Zhenguang G. Cai

For more update about my research, please visit the Language Processing Lab at CUHK.

I am an associate professor, at the Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages / Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Prior to joining CUHK, I was a lecturer at the School of Psychology, University of East Anglia, an ESRC Future Research Leader fellow at the Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, a postdoc at the School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, and a postdoc at the School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester. I did my PhD in psychology at the Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh.

My research interests include language processing and time perception. In language processing, I have used structural priming to look at lexical and syntactic representation and processing in both comprehension and production. More recently, I have taken an interest in how interlocutors model each other in language communication and how cognitive plasticity may shape language learning even in adulthood. In time perception, I am interested in the mechanics of Bayesian inference in interval timing and how time interacts with non-temporal dimensions.

Peer-reviewed journal papers/book chapters

(Disclaimer: The papers are posted on this website for personal use and educational purposes only. Reproduction of the material for any other purposes is prohibited)Cai, Z.G. (in press). Interlocutor modelling in comprehending speech from interleaved interlocutors of different dialectic backgrounds. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.

Zhao, N., Chen, X., & Cai, Z.G. (in press). Planning ahead: Interpreters predict source language in consecutive interpreting. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.
Haslett, D.A., & Cai, Z.G. (in press). New neighbours make bad fences: Form-based semantic shifts in word learning. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.[PDF]
Cai, Z.G., Huang, S., Xu, Z., & Zhao, N. (in press). Objective ages of acquisition for 3300+ simplified Chinese characters. Behavior Research Methods.[PDF]
Morey, R.D., Kaschak, M.P., ... Cai, Z.G. et al. (in press). Pre-registered, multi-lab non-replication of the action-sentence compatibility effect (ACE). Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.[PDF]
Cai, Z.G., & Wang, R. (in press). Cross-dimensional magnitude interaction is modulated by representational noise: Evidence from space-time interaction. Psychological Research. [PDF]
Cai, Z.G., Sun, Z., & Zhao, N.(2021). Interlocutor modelling in lexical alignment: The role of linguistic competence. Journal of Memory and Language, 121, 104278.[PDF]
Huang, S., Lin, W., Xu, M., Wang, R., & Cai, Z.G. (2021). On the tip of the pen: Effects of character-level lexical variables and handwriter-level individual differences on orthographic retrieval difficulties in Chinese handwriting. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 74, 1497-1511.[PDF]
Huang, S., Zhou, Y., Du, M., Wang, R., & Cai, Z.G. (2021). Character amnesia in Chinese handwriting: A mega-study analysis. Language Sciences, 85, 101383.[PDF]
Wang, M., Cai, Z.G., Wang, R., Branigan, H.P., & Pickering, M.J. (2020). How do phonology and orthography feedback to influence syntactic encoding in language production? Evidence from structural priming in Mandarin. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,73, 1807–1819. [PDF]
Wang, R., Huang, S., Zhou, Y., Cai, Z. G. (2020). Chinese character handwriting: A large-scale behavioural study and a database. Behavior Research Methods, 52, 82–96. [PDF]
Cai, Z. G., & Zhao, N. (2019). The sound of gender: Inferring the gender of names in a foreign language. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 3, 63-73. [PDF]
Huang, J., Pickering, M. J., Chen, X., Cai, Z. G., Wang, S., & Branigan, H. P. (2019). Does language similarity affect representational integration? Cognition, 185, 83-90. [PDF]
Wei, H., Boland, J. E., Cai, Z. G., Yuan, F., & Wang, M. (2019). Persistent structural priming during online second-language comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 45(2), 349-359. [PDF]
