Rate My Professor Xi Yu

Xi Yu is an associate professor at the State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, appointed since September 2019. Her research investigates the cognitive and neural trajectories underlying language and reading acquisition, as well as the mechanisms of learning disabilities, particularly dyslexia. She employs advanced neuroimaging techniques such as resting-state fMRI and diffusion tensor imaging to study infants, toddlers, and children at familial risk for neurodevelopmental disorders. Xi Yu earned her Ph.D. in Educational Neuroscience from the University of Hong Kong between 2009 and 2013, and her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Beijing Normal University from 2004 to 2008. Prior to her faculty position, she served as a postdoctoral researcher, including at the Gaab Laboratory affiliated with Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital around 2015.

Xi Yu's publications have advanced understanding of early predictive markers for language outcomes and protective neural mechanisms against dyslexia. Key works include 'Patterns of Neural Functional Connectivity in Infants at Elevated Likelihood for Developing Autism' (JAMA Network Open, 2022), 'Functional Connectivity in Infancy and Toddlerhood Predicts Language Outcomes in the Early Childhood Period' (Cerebral Cortex, 2022), 'Putative protective neural mechanisms in prereaders with a family history of dyslexia who subsequently develop typical reading skills' (Human Brain Mapping, 2020), 'Longitudinal associations between language network topological organization and reading ability from childhood to adolescence' (NeuroImage, 2024), and 'Examining Shared Reading and White Matter Organization in Infants at Risk for Dyslexia' (Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2023). With over 850 citations on Google Scholar, her contributions influence research on developmental cognitive neuroscience and inform interventions for reading difficulties. She also acts as a Reviewing Editor for eLife.