L., Tzeng, O.J.L., Walsh V., Muggleton N.G., & Juan, C.H. (2011) Modulating inhibitory control with direct current stimulation of the superior medial frontal cortex. Neuroimage, 56(4), 2249-57.
  22. Hsu, T.Y., Tseng, P., Tzeng, O.J.L., Hung, D.L. & Juan, C.H. (2010) The Perseverance of Numerical Distance Effect in Attentional Blink. Perception, 39(11), 1526-40.
  23. Tseng, P., Chang, C.F., Chiau, H.Y., Liang, W.K., Liu, C.L., Hsu, T.Y., Hung, D.L., Tzeng, O.J.L., Juan, C.H. (Aug, 2013). The Dorsal Attentional System in Oculomotor Learning of Predictive Information. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7(404), 1-8.
  24. Chang, C.F., Hsu, T.Y., Tseng, P., Liang, W.K., Tzeng, O.J.L., Hung, D.L., Juan, C.H. (2013) Right temporo-parietal junction and attentional reorienting. Human Brain Mapping, 34(4), 869-77.
  25. Tseng, P., Hsu, T.Y., Tzeng, O.J.L., Hung, D.L. & Juan, C.H. (2011) Probabilities in implicit learning. Perception, 40(7), 822-829.
  26. Chao, C.M., Tseng, P., Hsu, T.Y., Su, J.H., Tzeng, O.J.L., Hung, D.L., Muggleton, N.G., Juan, C.H. (2010) Predictability of saccadic behaviors is modified by transcranial magnetic stimulation over human posterior parietal cortex. Human Brain Mapping, 32(11), 1961-72.
  27. Tseng, P., Hsu, T.Y., Muggleton, N.G., Tzeng, O.J.L., Hung, D.L. & Juan, C.H. (2010) Posterior Parietal Cortex Mediates Encoding and Maintenance Processes in Change Blindness. Neuropsychologia, 48(4), 1063-70.

心智與大腦實驗室（Mind-Brain Lab）致力於探討人類心智如何產生並調節主觀意識經驗。我們關注心智活動與大腦運作之間的關係，試圖理解人類如何感知世界、反思自身思考，以及如何在不同情境下調整認知與決策。

本實驗室的第一個研究主軸探討主觀經驗的形成機制。我們關注外在感官資訊與內在心理歷程如何整合，進而形成人類的意識經驗。研究亦聚焦於重複性思考（repetitive thinking）的模式，藉此了解個體在認知彈性與心理健康上的差異，並探索這些思考模式如何影響情緒與行為。

第二個研究主軸聚焦於覺察（awareness）與後設認知（metacognition）。後設認知是指大腦能夠監控與評估自身認知過程的能力，使我們能評估任務表現並調整對決策的信心。本實驗室透過行為實驗與神經科學方法，探討人類如何形成對自身思考與判斷的覺察。

在研究方法上，我們結合神經影像技術與行為研究方法，系統性地描繪意識與後設認知背後的神經機制。研究對象涵蓋健康族群與臨床族群，以期建立從基礎神經科學到心理健康應用之間的橋樑。

本實驗室並與精神科醫師合作，將基礎神經科學研究與臨床實務相結合，期望深化對意識與認知調控機制的理解，並為心理健康與精神疾病研究提供新的科學基礎。

 

實驗室負責人：徐慈妤 副教授

實驗室網站：https://sites.google.com/view/mind-brain/home

Email： tzuyuhsu@ncu.edu.tw

電話：(03) 4227151 # 65226