Education:

PhD in Psychology, Peking University

MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, University of Pittsburgh

BS in Psychology, Tsinghua University

Research and Teaching Interests:

Clinical & counseling psychology; cognitive and psychosocial mechanisms of mental health conditions; neurodevelopmental disorders (Autism, ADHD); AI-based mental health screening and intervention; eye-tracking and EEG/ERP research methods

Professional Affiliations:

Since 2026 - City University of Macau, Assistant Professor in Applied Psychology

Selected Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles:

Li, T., Decety, J., Hua, Z., Peng, X., Shi, R., & Yi, L. (2026). The Role of Empathy in Prosocial Behavior in Autistic and Neurotypical Children. Child Development, 97(2), 437–450. https://doi.org/10.1093/chidev/aacag007.  (SSCI; JCR Q1)

Hua, Z., Li, T., Shi, R., Wei, R., & Yi, L. (2025). Prediction efficiency and incremental processing strategy during spoken language comprehension in autistic children: An eye-tracking study. Molecular Autism. http://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-025-00674-0  (SCI; JCR Q1)

Hua, Z., Li, T., Shi, R., Wei, R., & Yi, L. (2025). Activation of thematic and taxonomic relations during lexical-semantic processing in autistic children: Evidence from eye movements. Autism Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.70023  (SCI; JCR Q1)

Hua, Z., Hu, J., Zeng, H., Li, J., Cao, Y., & Gan, Y. (2024). Auditory language comprehension among children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: An ALE meta-analysis of fMRI studies. Autism Research, 17(3), 482–496. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.3055  (SCI; JCR Q1)

Tang, X., Hua, Z. (co-first author), Xing, J., Yi, L., Ji, Z., Zhao, L., Su, X., Yin, T., Wei, R., Li, X., & Liu, J. (2023). Verbal fluency as a predictor of autism spectrum disorder diagnosis and co-occurring attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms. Reading and Writing, 36, 1461–1485. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-022-10319-w  (SSCI; JCR Q1)

Li, T., Decety, J., Hua, Z., Li, G., & Yi, L. (2024). Empathy in autistic children: Emotional overarousal in response to others' physical pain. Autism Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.3200   (SCI; JCR Q1)

Xing, J., Wei, R., Wang, H., Hua, Z., Tang, X., Yi, L., Li, X., & Liu, J. (2024). Symptoms of autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder interactively predict children's verbal fluency. Journal of Attention Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1177/10870547241232081 (SCI; JCR Q1)

Selected Conference Presentations (Oral):

Hua, Z., Luo, G., Chen, M., Xu, X., Shi, R., Yi, L. (2026, April 22–25). Automated autism detection based on parent-child speech interactions: A Transformer-based deep learning approach [Oral presentation]. International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) 2026 Annual Meeting, Prague, Bohemia, Czech Republic.

Hua, Z., Li, T., Shi, R., Wei, R., & Yi, L. (2025, October 31–November 2). Prediction efficiency and incremental processing strategy during spoken language comprehension in autistic children: An eye-tracking study. In L. Yi (Chair), Social information processing and communication mechanism of autistic children [Symposium]. The 26th National Academic Conference of Psychology, Jinan, Shandong, China.

Hua, Z., Li, T., Shi, R., Wei, R., & Yi, L. (2025, April 30–May 3). Anticipatory language processing in autism: Evidence from eye-tracking in preschool-aged children [Oral presentation]. International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) 2025 Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, United States.

Hua, Z., Wang, Z., Li, T., Li, Z., & Yi, L. (2023, October 13–15). The role of fathers' childcare participation in language development of autistic children. In H. Zhuo (Chair), Parent-child interaction and children's mental health [Symposium]. The 25th National Academic Conference of Psychology, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.

Hua, Z., Li, T., & Yi, L. (2023, March 23–25). More autistic, more altruistic? Autistic traits and equality preference in typically developing children [Oral presentation]. 2023 Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Biennial Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.

Selected Conference Presentations (Poster):

Hua, Z., Li, T., Shi, R., Wei, R., & Yi, L. (2025, May 1–3). Differences in anticipatory language processing between autistic and neurotypical children: Evidence from eye-tracking [Poster presentation]. 2025 Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Biennial Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, United States.

Hua, Z., Li, Z., & Yi, L. (2024, May 15–18). Unique association between increased father-child interaction and decreased social communication difficulties in autistic children: The mediating role of father-child joint reading [Poster presentation]. International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) 2024 Annual Meeting, Melbourne, Australia.

Hua, Z., Wei, R., & Yi, L. (2024, March 14–16). Advantage in lexical taxonomic network of autistic children in spoken word processing: Evidence from the visual world paradigm [Poster presentation]. Meeting on Language in Autism 2024, Durham, NC, United States.

Hua, Z., Wang, Z., Li, T., & Yi, L. (2023, May 3–6). Father's childcare participation as a predictor of language development in autistic children [Poster presentation]. International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) 2023 Annual Meeting, Stockholm, Sweden.