Recently, Institute faculty Professor Qing Cai’s team and collaborators published several studies in international journals. Their works focus on brain functional lateralization and language research.
One study published in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience investigates how the lateralization of the reading system influences that of the core face processing, and how the pattern varies across different age cohorts and hierarchical brain regions. This study is conducted collaboratively with Institute Co-Director Professor Longnian Lin, and their collaborators. Building on previous research, Professor Cai’s team combines behavioral tests, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) to examine the role of white matter connectivity in functional lateralization of language production and spatial attention. This study is published in Neurobiology of Language. Meanwhile, Professor Cai and her team also find that individuals with hemispheric co-lateralization of language and spatial attention exhibit poorer performance in dual-task situations. This research is published in Brain and Language.
In the field of language, Professor Cai and her collaborators spent eight years developing and finally released the SWOW-ZH (Small World of Words - ZH) Mandarin Word Association Database, the first large-scale word association database for Mandarin Chinese. The study is published in Behavior Research Methods, offering new directions for psycholinguistic research, cross-linguistic studies, and the optimization of artificial intelligence language models.
Journal Reference:
Liu, X.*, He, D., Zhu, M., Li, Y., Lin, L.,* & Cai, Q.* (2024). Hemispheric dominance in reading system alters contribution to face processing lateralization across development. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 69, 101418.
Zhu, M., Wang, X., Zhao, X., & Cai, Q.* (2024). Intrahemispheric White Matter Asymmetries and Interhemispheric Connections Underlying the Lateralization of Language Production and Spatial Attention in Left-Handers. Neurobiology of Language. 6: nol_a_00153.
Zhu, M., & Cai, Q.* (2025). Hemispheric co-lateralization of language and spatial attention reduces performance in dual-task. Brain and Language, 262, 105537.
Li, B., Ding, Z., De Deyne, S., & Cai, Q.* (2024) A large-scale database of Mandarin Chinese word associations from the Small World of Words project. Behavior Research Methods. 57, 34.
>> To read the articles in Chinese at the School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, click here.