Cai, Z. G., & Vigliocco, V. (2018). Word processing. In J. T. Wixted & S. Thompson-Schill (Eds), The Stevens’ Handbook of Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Volume 3: Language and Thought (4th edition) (pp.75-110). New York: Wiley. [PDF]
Cai, Z. G., Wang, R., Shen, M. & Speekenbrink, M. (2018). Cross-dimensional magnitude interactions arise from memory interference. Cognitive Psychology, 106, 21-42. [PDF]
Betts, H. N, Gilbert, R. A, Cai, Z. G., Okedara, Z. B, & Rodd, J. M. (2018). Retuning of lexical-semantic representations: Repetition and spacing effects in word-meaning priming. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 44, 1130–1150. [PDF]
Cai, Z. G., Gilbert, R. A., Davis, M. H., Gaskell, M. G., Farrar, L., Adler, S., & Rodd, J. M. (2017). Accent modulates access to word meaning: Evidence for a speaker-model account of spoken word recognition. Cognitive Psychology, 98, 73-101. [PDF]
Cai, Z. G., & Liu, H. (2017). Microscopic and macroscopic approaches to the mental representations of second languages. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 40, 19-20. (commentary). [PDF]
Xie J., Lu Z., Wang R., & Cai Z. G. (2016). Remember hard but think softly: Metaphorical effects of hardness/softness on cognitive functions. Frontiers in Psychology, 7:1343. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01343. [PDF]
Cai, Z. G., & Connell, L. (2016). On magnitudes in memory: An internal clock account of the effect of space on time. Acta Psychologica, 168, 1-11. [PDF]
Rodd, J. M., Cai, Z. G., Betts, H. N., Hanby, B., Hutchinson, C., & Adler, A. (2016). The impact of recent and long-term experience on access to word meanings: Evidence from large-scale internet-based experiments. Journal of Memory and Language, 87, 16-37. [PDF]
Wang, R., Fan, X., Liu, C., & Cai, Z. G. (2016). Cognitive control and word recognition speed influence the Stroop effect in bilinguals. International Journal of Psychology, 51, 93–101. [PDF]
Cai, Z. G., & Connell, L. (2015). Space-time interdependence: Evidence against asymmetric mapping between time and space. Cognition, 136, 268-281. [PDF]
Cai, Z. G., Pickering, M. J., Wang, R., & Branigan, H. P. (2015). It is there whether you hear it or not: Syntactic representations of missing arguments. Cognition, 136, 255-267. [PDF]
Rafray, C. N., Pickering, M. J., Cai, Z. G., & Branigan, H. P. (2014). The production of coerced expressions: Evidence from priming. Journal of Memory and Language, 74, 91-106. [PDF]
Cai, Z. G., & Wang, R. (2014). Numerical magnitude affects temporal memories but not time encoding. PLoS ONE, 9(1): e83159. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0083159. [PDF]
Cai, Z. G., Connell, L., & Holler, J. (2013). Time does not flow without language: Spatial distance affects temporal duration regardless of movement or direction. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 20, 973–980. [PDF]
Cai, Z. G., Pickering, M. J., & Sturt, P. (2013). Processing verb-phrase ellipsis in Mandarin Chinese: Evidence against the syntactic account. Language and Cognitive Processes, 28, 810-828. [PDF]
Connell, L., Cai, Z. G., Holler, J. (2013). Do you see what I'm singing? Visuospatial movement biases pitch perception. Brain and Cognition, 81, 124-130. [PDF]
Cai, Z. G., Sturt, P., & Pickering, M. J. (2012). The effect of non-adopted analyses on sentence processing. Language and Cognitive Processes, 27, 1286-1311. [PDF]
Cai, Z. G., Pickering, M. J., & Branigan, H. P. (2012). Mapping concepts to syntax: Evidence from structural priming in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Memory and Language, 66, 833-849. [PDF]
Cai, Z. G., Pickering, M. J., Yan, H., & Branigan, H. P. (2011). Lexical and syntactic representations in closely related languages: Evidence from Mandarin and Cantonese. Journal of Memory and Language, 65, 431-445. [PDF]

Collaborators

Holly Branigan (University of Edinburgh)
Louise Connell (Lancaster University)
Judith Holler (Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics)
Martin Pickering (University of Edinburgh)
Jenni Rod (UCL)
Maarten Speekenbrink (UCL)
Patrick Sturt (University of Edinburgh)
Ruiming Wang (South China Normal University)
Gabriella Vigliocco (UCL)

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