professor
e-mail: yangxh2021@ruc.edu.cn
education
2008.09-2011.06: institute of psychology, chinese academy of sciences，phd
2005.09-2008.06: school of foreign studies, guangzhou university，master
2001.09-2005.06: school of foreign studies, guangzhou university，bachelor
academic positions
2025.01-2026.01: visiting scholar, department of psychology, university of york, york, uk
2024.08-now: professor, department of psychology, renmin university of china, beijing, china
2021.11-2024.07: associate professor, department of psychology, renmin university of china, beijing, china
2015.03-2021.10: associate professor, institute of psychology, chinese academy of sciences, beijing, china
2011.07-2015.02: assistant professor, institute of psychology, chinese academy of sciences, beijing, china
research interest
cognitive and neural mechanisms of language processing
grants
2022/01-2025/12：fundamental research funds for the central universities, the research funds of renmin university of china (23xnkj01).
2019/01-2022/12：national natural science foundation of china（31871108）：the impact of music training on spoken sentence processing.
2015/01-2017/12：national natural science foundation of china（31871108）（31400968）：the impact of topic structure on semantic integration and its cognitive neural mechanisms.
academic teaching
psycholinguistics, linguistic theories
publications
zhang, q., mou, c., zhang, z., li, w., yu, w., zhou, z., & yang, x*. (2026). emotionally consistent discourse contexts enhance late-stage emotional reanalysis in local sentences. reading and writing, 1-23.
yu, w., xie, y., zhang, q., & yang, x*. (2026). the impact of respectfulness on causal inference during discourse processing. language and speech, 0(0).
wen, y., yu. xie,yang, x. (2025). impact of respectfulness on semantic integration during discourse processing. behavioral sciences.
zhang, q., li l.,yang, x.,*& yang. y. * (2024). the effect of congruent emotional context on semantic memory during discourse comprehension. cognition and emotion, 39(2), 413-430. (ssci, q2, 2023 ranking, 27/99 in psychology, experimental; 5-year impact factor 2.9)
ju, p., zhou, z., xie, y., hui, j., & yang, x*. (2024). music training is associated with better audio-visual integration in chinese language. international journal of psychophysiology, 203,112414.
ju, p., zhou, z., xie, y., hui, j., & yang, x*. (2024). music training influences online temporal order processing during reading comprehension. acta psychologica, 248, 104340.
chang, r., zhang, q.,& yang, x*. (2024).the impact of music training on temporal order processing in mandarin chinese sentence reading: evidence from event-related potentials (erps). cognitive, affective, & behavioral neuroscience, 24(4), 766-778.
zhang, x., wang, y., yang, x*., & yang, y*. (2024). the spontaneous activities of the multiple demand network are related to individual differences in indirect replies comprehension. behaviroal brain research, 469. 115021.
zhang, z., zhang, h., sommer, w., yang, x., wei, z.,li, w.*(2023). musical training alters neural processing of tones and vowels in classic chinese poems. brain and cognition, 166, 105952
xi-nian zuo, xue-ru fan, yin-shan wang, .., xiaohong yang, wenfang zhang, ke zhao, liqi zhu, and haishuo xia.(2023). a longitudinal resource for population neuroscience of school-age children and adolescents in china. scientific data. 2023.
xiuping zhang, maoyao xu, xiaohong yang *, yufang yang *(2023). individual differences in emotion attenuation brought by indirect replies is related to resting-state brain activity. brain sciences.13. 1053.
zhang, x., pan, x., yang, x*., & yang, y. (2023). conventionality determines the time course of indirect replies comprehension: an erp study. brain and language, 239.
yang, x., lin, n., & wang, l. (2023). situation updating during discourse comprehension recruits right posterior portion of the multiple‐demand network. human brain mapping,44:2129-2141.
zhang, z., zhang, h., sommer, w., yang, x., wei, z., & li, w. (2023). musical training alters neural processing of tones and vowels in classic chinese poems. brain and cognition, 166, 105952.
zhang, q., cong m., yang, x.,* yang. y., * & li l. (2023). the effect of contextual arousal on the integration of emotional words during discourse comprehension. quarterly journal of experimental psychology,76(4),850-861.
yang, x., shen, x., zhang, q., wang, c., zhou, l., & chen, y. (2022). music training is associated with better clause segmentation during spoken language processing. psychonomic bulletin & review, 29(4),1472-1479
zheng, y., zhao, z., yang, x., & li, x.* (2021). the impact of musical expertise on anticipatory semantic processing during online speech comprehension: an electroencephalography study. brain and language, 221.105006..
