EMBODIED MEDIA COGNITION LAB
RESEARCH
Our Current Focus
Individuals motivationally, emotionally, and cognitively process media content and strategic messages. This interwoven processing of media influences human thought and behavior.
The Embodied Media Cognition Lab (Room AJ 285B, located in the Unified Research Lab) explores the influence of media and strategic messages, both in terms of content and structure, on human information processing and behavior. The messages examined encompass a wide range of themes, including environmental, prosocial, health-related, corporate social responsibility/advocacy, and advertising topics. The investigation involves utilizing various assessment techniques, such as psychophysiological measurements, self-report surveys, behavioral observations, and memory-based assessments.
Our research lab is equipped with:
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MediaLab software for stimulus presentation, with continuous measures of emotions, secondary task reaction times (STRTs), and signal detection tasks.
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MP160 data acquisition system using smart amplifiers, including ECG (Electrocardiogram), EDA (Electrodermal Activity), and facial EMG (Electromyography).
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Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures.
Lead Researcher
Sungwon Chung, PhD, EdD
Associate Professor of Strategic Communication
Dr. Chung, the founder and principal researcher of the Embodied Media Cognition Lab, specializes in conducting research on media emotion and cognition within the context of prosocial communication and corporate social responsibility/advocacy communication. He also brings research expertise in instructional and communication design.
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Research Faculty
YoungAh Lee, PhD
Professor of Strategic Communication
Dr. Lee’s research delves into the impact of strategic communication on managing social media reputation, particularly in the context of social and political polarization. With a current emphasis on corporate social advocacy, she is exploring how polarized public opinion reacts to corporate social advocacy by analyzing boycotters and advocates through social network analysis and psychophysiology.
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Johnny Sparks, PhD
Professor of Journalism
Dr. Sparks’ research employs social scientific theories at the intersection of communication and psychology to explain how the structure and content of media messages affect individuals' motivation, emotions, and cognitive processing. His current research also addresses pedagogical and leadership issues in mass communication.
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