TReAD Lab
Research assistantEmory University
Supported studies of motivation, effort, and decision-making through participant screening, behavioral task administration, and resting-state EEG processing in EEGLAB.
Psychology × Data Science
Lecheng
Ke.
I study psychology and data science at Emory University. I want to understand how people and AI arrive at their judgments—and what their mistakes reveal about the limits of each.
Emory University Class of 2027 Atlanta
01 RESEARCH INTERESTS
How do we decide
what to believe?
I’m interested in how people and artificial systems learn, reason, and represent a problem. Similar answers are a starting point for asking whether they use similar information or arrive at those answers in different ways.
My current focus is causal judgment. I want to compare what happens when the evidence in a scenario conflicts with familiar wording, prior beliefs, or a plausible explanation. Behavioral experiments and computational models offer ways to make these questions testable.
02 PROJECTS & EXPLORATIONS
Work in progress.
A developing honors project, computational experiments, and questions I’m learning to build around.
I am developing a project comparing how people and large language models distinguish causal evidence from correlation. I plan to use matched scenarios to examine how evidence type, wording, alternative explanations, and prior plausibility shape judgments and error patterns.
Causal reasoningBehavioral experimentsLLMs
Where it stands
Literature review and initial LLM pilots are complete. I am refining the materials and planning the human experiment; human data collection has not begun.
Next questions
Compare which changes shift human and model judgments in the same direction, especially when familiar wording or prior beliefs conflict with the evidence.
03 ACADEMIC BACKGROUND
Research & training.
Research experience
Guangdong Institute of Intelligent Science and Technology
Research internZhuhai, China
Developed preliminary Python simulations exploring how external input and excitation–inhibition balance might change neural dynamics. The modeling workflow is being rebuilt and documented.
Hamann Lab
Research assistantEmory University
Independently administered emotional-memory sessions and coded recall transcripts using established scoring schemes and reliability checks.
Comparative Primate Cognition Lab
Research assistantEmory National Primate Research Center
Helped design controlled tasks asking whether rhesus macaques avoid working-memory effort when physical effort and reward are held constant. Contributed to proposals, task materials, and experimental sessions.
Dilks Lab
Research assistantEmory University
Ran EyeLink procedures and collected gaze and behavioral data for research on blind-spot filling-in and short-term visual plasticity.
Griggs Lab
Research assistantEmory University
Screened literature for a systematic review of brain health, cognition, and sleep, created REDCap instruments, and helped plan a future public-data analysis.
Teaching, clinical experience & service
Peer tutoring · Emory University
Individual and group tutoring in psychology, neuroscience, and quantitative coursework.
Clinical internship · Shenzhen Longhua People’s Hospital
Observed neurology and clinical psychology practice and supported coordination and participant engagement in a youth mental-health program.
Sprouting Readers & ELSA · Emory University
Mentored children through reading activities and supported campus library and wellness events.
Honors
Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society · Dean’s List
04 COURSEWORK
Courses, term by term.
My coursework at Emory, from psychology and data science to neuroscience, environmental studies, and languages.
Enrollment as of September 3, 2026. Fall 2026 courses are in progress. This list covers courses taken at Emory; AP and test equivalencies are not included.
- DATASCI 495AHonors Research
- DATASCI 530Computing I
- ENVS 229Atmospheric Science with Lab
- ENVS 485Special TopicsTopic: Ecosystems of the Southeast
- PSYC 352The Genetics of Human Behavior
- DATASCI 220Regression Analysis
- DATASCI 350Data Science Computing
- ENVS 385Topics: Environmental StudiesTopic: Restoration Ecology
- JPN 102Elementary Japanese II
- NBB 318Introduction to Feminist Neuroscience
- PSYC 499RDirected Research
- ENVS 131Introduction to Environmental Studies Field Studies
- ENVS 232Fundamentals of Ecology with Lab
- JPN 101Elementary Japanese I
- PSYC 499RDirected Research
- QTM 210Probability and Statistics
- QTM 340Approaches to Data Science with Text
- QTM 385Special Topics: QTMTopic: Experimental Methods
- PSYC 200WLab in Experimental Methods
- PSYC 324Sleep & Dreaming, Brain & Mind
- PSYC 353Behavioral Neuroscience
- PSYC 499RDirected Research
- PSYC 770RTopic Seminars: PsychologyTopic: Cortical Plasticity
- QTM 151Introduction to Statistical Computing II
- BIOL 141Foundations of Modern Biology I
- BIOL 141LFoundations of Modern Biology I Lab
- MATH 210Advanced Calculus for Data Sciences
- NBB 201Foundations of Behavior
- PSYC 207Brain & Behavior
- QTM 110Introduction to Scientific Methods
- ENVS 140Environmental Change & Health
- HIST 190Freshman SeminarTopic: Fake News 2015–Present
- PE 167Beginning Yoga
- PSYC 111Introduction to Psychology II
- PSYC 209Perception and Action
- QTM 150Introduction to Statistical Computing I
- CHN 271Modern China in Film & Fiction
- ECS 101Emory Edge
- HLTH 100It’s Your Health & Wellbeing
- MATH 221Linear Algebra
- PSYC 110Introduction to Psychology I: Psychobiology & Cognition
- PSYC 212Social Psychology
- QTM 100Introduction to Statistical Inference
05 CONTACT
Let’s talk about
how minds work.
I’m preparing to apply to PhD programs for Fall 2027.