Yisi Zhang Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Tsinghua University
2023 – present Associate Professor, Department of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Tsinghua University
2014 – 2023 Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology and Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, USA
2023 – 2023 Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Mathematics, University of York, UK
2008 – 2014 PhD in Physics, Pennsylvania State University, USA
2004 – 2008 BS in Physics, Tsinghua University
Research Interest & Fields
The development of social cognitive function, e.g., communication, cooperation, collective problem-solving; language development; collective behavior
Behavioral development, cognitive neuroscience
Selected Publications
[1] Zhang YS*, Takahashi DY, El Hady A, Liao DA, Ghazanfar AA (2022) Active neural coordination of motor behaviors with internal states. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119 (39), e2201194119
[2] Zhang YS and Ghazanfar AA (2022) Evolving alternative neural pathways for vocal dexterity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119 (25), e2205899119
[3] Zhang YS*, Alvarez JL and Ghazanfar AA (2022) Arousal elevation drives the development of oscillatory vocal output. Journal of Neurophysiology, 127 (6), 1519-1531
[4] Varella TT, Zhang YS, Takahashi DY, Ghazanfar AA (2022) A mechanism for punctuating equilibria during mammalian vocal development. PLoS Computational Biology, 18 (6), e1010173
[5] Gomez-Marin A and Zhang Y (2022) Editorial: “Emergent Behavior in Animal-inspired robotics.” Frontiers in Neurorobotics, 16:861831
[6] Zhang YS* and Ghazanfar AA (2020) A hierarchy of autonomous systems for vocal development. Trends in Neurosciences, 43 (2), 115-126
[7] Zhang YS, Takahashi DY, Liao DA, Ghazanfar AA and Elemans CPH (2019) Vocal state change through laryngeal development. Nature Communications, 10 (1), 1-12
[8] Zhang YS* and Ghazanfar AA (2018) Vocal development through morphological computation. PLoS Biology, 16 (2), e2003933
[9] Liao DA, Zhang YS, Cai LX and Ghazanfar AA (2018) Internal states and extrinsic factors both determine monkey vocal production. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115 (15), 3978- 3983
[10] Zhang YS, Wittenbach JD, Jin DZ and Kozhevnikov AA (2017) Temperature manipulation in songbird brain implicates the premotor nucleus HVC in birdsong syntax. Journal of Neuroscience, 37 (10), 2600- 2611
[11] Ghazanfar AA and Zhang YS (2016) The autonomic nervous system is the engine for vocal develop- ment through social feedback. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 40, 155-160
[12] Zhang YS and Ghazanfar AA (2016) Perinatally influenced autonomic nervous system fluctuations drive infant vocal sequences. Current Biology, 26, 1249-1260
Honors and awards and participation in academic societies
Azure Cloud Computing mini-grant 2021
David C. Duncan Graduate Fellowship, Pennsylvania State University 2011
David H. Rank Memorial Physics Award, Pennsylvania State University 2009
Contact Information
Email:zhangyisi@tsinghua.edu.cn
Room 210，MingZhai, Tsinghua University, Haidian District, Beijing
