Research Interests

My current work focuses on the study of functional and neural architecture associated with semantic memory, knowledge representation, and language processing, using cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, multi-modal neuroimaging, computation modeling and other research methods.

Selected Publications:

1. Liu, B., Wang, X., Wang, X., Li, Y., Han, Y., Lu, J., Zhang, H., Wang, X., & Bi, Y. (2025). Object knowledge representation in the human visual cortex requires a connection with the language system. PLoS biology, 23(5), e3003161.
2. Zhu, Z.#, Yang, H.#, Wen, H., Hung, J., Hu, Y., Bi, Y.*, & Yu, X.* (2025). Innate network mechanisms of temporal pole for semantic cognition in neonatal and adult twin studies. Nature Communications, 16(1), 3835.
3. Fu, Z., Chen, H., Liu, Z., Sun, M., Liu, Z., & Bi, Y. (2025). Pathogen stress heightens sensorimotor dimensions in the human collective semantic space. Communications Psychology, 3(1), 2.
4. Zhao, M., Xin, Y., Deng, H., Zuo, Z., Wang, X.*, Bi, Y.*, Liu, N.* (2024). Object color knowledge representation occurs in the macaque brain despite the absence of a developed language system. PLOS Biology, 22(10): e3002863.  
5. Amaral, L.#, Wang, X.#, Bi, Y.*, & Striem-Amit, E.* (2025). Unraveling the impact of congenital deafness on individual brain organization. elife, 13, RP96944. 
6. Wen, H., Wang, D., & Bi, Y. (2024). Processing language partly shares neural genetic basis with processing tools and body parts. Eneuro, 11(8). 
7. Tian, S., Chen, L., Wang, X., Li, G., Fu, Z., Ji, Y., Lu, J., Wang, X., Shan, S., & Bi, Y. (2024). Vision matters for shape representation: Evidence from sculpturing and drawing in the blind. Cortex, 174, 241-255.
8. Wang, X., Wang, B., & Bi, Y. (2023). Early language exposure affects neural mechanisms of semantic representations. eLife, 12, e81681.
9. Xiong, Z., Tian, Y., Wang, X., Wei, K., & Bi, Y. (2023). Gravity matters for the neural representations of action semantics. Cerebral Cortex, 33(11), 6862-6871.
10. Fu, Z., Wang, X., Wang, X., Yang, H., Wang, J., Wei, T., Liao, X., Liu, Z., Chen, H., & Bi,Y. (2023). Different computational relations in language are captured by distinct brain systems. Cerebral Cortex, 33(4), 997-1013.  
11. Wen, H., Xu, T., Wang, X., Yu, X., & Bi, Y. (2022). Brain intrinsic connection patterns underlying tool processing in human adults are present in neonates and not in macaques. NeuroImage, 258, 119339. 
12. Yang, H., & Bi, Y. (2022). From words to phrases: neural basis of social event semantic composition. Brain Struct Funct, 227(5), 1683-1695.
13. Wang, X., & Bi, Y. (2021). Idiosyncratic Tower of Babel: Individual Differences in Word-Meaning Representation Increase as Word Abstractness Increases. Psychological science, 32(10), 1617-1635. 
14. Bi, Y. (2021). Dual coding of knowledge in the human brain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 25(10), 883-895.
15. Fan, S., Wang, X., Wang, X., Wei, T., & Bi, Y. (2021). Visual featural topography in the human ventral visual pathway. Neurosci. Bull, 37(10), 1454-1468 .
16. BI, Y. Concepts and Object Domains. In: Poeppel, D., Mangun, G. R., & Gazzaniga, M. S. (Eds.) The cognitive neurosciences. MIT Press; 2020. 
17. Hung, J., Wang, X., Wang, X., & Bi, Y. (2020). Functional subdivisions in the anterior temporal lobes: a large scale meta-analytic investigation. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 115, 134-145. 
18. Wang, X., Men, W., Gao, J., Caramazza, A., & Bi, Y. (2020). Two Forms of Knowledge Representations in the Human Brain. Neuron, 107(2), 383-393. 
19. Striem-Amit, E., Wang, X., Bi, Y., & Caramazza, A. (2018). Neural representation of visual concepts in people born blind. Nature communications, 9(1), 5250. 
20. Fang, Y., Wang, X., Zhong, S., Song, L., Han, Z., Gong, G., & Bi, Y. (2018). Semantic representation in the white matter pathway. PLoS biology, 16(4), e2003993. 
21. Wang, X., Wu, W., Ling, Z., Xu, Y., Fang, Y., Wang, X., Binder, J., Men, W., Gao, J., & Bi, Y. (2018). Organizational Principles of Abstract Words in the Human Brain. Cerebral Cortex, 28(12), 4305-4318.
22. Xu, Y., He, Y., & Bi, Y. (2017). A Tri-network Model of Human Semantic Processing. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1538.
23. Bi, Y., Wang, X., Caramazza, A. (2016). Object domain and modality in the ventral visual pathway. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20(4), 282-290.
24. Xu, Y., Lin, Q., Han, Z., He, Y., Bi, Y. (2016). Intrinsic Functional Network Architecture of Human Semantic Processing: Modules and Hubs. NeuroImage, 132, 542-555.
25. Bi, Y., Han, Z., Zhong, S., Ma, Y., Gong, G., Huang, R., Song, L., Fang, Y., He, Y., Caramazza, A. (2015). The White Matter Structural Network Underlying Human Tool Use and Tool Understanding. The Journal of Neuroscience, 35(17), 6822-6835.
26. Wang, X., Peelen, M., Han, Z., He, C., Caramazza, A., Bi, Y. (2015). How Visual Is the Visual Cortex? Comparing Connectional and Functional Fingerprints between Congenitally Blind and Sighted Individuals. The Journal of Neuroscience, 35(36), 12545-12559.
27. Han, Z., Ma, Y., Gong, G., He, Y., Caramazza, A., Bi, Y. (2013). White matter structural connectivity underlying semantic processing: Evidence from brain damaged patients. Brain, 136(10), 2952-2965.

Lab Website：

https://www.psy.pku.edu.cn/ycblab/