Shen-Hsing Annabel Chen

Prof S.H. Annabel Chen is Professor of Psychology at School of Social Sciences and has joint appointments at LKCMedicine and the National Institute of Education. She is a clinical neuropsychologist (licensed in Clinical Psychology, USA; Singapore Registry of Psychologists) by training and has worked with both adult and child populations. She received her Doctorate in Clinical Rehabilitation Psychology (Purdue University) and completed her clinical psychology internship in Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry at West Virginia University School of Medicine. She conducted her post-doctoral clinical residency in Clinical Neuropsychology at the department of Neurology, the Medical College of Wisconsin and worked as a post-doctoral research affiliate at the Lucas MRS/I Center, Department of Radiology at Stanford University School of Medicine. She started her assistant professorship at the National Taiwan University in the Graduate Clinical Psychology programme before joining NTU as an associate professor. Since then, she served as the Associate Chair for Research for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences from 2014-2015, and is the Deputy Chair (SBER) for the Institutional Review Board at NTU. She is currently the Director of the Centre of Research and Development in Learning (CRADLE), a university level research centre at NTU.

Research Interests

Prof Chen has a diverse research background, including animal drug studies, human neuropsychological research and cognitive rehabilitation. She has applied Positron Emission Tomography (PET) to study individuals with post-concussion sequelae from mild traumatic brain injury and olfaction in Alzheimer’s Disease, and has been involved in functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) research examining language processing, executive functions, and affective memory in healthy and clinical populations (e.g. stroke, anxiety, schizophrenia, dementia), as well as, assessing neural systems used in motor timing/timing perception in patients with Parkinson's Disease. Her main research interests are to investigate underlying neural substrates involved in higher cognition in the cerebellum, as well as changes in cognitive processes in healthy aging and dementia through the application of neuroimaging techniques, such as fMRI, diffusion MRI,Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), electroencephalography (EEG) and most recently transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS). The goal of her research is to apply these paradigms to study and to develop neuroimaging markers in the cerebro-cerebellar circuitry for clinical groups, and to further understand the processes of neurodevelopmental (e.g. schizophrenia, dyslexia, autism) and neurodegenerative (e.g. dementia, healthy aging) conditions that would be informative to evidence-based interventions. A recent research development in her lab, the Clinical Brain lab, is focusing on the Neuroscience of Learning and Education. In particular, their lab is investigating the neurophysiological changes in aging neuroscience for learning in language, memory and executive control networks. This allows development of neuromodulation techniques to optimize and/or enhance brain functions for learning. Projects in translating neuroscience for educators and learners are in progress. In addition, the lab is developing research in understanding the effects of emotion on cognition and self-regulation with the use of neuroimaging.

Current Grants

• Assessing causality of the association between exercise and neurocognitive gains
• Centre for Lifelong Learning and Individualised Cognition (CLIC)
• Centre for Lifelong Learning and Individualized Cognition (CLIC) Centre Operating Budget
• CLIC Centre Budget
• CLIC WP0.2 - PI Prof Annabel Chen Shen-Hsing/PI Prof Balazs Zoltan Gulyas
• How Language Mixes Contribute To Effective Bilingualism And Biliteracy In Singapore
• Measuring Employability & Life-long Learning Mindsets needed for Careers in the 21st Century
• Preparing PSEI Learners for Changing Working Lives
• Project PRooF
• Proud to be Singaporean: An Investigation into the Neural and Cognitive Processing of National Identity and National Belonging (IMPRINT)
• Taking Advantage of the Future Economy: Role of Universal Mindsets
• Understanding functional relationships between socio- affective and neurocognitive brain networks in adults with ASD and ADHD to better inform learning for learners and educators: Towards maximising the adult learning potential