Kim Hyoung

Kim Hyoung is an Associate Professor in the Department of BIO at Seoul National University. His research focuses on molecular biology and neurobiology, particularly the neural codes of habitual memory and the mechanisms underlying habitual behavior. He leads the Cognitive Circuitry Laboratory (CoCiLa) and employs techniques such as MRI and single-unit recording to study brain circuits in non-human primates. His work explores how habitual behavior arises from cortical and subcortical structures and aims to identify target circuits for controlling dysfunctional habitual behaviors. Kim has published extensively in journals such as Cell, Nature Communications, and Neuron.

Hyoung F. Kim's research focuses on cognitive neuroscience, with an emphasis on the striatum, long-term value memory, tactile processing, and dopamine signaling. Their work explores how basal ganglia circuits mediate reward value-guided behavior and the neural mechanisms underlying memory reconsolidation. Kim investigates the role of dopamine neurons in encoding object value for habitual behavior and how synaptic protein degradation contributes to memory destabilization. Additionally, they examine the anatomical and functional distinctions between direct and indirect pathways in the caudal basal ganglia, as well as the role of the primate ventral striatum in maintaining value representations for goal-directed actions.