Prof. Fan CAO
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, the University of Hong Kong
Director, Neuralscience of Learning and Development (NeruoLeaD) Laboratory, HKU
EDUCATION
2004-2009
2001-2004
1997-2001
Ph.D. Northwestern University, Communication Sciences and Disorders
Master, Beijing Normal University, Psychology
Bachelor, Beijing Normal University, Psychology
Phone: (852) 3917-2293
Email: fancao@hku.hk
Office: Room 6.06, JCT, HKU
Further details see Curriculum Vitae
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
2022-present
2017-2022
2014-2018
2011-2013
2009-2011
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Hong Kong
Professor, Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Assistant Professor, Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI. USA
Assistant Professor, elite Nanyang Assistant Professor, Division of Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Post-doctoral fellow, Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, USA
RESEARCH INTERESTS
My research interests include reading development and disorders, second language learning, as well as joint attention in young children with ASD. I study these research questions as a way to understand neural plasticity. I am interested in the neural mechanisms underlying these developmental and learning disorders, as well as how brain structure and function change following behavioral intervention.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Feng G*, Shen L, Shi L, Yan X, Liang Y, Zhang L, Zuo S, Wu Y, Cao F. (2025). Brain changes following two reading interventions in Chinese children with reading disability. Developmental Science.
Xu S*, Wang X, Shen L, Yan X, Feng G, Cao F. (2025). Brain functional differences during irony comprehension in adolescents with ASD. Cerebral Cortex. 35(2) bhaf003, https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhaf003
Yan, X.*, Fu, Y., Feng, G., Li, H., Su, H., Liu, X., Wu, Y., Hua, J., & Cao F. (2024). Reading disability is characterized by reduced print–speech convergence. Child Development, 00, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14134
Yan, X. *, Feng, G., Fu, Y., Hua, J., & Cao F., (2024). Age-related changes in individuals with and without reading disability: Behavioral and fMRI evidence. Imaging Neuroscience, 2, 1-18.
Yan X*, Jiang K, Li H, Wang Z, Perkins K, & Cao F. (2021). Convergent and divergent structural and functional brain abnormalities associated with developmental dyslexia. eLife. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.69523
Cao F, Yan X, Yan X, Zhou H, Booth JR. (2021) Reading disability in Chinese children learning English as an L2. Child Development. 92(2): e126-e142.
* indicates the first author is/was a student or post-doc in my lab.