People

Wai Ting Siok, Ph.D.

Professor and Head (CBS)

Director of Laboratory for Neurodevelopment of Reading and Language (NDRL)

Prof. Wai Ting Siok is a Full Professor and Head of the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Hong Kong and completed her postdoctoral training at Stanford University's Psychology Department and the Stanford Institute of Reading and Learning.

Siok studies the cognitive mechanisms of language processing. She uses both behavioral and neuroimaging approaches to understand the development of literary skills among children and adults.

The series of research work done by Siok's team related to the neural basis of Chinese reading and dyslexia, published in Nature, PNAS, Current Biology, and other journals, have collectively shown that neural networks used for reading may be culture-specific, as print-sound mapping varies substantially across writing systems.

Click to see Prof. W. T. Siok's page

Research Interests/ Expertise:

Language neuroscience, Language development, Reading development, Chinese reading, Developmental dyslexia, Neuroimaging, Psycholinguistics, Bilingualism

Nizhuan Wang, Ph.D.

Research Assistant Professor

Dr. Nizhuan Wang is currently serving as a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. Prior to this role, he held positions at Shenzhen University as an Assistant Professor, Jiangsu Ocean University as a full Professor, and ShanghaiTech University as an Associate Researcher from 2016 to 2024. He earned his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Heilongjiang University in 2010, Shanghai Maritime University in 2012 and 2016, respectively.

He is a senior member of the Chinese Biomedical Engineering Society, a member of the Chinese Artificial Intelligence Society, a member of the Chinese Neuroscience Society, and serves on the board of the Shanghai Association for Noetic Science. He is also a member of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) and has contributed to various conferences such as the IEEE ICIA and the Chinese Conference on Biometric Recognition (CCBR). He has chaired sessions at conferences like the IEEE ICIA and ICIS and has delivered keynote speeches at events such as ICMLCA and ICBIC.

Dr. Wang has published over 80 scientific papers in esteemed journals and conferences including Hum Brain Mapp, IEEE TBME, IEEE JBHI, IEEE TNSRE, J Neurosci Methods, Magn Reson Imaging, Front Neurosci, and Front Psychol. He serves as a reviewer for journals like Cerebral Cortex, Neuroimage, Human Brain Mapping, IEEE Transactions and Medical Image Analysis.

Research Interests/ Expertise:

Intelligent analysis of multi-modal neural signals, Neurolinguistics and associated disorders, Occupational neuroplasticity, Occupational therapy, Neurodegenerative diseases, Medical big data analysis, Artificial intelligence

Qingchun Wang, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Qingchun Wang joined the Laboratory for Neurodevelopment of Reading and Language as a Postdoctoral Fellow after receiving her Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Hong Kong.

Dr. Wang is particularly interested in the neurobiological and neuropsychological patterns of language recovery. She works closely with brain-damaged patients who suffer from language impairments resulting from neurological disorders, including language disabilities in comprehension and production. Using advanced neuroimaging techniques (mainly anatomical, structural and functional MRI), together with detailed neuropsychological evaluations, Dr. WANG and her colleagues are interested in finding the key biomarkers for language rehabilitation.

At the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, Dr. Wang will continue to focus on understanding the recovery of brain functions and behavioral performances of aphasic patients. Supervised by Prof. Wai Ting Siok, the team will work with expanded patient populations (from children to adults and seniors) to explore the neurobiological pattern of linguistic regains.

Research Interests/ Expertise:

Aphasia, Cognitive neuroscience, Structural and functional connectivity

Lily Tian Jiang

PhD Candidate

Lily is a final-year PhD student working in the Department of Linguistics at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). Before that, she received her B.A. (first-class honors) in Linguistics and Psychology from HKU. She is broadly interested in the psychological and neurological mechanisms of reading and reading disorders in Chinese. Her current research mainly includes child reading development and visual word recognition.

Research Interests/ Expertise:

Child language, Visual word recognition

Cheryl Wenxiyuan Deng

PhD Student

I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the City University of Hong Kong and my MRes degree in Cognitive Neuroscience from University College London. My research interests are situated at the intersection of cognitive neuroscience and psycholinguistics, with a particular focus on Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC). I am deeply committed to understanding the neural underpinnings of cognitive functions and language processing in individuals with autism. My current work endeavors to elucidate how the unique cognitive profiles associated with autism influence their language acquisition and use, aiming to bridge the gaps in literacy trajectories of Chinese autistic populations. My research employs a variety of neuroimaging techniques, such as EEG and fMRI, alongside behavioral measures like eye-tracking. The ultimate objective of my research is to demystify the complexities of the human brain and contribute to the development of more effective interventions and support systems for individuals on the autism spectrum.

Research Interests/ Expertise:

Cognitive neuroscience, Autism, Psycholinguistics, Chinese reading