Research Interests
General areas
- Topics: Visual perception and working memory, mental imagery, goal-directed behavior, neural representation, neural dynamics
Research Questions
- How do our brains form working memory representations?
What is the nature of WM representation? WM can maintain mental representations in our mind without sensory input for a short time. Importantly, WM representation can be reformatted in terms of different goals. I am quite interested in how we transform perceptual representations into WM representations and how they change in service of different behavioral goals? How is the goal-directed reformatting implemented in the brain?
- How do brain states change over time?
Do our brains need persistant neural activity to maintain the representaion of WM? Whether the nerual representation of WM is stable or dynamic? How do our brains transform neural activities in preparation of future behaviors?
- How does working memory allocate its limited resources?
WM is well-known for its limited capacity. How does WM avoid interference when facing new sensory inputs? What is the relationship between interference and WM constraints? How do limitations of WM influence our decisions? How to select and prioritize part of internal representations within WM to optimize behaviors?
Research Methods
- 🙋♀️ Behavioral experiments: psychophysics, eye-tracking
- 🧠 Neuroscience: fMRI, EEG
- 💻 Computational modeling: machine learning, neural network, Bayesian modeling
Publications
Duan, Z., Huang, Y., Shi, B., & Ding, X. (2023). Two discoveries, one principle: Using a two-stage Bayesian model to explain a dissociated working memory distraction effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/xge0001358
Duan, Z., Ye, T., Poggi, A., & Ding, X. (2020). Gaze towards my choice: Noneconomic social interaction changes interpersonal trust only with positive feedback. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 27, 1362-1373. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-020-01785-w
Duan, Z, Song, X., Shui, R., Zhou, J., Shen, M., & Ding, X. (2020). Visual Working Memory Organizes Functional Related Objects beyond the Spatiotemporal Limit. Journal of Vision, 20(11), 172-172. https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.20.11.172
Ye, S., Duan, Z, Ye, T., & Ding, X. (2021). The face-dependency effect of gaze in working memory: Face context modulates memory performance of gaze. Journal of Vision, 21(9), 2197-2197. https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.21.9.2197
Wei, C., Duan, Z, Li, W., & Ding, X. (2021). Selectively maintaining object features within visual working memory. Journal of Vision, 21(9), 2288-2288. https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.21.9.2288
Huang, Y., Liu, Z., Ji, H., Duan, Z., Ling, H., Chen, J., & Ding, X. (2020). Attentional bias in methamphetamine users: a visual search task study. Addiction Research & Theory, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2019.1708905
Liu, Y., Yu, L., Fu, L., Li, W., Duan, Z., & Reichle, E. D. (2019). The effects of parafoveal word frequency and segmentation on saccade targeting during Chinese reading. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 26(4), 1367-1376. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-019-01577-x
Book Chapters
Baron, R. A., Byrne, D., & Branscombe, N. R. (2019). Social Psychology (14th Eds). Zou, Z et al., translated (Chinese version). Independent translation of chapter 7.
Conference Presentations
Talks
Duan, Z., Lin, Z., & Ding, X. Adaptive hierarchical memory: Event structure shapes memory for individual items. Talk presented at the Virtual Working Memory Symposium 2021. Video Link
Duan, Z., Shi, B., Ye, T., & Ding, X. Hurting object representations during working memory maintenance with irresistible visual distraction. Talk presented at the Virtual Working Memory Symposium 2020. Video Link
Posters
Duan, Z., Lin, Z., & Ding, X. (2021). Adaptive hierarchical memory: Event structure shapes memory for individual items. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, St. Pete Beach, FL. Poster Link
Duan, Z., Song, X., Shui, R., Zhou, J., Shen, M., & Ding, X. (2020). Visual Working Memory Organizes Functional Related Objects beyond the Spatiotemporal Limit. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, St. Pete Beach, FL. Poster Link