A&V-Lab
Attention & Vision Lab

General Introduction

Welcome to the website of the Attention & Vision Lab. The research group headed by Prof. Xilin Zhang, who attained his B.S. in Faculty of Psychology at Southwest University in 2009, and Ph.D. in School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences at Peking University in 2014, supervised by Prof. Fang Fang, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow Research in National Institutes of Health (NIH) between 2014 and 2018, supervised by Prof. Leslie G. Ungerleider.

We are located at South China Normal University (SCNU) Shipai campus in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. Our lab is part of the School of Psychology, but also affiliated with Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, and Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory of Reading and Development in Children and Adolescents, Ministry of Education, at SCNU.

We use psychophysics and multimodal human brain imaging, including 3T fMRI, non-invasive electrophysiology (EEG and MEG), combined with brain stimulation (tDCS/tACS and TMS) and computational modeling to study the neural mechanisms of visual attention, awareness, and human perception.

Please feel free to browse these pages of our website to learn more about our work.

News

  • Shiyu have obtained her master's degree in psychology. Congratulations to Shiyu Wang!

Research Introduction

The aim of our Lab is to study visual attention and perception in their broadest terms in both the healthy populations and clinical/sub-clinical settings. We employ a wide array of methodology, including psychophysics (eye movements), neuroimaging (fMRI, MEG, EEG), neurostimulation (tDCS/tACS and TMS), and computational modeling.

There is a summary of several main themes of research in the lab. Please see the Publications page for more detailed information.

  • 1. Neural Mechanisms of Visual Attention and Awareness

  • 2. Visual Perception


  • 3. Deep Learning Networks of Visual Processing

Principle Investigator

Prof. Xilin Zhang attained his B.S. in Faculty of Psychology at Southwest University in 2009, and Ph.D. in School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences at Peking University in 2014, supervised by Prof. Fang Fang, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow Research in National Institutes of Health (NIH) between 2014 and 2018, supervised by Prof. Leslie G. Ungerleider. He has received the Chinese Neuroscience Society (CNS) GSK Rising Star Award and the Association for Psychological Science (APS) Rising Star Award. He currently serves on the editorial board for eLife, Frontiers in Neuroimaging, Advances in Psychological Science, and Psychological Science.

Email: xlzhang@m.scnu.edu.cn

Click here to view his CV.

Post-doctoral Fellows

Wenshan Dong received her Ph.D. in Psychology from South China Normal University with a Specialization in Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience. Her research focuses on understanding the underlying mechanisms of adaptive behaviors in humans, and she hopes that her work can contribute to the development of effective interventions and strategies that promote resilience and well-being in diverse populations.


Email: dongws623@gmail.com

PhD Students

Shiqi Shen obtained her M.S degree in Computer Science at Guilin University of Electronic Science. Her main research interests include attention, human perception, and social cognition. Currently, she is trying to combine deep learning with perceptual learning and use deep learning models to simulate and explain the brain mechanisms of perceptual learning.

Email: 2023010281@m.scnu.edu.cn

Zhang Yifan attained her M.S degree in Psychology at Anhui Medical University. Her research interests lie in autism spectrum disorders and visual attention, incorporating eye-tracking and brain imaging.

Email: zhangyyf927@163.com

Master Students

Siting Xu graduated from South China Normal University majoring in Physic Education. Her research interest is visual attention, and she is studying the mechanism of top-down and bottom-up attention in autism using fMRI recently.

Email: 2020023394@m.scnu.edu.cn

Qionghua He is a graduate student of South China Normal University (SCNU) since 2021. Now she is interested in object attention and its neural basis and that’s also her research direction. Using behavioral experimental methods and functional magnetic resonance imaging, she is exploring the neural basis of the diffusion of object attention. She got an undergraduate degree from Hunan Normal University. And during her college, she mainly researched gratitude, childhood maltreatment and smartphone addiction.

Email: 2021023738@m.scnu.edu.cn

Chu Li is a postgraduate student at South China Normal University (SCNU) since 2021. She attained her bachelor’s degree in psychology at Hunan Agricultural University. Now she is interested in attention and visual perceptual learning of face. And she is studying the mechanisms underlying visual perceptual learning by using behavioral experimental methods.

Email: 2021023789@m.scnu.edu.cn

Yueling Sun graduated from the Communication University of China and majored in digital media technology. She studies the working memory’s capture effect on attention and its neural mechanisms using magnetic resonance imaging and EEG technology. By examining the similarities between deep neural networks and the human brain, she also explores how deep learning can inspire cognitive neural studies.

