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Sung-Il Kim

Korea University · Psychology

About the Lab

Professor Sung-Il Kim's research lab specializes in the neuroscience of motivation and learning, focusing on the neural mechanisms underlying curiosity, intrinsic motivation, and academic engagement. The lab investigates how cognitive control, reward processing, and value-based decision-making shape students' learning behaviors and educational outcomes. By integrating neuroscience, psychology, and educational theory, the lab aims to develop evidence-based learning environments that enhance student motivation and engagement. Current research explores the interplay between individual differences, learning contexts, and neurocognitive processes in academic settings.

motivational neuroscienceacademic engagementcuriositylearning motivationeducational neuroscience

Research Overview

Papers
216
Total Citations
3,818
Papers (5y)
33
Primary Field
Psychology

Research Output Trend

Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.

Publications per year (5y)
33total
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
Citations per year (5y)
57total
20222023202420252026

Selected Papers

15
1
Article|196 citations·2013
Neuroscientific Model of Motivational Process
Sung‐il Kim
SJR Q2Frontiers in PsychologyOA

Considering the neuroscientific findings on reward, learning, value, decision-making, and cognitive control, motivation can be parsed into three sub processes, a process of generating motivation, a process of maintaining motivation, and a process of regulating motivation. I propose a tentative neuroscientific model of motivational processes which consists of three distinct but continuous sub processes, namely reward-driven approach, value-based decision-making, and goal-directed control. Reward-

Cognitive NeuroscienceNeuroscience
2
Article|195 citations·2019
Homo Curious: Curious or Interested?
Dajung Diane Shin, Sung‐il Kim
SJR Q1Educational Psychology ReviewOA

This review aims to clarify four perennial issues surrounding the concept of curiosity: its nature, conceptual distinction from situational interest, types, and educational implications. First, we argue that humans have evolved to be deeply curious to adapt to a world of uncertainty. Curiosity can be likened to an appetite for knowledge which can be satiated by specific information that fills a knowledge gap. Information-seeking behavior is determined by the expected availability of information

Experimental and Cognitive PsychologyPsychology
3
Article|132 citations·2008
한국 학생의 학업에 대한 흥미: 실태, 진단 및 처방
김성일, 소연희, 윤미선

학업에 대한 흥미는 학습자의 인지, 정서, 동기 작용의 복합체로 학습의 중요한 목적일 뿐만 아니라 학습의 효과를 매개하는 중요한 변인이다. 그럼에도 불구하고 현재 국내의 학습환경은 학습자의 흥미를 저해하는 요인들로 가득 차 있다. 이 연구에서는 학업흥미에 대한 개념적 이해와 성취도와의 관계를 토대로 우리나라 학생들의 학업흥미에 대한 실태를 파악하고 학업흥미 저하의 원인을 학습환경 요인의 측면에서 진단하였다. 흥미와 내재동기에 대한 이론과 경험적 연구를 바탕으로 국제비교에서 상대적으로 낮은 학업흥미를 보이는 주된 이유를 통제적인 학습환경, 경쟁으로 인한 불안과 스트레스, 빈번한 상대평가에서 오는 유능감의 박탈 등으로 파악하였다. 학업흥미 증진을 위한 학습환경 설계를 위해서 선택권을 제공하는 자율적인 학습환경 설계와 개인적 흥미를 높이기 위한 통합교과의 개발 및 특수목적 학교의 운영, 그리고 상황적 흥미를 증진시키기 위한 각종 처방들이 제안되었다.

4
Article|114 citations·2019
The More Interest, the Less Effort Cost Perception and Effort Avoidance
Juyeon Song, Sung‐il Kim, Mimi Bong
SJR Q2Frontiers in PsychologyOA

The present study aims to investigate what factors determine students' engagement in mathematics. We examined the predictive relationships between interest, effort cost (i.e., the cost of making the effort), and three forms of academic engagement: persistence, cognitive engagement, and effort avoidance. In addition, we examined gender differences in these relationships. We recruited 546 8th and 9th graders for this study. Consistent with previous research, interest worked as a strong positive pr