zhang, x., zhang, z., yang, x*., & yang. y. (2021).how working memory capacity modulates the time course of indirect replies comprehension: an event-related potential study. language, cognition and neuroscience, 2, 1-12.
zhang, q., ding, j., zhang, z., yang, x*., & yang. y. (2021). the effect of congruent emotional context in emotional word processing during discourse comprehension. journal of neurolinguistics,59,100989.
chang, r., yang, x*., & yang. y. (2020). processing good-fit anomalies is modulated by contextual accessibility during discourse comprehension: erp evidence. language, cognition and neuroscience, 2, 1-12.
chang, r., yang, x*., & yang. y. (2020). prediction differs at sentence and discourse level: an event-related potential study. applied psycholinguistics, 41.797-815.
yang, x., zhang, x., zhang, y., zhang, q., & li, x. (2020). how working memory capacity modulates the time course of semantic integration at sentence and discourse level. neuropsychologia, 107383.
yang, x., li, h., lin, n., zhang, x., wang, y., zhang, y., zhang, q., zuo, x., & yang. y. (2019). uncovering cortical activations of discourse comprehension and their overlaps with common large-scale neural networks. neuroimage, 116200.
zhang, x., yang, x*., & yang, y. (2019). updating emotional information in daily language comprehension: the influence of topic shifts. journal of neurolinguistics, 52, 100851.
zheng, z., yang, x., & li, w. (2019). processing corrective focus and information focus at different positions: an electrophysiological investigation. language, cognition and neuroscience, 34(8), 1059-1072.
wu, y., yang, x*., & yang, y. (2018). importance conveyed in different ways: effects of hierarchy and focus. journal of neurolinguistics, 47: 37-49.
yang, x., zhang, x., yang. y, & lin, n. (2018). how context features modulate the involvement of the working memory system during discourse. neuropsychologia, 111, 36-44.
lin, n., yang, x., li, j., wang, s., hua, h., ma, y., & li, x. (2018). neural correlates of three cognitive processes involved in theory of mind and discourse comprehension. cognitive, affective, & behavioral neuroscience, 18(2), 273-283.
yang, x., x. zhang, et al. (2017). the interplay between topic shift and focus in the dynamic construction of discourse representation. frontiers in psychology, 8, 2184.
zhang, m., chen, s., wang, l., yang, x., & yang, y. (2017). episodic specificity in acquiring thematic knowledge of novel words from descriptive episodes. frontiers in psychology, 8, 488.
wu, y., yang, x*., & yang, y. (2016). eye movement evidence for hierarchy effects on memory representation of discourses. plos one, 11. 1-9.
yang, x., li, h., lin, n., & yang, y. (2016). looking at the brains behind discourse comprehension—a quantitative meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies. paper presented in advances in cognitive neurodynamics (v), singapore.
yang, x., shuang, c., chen, x., & yang, y. (2015). how distance affects semantic integration in discourse: evidence from event-related potentials. plos one, 10(11).
chen, x., pan, z., wang, p., yang, x., liu, p., & you, x., et al. (2015). the integration of facial and vocal cues during emotional change perception: eeg markers. social cognitive & affective neuroscience, 11(7), 1152.
yang, x., shen, x., li, w.*, & yang, y.* (2014). how listeners weight acoustic cues to intonational phrase boundaries. plos one, 9(7), e102166.
yang, x., chen, l., & yang, y.* (2014). the effect of discourse structure on depth of semantic integration in reading. memory & cognition, 42(2), 325-339.
yang, x.*, xu, m., & yang, y. (2014). predictors of pause duration in read-aloud discourse. ieice transactions on information & systems, e97.d(6), 1461-1467.
yang, x., chen, x., chen, s., xu, x., & yang, y.* (2013). topic structure affects semantic integration: evidence from event-related potentials. plos one, 8(12), e79734.
yang, x., & yang, y.* (2012). prosodic realization of rhetorical structure in chinese discourse. audio speech & language processing ieee transactions on, 20(20), 1196-1206.
yang, x., zhao, j., yang, y.*, & lü, s. (2012). the roles of pitch and duration in sentence accent of chinese discourse. chinese journal of acoustics, 11(2), 224-240. (ei)
zhao, j., yang, x., yang, y.*, & lü s. (2011). the influence of discourse hierarchy on the acoustic manifestation of focus in standard chinese. chinese journal of acoustics, 36(4), 542-549. (ei)