Email: 2021023805@m.scnu.edu.cn

Yaochun Cai is a postgraduate since 2022, majoring in basic psychology in School of Psychology at South China Normal University (SCNU). She attained her B.S. in School of Psychology at SCNU in 2022. Her research focuses on visual attention, awareness, ensemble perception as well as their relation and neural mechanisms by combining psychophysics, fMRI and EEG.

Email: psycaiyaochun@163.com

Li Ye is a graduate student at South China Normal University (SCNU) since 2022. He graduated from South China Agricultural University, majoring in Energy Engineering at undergraduate time. Fascinated with the hard problem of consciousness, he wanted to find the key to the question: How can we experience the world through our first-person perspective? Also, he wants to explore the mystery of the unconscious and find the relationship between attention and consciousness. For that reason, he looks forward to obtaining a Ph.D.

Email: li983397358@outlook.com

Zhuoqun Li received her Bachelor's degree of Psychology from Henan University. Using neuroscience techniques (e.g., fMRI) and computational modeling, she wants to explore the neural mechanism underlying visual processing, especially about visual crowding effect and its relationship with attention and consciousness.

Email: 19803606058@163.com

Mingxing Mao graduated from Department of psychology at Northeast Normal University. Research interest: Human beings’ learning, Attention, and Addiction. Research targets: He believe only when people have better learning abilities can people have a better life. So he wants to explore the mystery of the brain to know how can we study better. Besides, as a Chinese, he wants to propose the Chinese original theory to explain human beings’ behavior. Research methods: at present, behavior experiments and Questionnaires were used to explore mobile phone addiction.

Email: mmx944060520@163.com

Xingbei Wan graduated from Nanchang University with major of applied psychology. Her main research interests include visual imagery, attention and perception. Now she's conducting behavioral experiments to study visual imagery.

Email: 2023023799@m.scnu.edu.cn

Yifan Li is a postgraduate since 2023, majoring in basic psychology in School of Psychology at South China Normal University (SCNU). She attained her B.S. in School of Psychology at SCNU in 2023. She is interested in areas related to working memory and attention, and is currently conducting a behavioral experiment on activity-silent working memory. In the future, she is interested in learning more about techniques such as fMRI and EEG for more in-depth research.

Email: 20192931052@m.scnu.edu.cn

Huiying Huang attained her B.S. in psychology from Northwest Normal University (NWNU) in 2023. She is interested in visual attention mechanism(VAM) and hopes to explore using psychophysics, brain imaging and computational modeling. In addition, under the influence of the Open Science movement, she looks forward to doing research under the concept of sharing and transparency.

Email: 2023023783@m.scnu.edu.cn

Li Xiaoyu earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the School of Psychology at South China Normal University (SCNU) in 2024. His primary research lies in the field of visual working memory, with a keen interest in integrating advanced methodologies such as brain imaging and machine learning into his future research pursuits.

Email: alltoo1214@gmail.com

Le Zhang graduated from Qingdao University majoring in applied psychology. She is interested in the research on visual attention, multisensory perception, and working memory. She hopes to elucidate the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying them by using behavioral and electrophysiological technologies, and to achieve the organic combination of behavior, cognitive processes, and brain mechanisms to better understand and serve individuals.

Email: zhangle6445@163.com

Zhen Chen graduated from the Shaanxi Normal University with a degree in Psychology.She is interested in visual attention mechanisms in virtual reality. Currently, she is working on distance perception in virtual reality in combining with eye movements.