Applied PsychologyPsychology
5
Book Chapter|94 citations·2016
Introduction to Motivational Neuroscience
Sung‐il Kim, Johnmarshall Reeve, Mimi Bong
Advances in motivation and achievement

The rapid progress of neuroscience and the interdisciplinary collaboration between neuroscience and psychology have begun to provide valuable insights for understanding the dynamic and implicit nature of human motivation by identifying the in vivo neural mechanism of motivation. One of the fundamental questions in the field of the neuroscience of motivation is what neural mechanisms underlie the direction, intensity, and guidance of our motivation and subsequent actions. This prologue explains h

Cognitive NeuroscienceNeuroscience
6
Article|93 citations·2007
The effect of animation on comprehension and interest
Sung‐il Kim, Mi-Sun Yoon, Sang-min Whang, Barbara Tversky, Jason Morrison
SJR Q1Journal of Computer Assisted Learning

Abstract Although animations are believed to be effective in learning and teaching, several studies have failed to confirm this. Nevertheless, animations might be more attractive and motivating. Fourth and sixth grade students learned the operation of a bicycle pump from graphics that were: (i) presented simultaneously; (ii) presented successively; (iii) self‐paced, or (iv) animated. The presentation mode affected evaluation of perceived comprehensibility, interestingness, enjoyment and motivati

Experimental and Cognitive PsychologyPsychology
7
Article|85 citations·2006
뇌 기반 학습과학: 뇌과학이 교육에 대해 말해주는 것은 무엇인가
김성일

인간은 보고, 듣고, 따라하고, 행하고, 느끼면서 배운다. 이 모든 과정에 뇌가 관여한다. 최근 뇌과학 연구의 비약적 발전과 뇌과학 연구와 인지과학 연구의 활발한 협력은 ‘뇌기반 학습과학(Brain-Based Learning Science)’, ‘교육신경과학(Educational Neuroscience)’, 혹은 신경교육학(Neuro-Education)이라 불리우는 새로운 연구 분야를 탄생시켰다. 뇌기반 학습과학은 기존의 '학습과학'을 넘어서 실제 학습과 교육환경에 적지 않은 변화를 줄 것으로 기대되는 만큼 그 가능성에 대해 회의적인 입장도 공존하고 있다. 이 논문에서는 뇌기반 학습과학의 정의와 기본가정을 살펴보고, 인지신경과학의 최신 연구가 어떻게 이루어지고 있는지를 소개하고 이러한 연구결과에서 교육적 함의를 도출해 보고자 하였다. 또한 신경계에 대한 신화적 사고와 그 문제점을 열거하고, 뇌과학과 학습-교육 현장의 연계 가능성 및 향후 뇌기반 학습과학의 전망과 한계에 대해 논의하였

8
Article|72 citations·2004
학습에 대한 흥미와 내재동기증진을 위한 학습환경디자인
김성일, 윤미선

학습에 대한 흥미와 내재동기는 학습의 중요한 목적일 뿐만 아니라 학습의 효과를 매개하는 중요한 변인이다. 그럼에도 불구하고 현재의 학습환경은 학습자의 흥미와 내재동기를 저해하는 요인들로 가득 차 있다. 이 논문에서는 학습에 대한 흥미와 내재동기에 대한 경험적, 이론적 연구결과를 토대로 학습자의 흥미와 내재동기를 증진시킬 수 있는 학습환경 디자인을 위한 다양한 방안을 제시하고자 한다. 학습환경을 학습자 특성, 학습재료/과제, 교수/학습 방법, 학교/교실환경 구조 등의 4가지 요소로 구분하고 각 요소에서의 학습에 대한 흥미와 내재동기를 증진을 위한 구체적이고 실용적인 방안들을 제시하였다.

