Zhen Yang

Zhen Yang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for mood and anxiety disorders, particularly major depressive disorder (MDD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Dr. Yang's work investigates how CBT affects cognitive control networks in the brain, with a specific emphasis on prefrontal cortex activity and amygdala connectivity. His research employs functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure neural changes before and after treatment, contributing to the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework for understanding mental disorders.

His publications demonstrate that CBT is associated with enhanced activity in cognitive control networks across diagnostic categories, suggesting transdiagnostic neural mechanisms of treatment response. These findings have implications for understanding how psychotherapy works at a neural level and could inform more targeted treatment approaches for depression and anxiety disorders.

Dr. Yang has received significant scholarly attention for his work, with multiple publications in high-impact journals and considerable download and citation metrics indicating the importance of his contributions to the field of clinical neuroscience.