Email: lindrich@163.com

Alumni

Undergraduate Students

Peer-reviewed Articles

  • 1. Shen S.#, Sun, Y.#, Lu J.#, Li C.#, Chen Q., Mo C., Fang F., and Zhang X*. (2024). Profiles of visual perceptual learning in feature space. iScience 27, 109128 (# Co-first author) Download
  • 2. Huang L.#, Wang, J.#, He, Q., Li, C., Sun, Y., Seger, C. A., and Zhang X*.(2023).A source for category-induced global effects of feature-based attention in human prefrontal cortex. Cell Reports (# Co-first author) Download
  • 3. Huang L.*#, Chen Y.#, Shen S.#, Ye H., Ou S., and Zhang X*.(2022). Awareness-independent gradual spread of object-based attention. Current Psychology (In press) (# Co-first author) Download
  • 4. Li, Y., Luo, M., Zhang, X., and Wang, S*. (2022). Effects of exogenous and endogenous cues on attentional orienting in deaf adults. Frontiers in Psychology 6317. Download
  • 5. Wang, L., Huang, L., Li, M., Wang, X., Wang, S., Lin, Y., and Zhang, X*. (2022). An awareness-dependent mapping of saliency in the human visual system. NeuroImage 247, 118864. Download
  • 6. Wang, S., Huang, L., Chen, Q., Wang, J., Xu, S., and Zhang, X*. (2021). Awareness-dependent normalization framework of visual bottom-up attention. Journal of Neuroscience 41(46), 9593–9607. Download
  • 7. Liu, N*., Zhang, H., Zhang, X., Yang, J., Weng, X., and Chen, L. (2021). In Memory of Leslie G. Ungerleider. Neuroscience Bulletin, 592–595. Download
  • 8. Huang, L., Wang, L., Shen, W., Li, M., Wang, S., Wang, X., Ungerleider, L.G. and Zhang, X*. (2020). A source for awareness-dependent figure–ground segregation in human prefrontal cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 117, 30836–30847. Download
  • 9. Han, J., Wu, X., Wu, H., Wang, D., She, X., Xie, M., Zhang, F., Zhang, D., Zhang, X*. and Qin, P*. (2020) Eye-Opening Alters the Interaction Between the Salience Network and the Default-Mode Network. Neuroscience Bulletin, 1-5. Download
  • 10. Huang L#., Li M#., Wang L#., and Zhang X*. (2019) Neural mechanisms of visual selective attention. Acta Physiol Sin 71 (1): 11–21. (# Co-first author) Download
  • 11. Zhang X*., Mlynaryk N., Ahmed S., Japee S., and Ungerleider L.G. (2018). The role of inferior frontal junction in controlling the spatially global effect of feature-based attention in human visual areas. PLoS Biology 16(6), e2005399. Download
  • 12. Zhang X*., Mlynaryk N., Japee S., and Ungerleider L.G. (2017) Attentional selection of multiple objects in the human visual system. NeuroImage 163, 231–243. Download
  • 13. Zhang X*. and Fang F. (2017) Neural Mechanisms of Bottom-up Attention. Chinese Journal of Applied Psychology 23(2), 99–109. Download
  • 14. Zhang X*., Japee S., Safiullah Z., Mlynaryk N., and Ungerleider L.G. (2016) A normalization framework for emotional attention. PLoS Biology 14(11), e1002578. Download
  • 15. Chen C., Zhang X., Wang Y., Zhou T., and Fang F*. (2016) Neural representation of the bottom-up saliency map of natural scenes in human primary visual cortex. Experimental Brain Research 234, 1769–1780.  Download
  • 16. Zhang Y., Zhang X., Wang Y., and Fang F*. (2016) Misbinding of color and motion in human early visual cortex: Evidence from event-related potentials. Vision Research 22, 51–59. Download
  • 17. Zhang X., Qiu J., Zhang Y., Han S., and Fang F*. (2014) Misbinding of color and motion in human visual cortex. Current Biology 24(12), 1354–1360.  Download
  • 18. Chen J., He Y., Zhu Z., Zhou T., Peng Y., Zhang X., and Fang F*. (2014) Attention-dependent early cortical suppression contributes to crowding. Journal of Neuroscience 34(32), 10465–10474. Download
  • 19. Chen C., Zhang X., Wang Y., and Fang F*. (2013) Measuring the attentional effect of the bottom-up saliency map of natural images. In J. Yang, F. Fang, and C. Sun (Eds): IScIDE 2012, Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) 7751, pp. 539-548, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. Download
  • 20. Zhang X., and Fang F*. (2012) Object-based attention guided by an invisible object. Experimental Brain Research 223(3), 397–404. Download
  • 21. Zhang X., Zhaoping L., Zhou T., and Fang F*. (2012) Neural activities in V1 create a bottom-up saliency map. Neuron 73(1), 183–192. Download

Opportunities

Our lab is seeking Postdoc Research Fellows, PhD and Master students from Psychology, Math, Physics, Computer Science, Medicine, Biology, and Engineer, etc. Undergraduate students are also welcome to work as research assistants in the lab. To inquire, please email PI Xilin Zhang at xlzhang@m.scnu.edu.cn, with subject line "Application Inquiry ", and attach your CV.

Contact Address

School of psychology, South China Normal University No.55 West Zhongshan Avenue, Shipai, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510631, P.R. China

Photos

  • Shiyu Wang's Poster CNS 2021

  • Lijuan, Mengsha, and Xiaotong graduated, July 2021

  • VSS 2019 with Fang’s Lab

  • Ling Huang’s Poster VSS 2019

  • Lijuan Wang’s Poster VSS 2019

  • Baiyun Mountain

  • Psychology Building at SCNU

Participate

We are constantly looking for volunteers to participate in behavioral and brain imaging studies. Our experiments generally involve looking at visual patterns on the screen and making simple decisions. If you are interested in participating, please feel free to contact us. All experiments are approved by the human subjects review committee of the School of Psychology at SCNU.

Affilication