Zhenguang Cai

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 t the Department of Experimental Psychology, and a postdoc at the School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, and n 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.

Research interests

Language processing; bilingualism; embodied cognition; time perception.

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)

Wei, H., Boland, J. E., Cai, Z. G., Yuan, F., & Wang, M. (in press). Persistent structural priming during online second language comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition.
Cai, Z. G., Wang, R., Shen, M. & Speekenbrink, M. (2018). Cross-dimensional magnitude interactions arise from memory interference. Cognitive Psychology, 106, 21-42.
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.
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.
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.
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].
Xie, J., Lu, Z., Wang, R., & Cai, Z. G. (2016). Remember hard but think s oftly: Metaphorical effects of hardness/softness on cognitive functions. Frontiers in Psychology, 7:1343. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01343
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.
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.
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.
Cai, Z. G., & Connell, L. (2015). Space-time interdependence: Evidence against asymmetric mapping between time and space. Cognition, 136, 268-281.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cai, Z. G., Sturt, P., & Pickering, M. J. (2012). The effect of nonadopted analyses on sentence processing. Language and Cognitive Processes, 27, 1286-1311.
Cai, Z. G., Pickering, M. J., & Branigan, H. P. (2012). Mapping concepts to syntax: Evidence from structural priming in Mandarin. Journal of Memory and Language, 66, 833-849.
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.

PhD thesis

Cai, Z. (2011). The mental representation and processing of syntactic structure: Evidence from Chinese. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh.

Peer-reviewed conference proceedings

Cai, Z. G., Wang, R., Liu, H., & Speekenbrink, M. (2017) Task-oriented Bayesian inference in interval timing: People use their prior reproduction experience to calibrate time reproduction. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society
Cai, Z. G., & Connell, L. (2012). Space-time interdependence and sensory modalities: Time affects space in the hand but not in the eye. In N. Miyake, D. Peebles, & R. P. Cooper (Eds.), Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
Connell, L., Cai, Z. G., & Holler, J. (2012). Do you see what I'm singing? Visuospatial movement biases pitch perception. In N. Miyake, D. Peebles, & R. P. Cooper (Eds.), Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.

Peer-reviewed publication in Chinese

Lu, B., & Cai, Z. (2010). Reading guide. In Hawkins, J. A. Efficiency and Complexity in Grammars. Shijie Tushu Chuban Gongsi, Beijing. [陆丙甫，蔡振光.(2010).导读. 霍金斯，《语法的效能与复杂度》，北京，世界图书出版公司出版.]
Lu, B., & Cai, Z. (2009). Chunking and structural complexity of linguistic units. Shijie Hanyu Jiaoxue (Chinese Teaching in the World), 23, 3-16. [陆丙甫，蔡振光．(2009). “组块”与语言结构难度. 世界汉语教学，第一期，3-16]]
Cai, Z., & Dong, Y-P. (2007). Representing lexical semantics in the Competition Model: animacy per se as a cue. Modern Languages, 45-52. [蔡振光，董燕萍．(2007). 双语句子理解中的语言迁移.现代外语，第三期, 45-52.]
Dong, Y-P., & Cai, Z. (2007). Representing lexical semantics in the Competition Model: argument specification satisfaction as a cue. Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 169-176. [董燕萍，蔡振光．(2007). 竞争模型中的语义线索：论元特征满足度. 外语教学与研究,169-176.]
Cai, Z., & Dong, Y-P. (2007). Transfer of sentence processing strategies for Chinese-English bilinguals. Foreign Languages, 30, 251-261. [蔡振光，董燕萍．(2007)．竞争模型中的语义线索：纯生命性．外国语, 第二期, 45-52．]
Cai, Z., & Dong, Y-P. (2005). Recalling words not presented in lists: Mental representation of Chinese compounds. Journal of PLA University of Foreign Languages, 28, 58-61. [蔡振光，董燕萍．(2005)．从汉英虚假记忆的表外词语介入看汉语复合词的词汇表征．解放军外国语学院学报，28 (2)：58-61．]

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)
Patrick Sturt (University of Edinburgh)
Ruiming Wang (South China Normal University)
Gabriella Vigliocco (UCL)

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