About Me

Hi, I am Qingqing Yang, current PhD student in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Ohio State University. I work with Prof. Hsin-Hung Li and Prof. Julie Golomb. last update: Apr 2026

Research Interests

• Cognition: visual perception, memory and decision-making
• Neural Imaging: fMRI, TMS

I question the neural mechanisms of the goal-directed behaviors in human visual system. Specifically, I study how our brain turns what we see into memory, and how this process is shaped by task goals and motivation.

Education and research experience:

• [2024- ] PhD in CogNeuro at the Ohio State University
• [2023-2024] Assistant research scientist at New York University
• [2021-2023] MA in Psychology from New York University
• [2017-2021] BS in Psychology from Zhejiang University

News

• [Aug 2026] I’ll attend CCN 2026 to present a spotlight poster on WM representational changes across processing stages.

  There’ll also be a collaborated work presented as a spotlight poster and talk on how manifold geometry explains model-brain bidirectional predictivity.

• [Aug 2025] Our paper got accepted at NeurIPS 2025!

  We showed that higher-value stimuli is maintained with greater stability in working memory (WM). Instead of minimizing the error, the optimal goal of WM is to maximize reward. Big thanks to Hsin’s supports!

• [May 2025] I attended VSS 2025 to present a poster showing working memory precision is modulated by reward.