9
Article|67 citations·2004
중·고생의 학업성취 결정요인으로서 사고양식, 학습동기, 교과흥미, 학습전략간의 관계모형
김성일, 윤미선

이 연구에서는 학업성취 관련 변인들에 대한 선행 연구결과들에 기초하여 잠정적인 관계 모형을 제안하고, 사고양식 및 교과 특성에 따른 12개 관계모형 내 변인간 경로효과의 상대적 차이를 비교함으로써 학업성취에 대한 직․간접효과를 검증하고자 하였다. 연구 대상은 서울시 S교육청 소재의 각 1개 중․고등학교(인문계)에 재학 중인 764명이었으며, 자기-보고식 설문지를 통해 학습자의 사고양식, 학습동기, 교과흥미, 학습전략 등을 측정하였다. 연구결과, 중학생 집단의 경우 교과별 성취를 설명하는 가장 큰 직접효과는 '교과흥미'였으나 고등학생 집단은 ‘교과흥미’와 더불어 학습에 대한 ‘외재동기’가 추가 되는 것으로 나타났다. 교과별 학업성취에 대한 간접효과로서 중학생 집단은 분석적 사고양식만이 유의하였으나 고등학생 집단에서는 분석적, 전체적, 위계적 사고양식과 학습에 대한 내재 및 외재 동기 각각의 효과가 발견되었다. 한편 교과별 성취에 가장 직접적인 영향을 주고 있는 교과흥미를 종속변인으로

10
Article|51 citations·2015
Secure Transmission for Multiuser Relay Networks
Sung‐il Kim, Il‐Min Kim, Jun Heo
SJR Q1IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications

We investigate secure transmission for multiuser relay networks, where the undesired users who are not selected for data reception may overhear the source message as eavesdroppers. In this system, the secrecy performance may deteriorate as the number of users increases, since the number of eavesdroppers also increases. To address this issue, we consider a multiuser relay scheme with cooperative jamming (MUCJ). In this scheme, the desired user sends a jamming signal to the relay while the source

Electrical and Electronic EngineeringEngineering
11
Article|36 citations·1999
Causal bridging inference: A cause of story interestingness
Sung‐il Kim
SJR Q1British Journal of Psychology

Three experiments were conducted to examine whether the interestingness of a story would be influenced by the degree of causal bridging inferences a reader generates during reading. Implicit and explicit versions of the same story were used as experimental materials because it was assumed that the implicit versions lead the reader to generate causal bridging inferences. In Expt 1, it was found that the implicit versions were rated as more interesting than the explicit versions. When Rapid Serial

Experimental and Cognitive PsychologyPsychology
12
Article|36 citations·2011
Outage Analysis of Amplify-and-Forward Partial Relay Selection Scheme with Multiple Interferers
Sung‐il Kim, Young‐Chai Ko, Jun Heo
SJR Q1IEEE Communications Letters

In this letter, the exact form of the outage probability for opportunistic amplify-and-forward (AF) partial relay selection scheme in interference-limited environment is derived. It is assumed that multiple interferers affect only on the relays due to the multicell environment of wireless networks. Analysis in this paper can be an efficient technique for investigating the effect of interference in cooperative AF relaying on the outage probability. We confirm that our analytical results match the

Computer Networks and CommunicationsComputer Science
13
Article|35 citations·2010
Comparison of brain activation during norm-referenced versus criterion-referenced feedback: The role of perceived competence and performance-approach goals
Sung‐il Kim, Myung-Jin Lee, Yoonkyung Chung, Mimi Bong
SJR Q1Contemporary Educational Psychology
Cognitive NeuroscienceNeuroscience
14
Article|34 citations·2020
Controllability Attribution as a Mediator in the Effect of Mindset on Achievement Goal Adoption Following Failure
Juyeon Song, Sung‐il Kim, Mimi Bong
SJR Q2Frontiers in PsychologyOA

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a growth mindset on achievement goal adoption in the face of failure. We also sought to investigate the mediating role of controllability attribution in order to understand the underlying process behind the effect of mindset on achievement goal adoption following failure. One hundred and seventy-two 4<sup>th</sup> and 5<sup>th</sup> grade students participated in an experimental task. In the manipulation phase, in related to the experimental

Experimental and Cognitive PsychologyPsychology
15
Book Chapter|33 citations·2015
The Effects of Interest and Utility Value on Mathematics Engagement and Achievement
Sung‐il Kim, Yi Jiang, Juyeon Song
Experimental and Cognitive PsychologyPsychology

Research Areas

Experimental and Cognitive PsychologyInformation SystemsSociology and Political ScienceCognitive NeuroscienceComputer Networks and CommunicationsArtificial Intelligence

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