Research Scientist

Rex Jung Ph.D. studies both brain disease and what the brain does well – a field of research known as “Positive Neuroscience”. His research interests focus upon the structural and biochemical correlates of intelligence, creativity and positive affect, particularly white matter contributions to higher cognitive functioning in the normal human brain.

He uses structural and biochemical neuroimaging techniques to better understand brain-behavior relationships in disease and health including: proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (sMRI).

He is an Assistant Research Professor in the Departments of Neurology, Psychology, and Neurosurgery at the University of New Mexico and a neuroscience consultant to Sandia National Laboratories.

Dr. Jung holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Psychology from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. He completed an internship in clinical psychology at the Baylor College of Medicine in the departments of neurosurgery and behavioral medicine, and is a practicing clinical neuropsychologist.

He is currently funded by the John Templeton Foundation and Carl Hawk Jr . (July 12th, 1919 - July 25th, 2007) to study the “Neuroscience of Creativity”.

For more information on Dr. Jung, please refer to his Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Jung's Publications  

PUBLICITY

04/04/2008 – Dana Foundation, "Where in the Brain is Intelligence?"  HTML

09/18/2007 – Discovery Channel.com, “Intelligence: Do We Get It?”  HTML

09/11/2007 – MSNBC, “Smarts Require Teamwork in the Brain”  HTML

07/27/2007 – KRQE, Interview with Deanna Sauceda.  WMV  (10.6 MB)

07/30/2007 – Albuquerque Tribune, Sue Vorenberg, “University of New Mexico Scientist Seeks Root of Ceativity in the Brain”  PDF

07/30/2007 – New Mexico Business Weekly, “Mind institute Researcher to Study Creativity.”  PDF

04/17/2007 – Horizon: Battle of the Brains, BBC Documentary Exploring Intelligence   MOV

09/17/2006 – Genius: The Quest for Extreme Brain Power,  CNN Special with Dr. Sanjay Gupta  MOV

  - Ranee Barrow (r rbarrow@mrn.org )

Research Assistant:

  - Judith Segall (jsegall@mrn.org)

  - Shirley Smith (ssmith3@unm.edu)

  - Robert Chavez (rchave10@unm.edu)

Post-Doctoral Fellow:

  - Leonard Leyba (lleyba@salud.unm.edu)

Outside Collaborators:

  - Ronald A. Yeo, Ph.D. (psych.unm.edu/faculty/sm_yeo.html)
  - Richard J. Haier, Ph.D. (www.ucihs.uci.edu/pediatrics/faculty/neurology/haier/haier.html)
  - M. Layne Kalbfleisch, Ph.D. (krasnow.gmu.edu/kidlab/people.html)
  - Carl Hawk, Jr. (July 12th, 1919 - July 25th, 2007)

CONFERENCES

Learning and the Brain Society Conference on the Creative Brain:

"Using Brain Research on Creativity and the Arts to Improve Learning", Washington, DC, 6-9 May, 2009 

3rd Annual CAIS Summer Institute: The Brain – Learning and Applications

"Towards a Neuroscience of Creativity", Avon, CT, 18-19 August, 2009

New Voices in Creativity and Intelligence Symposium

University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 1-3 November, 2009 

PUBLICATIONS

Friedman SD, Brooks WM, Jung RE, Hart BL, & Yeo RA. (1998) Proton MR Spectroscopic Findings Correspond to Neuropsychological Function in Traumatic Brain Injury. American Journal of Neuroradiology. 19:1879-1885. PDF

Friedman SD, Brooks WM, Jung RE, Chiulli SJ, Sloan JH, Montoya BT, Stidley CA, Hart BL, Yeo RA. (1999). Quantitative 1H-MRS Predicts Outcome Following Traumatic Brain Injury. Neurology. 52: 1384-1391. PDF

Jung RE, Brooks WM, Yeo RA, Chiulli SJ, Weers D, & Sibbitt WL. (1999). Biochemical Markers of Intelligence: A Proton MR Spectroscopy Study of Normal Human Brain. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London - Biological Sciences. 1426: 1375-1379. PDF

Jung RE, Yeo RA, Chiulli SJ, Sibbitt WL, Weers DC, Hart BL, & Brooks WM. (1999). Biochemical Markers of Cognition: A Proton MR Spectroscopy Study of Normal Human Brain. Neuroreport. 10: 3327-3331. PDF

Jung RE, Yeo RA, Chiulli SJ, Sibbitt WL, & Brooks WM. (2000). Myths of Neuropsychology: Intelligence, Neurometabolism and Cognitive Ability. The Clinical Neuropsychologist. 14: 535-545. PDF

Jung RE, Yeo RA, Sibbitt Jr. WL, Ford CC, Hart BL, & Brooks WM. (2001). Gerstmann Syndrome in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Neuropsychological, Neuroimaging and Spectroscopic Findings. Neurocase. 7: 101-107. PDF

Jung RE, Yeo RA, Love TM, Petropoulos H, Sibbitt WL, & Brooks WM. (2002). Biochemical Markers of Mood: A Proton MR Spectroscopy Study of Normal Human Brain. Biological Psychiatry. 51: 224-229. PDF

Haier RJ, Jung RE, Yeo RA, Head K, & Alkire MT. (2004). Structural Brain Variation and General Intelligence.  NeuroImage. 23:425-433. PDF

Haier RJ, Jung RE, Yeo RA, Head K, & Alkire MT. (2005). The neuroanatomy of general intelligence: sex matters. NeuroImage. 25: 320-327. PDF

Jung RE, Haier RJ, Yeo RA, Rowland LM, Petropoulos H, Levine AS, Sibbitt WL, & Brooks WM. (2005). Sex Differences in N-acetylaspartate Correlates of General Intelligence: A 1H-MRS Study of Normal Human Brain. NeuroImage. 26(3):965-972. PDF

Haier RJ, Jung RE, Yeo RA, Head K, & Alkire MT. (2005). Structural brain variation, age, and response time. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience. 5(2):246-251. PDF

Jung RE, & Haier RJ. (2007). The Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory (P-FIT) of Intelligence: Converging Neuroimaging Evidence. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30(2): 135-154. PDF
 
Haier RJ, & Jung RE (2007). Beautiful Minds (i.e. Brains) and the Neural Basis of Intelligence: Response to Commentaries. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30(2): 174-178.  PDF
 
Johnson W, Jung RE, & Haier RJ. (2007). Psychometric dimensions of cognition other than general intelligence correlate to regional brain structure. Intelligence. 36(1): 18-28. PDF
 
Colom R, Jung RE, Haier RJ. (2007). General Intelligence and memory span: Evidence for a common neuro-anatomic framework. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 24(8): 867-878. PDF
 
Bustillo JR, Rowland LM, Jung RE, Brooks WM, Qualls C, Hammond R, Hart B, & Lauriello J. (2007) Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy during the first year of antipsychotic treatment in schizophrenia. Neuropsychopharmacology.  PDF

Haier RJ & Jung RE (2008). Brain imaging studies of intelligence and creativity: What is the picture for education? Roeper Review. 30: 171-180.  PDF

A Postcard from Arthur Jensen PDF