Cheng Xiao

About Me

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Linguistics at the University of South Carolina. My research bridges formal linguistics and cognitive neuroscience, employing experimental methods, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), and High-Definition transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD-tDCS) to investigate language and emotion processing in native speakers and second-language (L2) learners. I am co-advised by Drs. Jiang Liu and Rutvik Desai. I am currently a Graduate Research Assistant in the Aging Brain Cohort (ABC).

My dissertation investigates how native speakers and L2 learners perceive emotional cues through semantic and prosodic channels in Mandarin Chinese words and sentences. In this tonal language, the same acoustic feature (i.e., pitch) encodes both semantics and emotional prosody. To elucidate the neural underpinnings of these processes, I use fMRI to examine whether native speakers and L2 learners engage similar cognitive mechanisms when processing semantics and emotional prosody in spoken language. This work is supported by NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, University of South Carolina SPARC Graduate Research Grant, and Dr. Richard Walker Memorial Endowed Fellowship.

News

• [Aug, 2025] Our abstract on word naming with ATL stimulation has been accepted for SNL 2025.
• [Feb, 2025] I received travel fund to present my poster on the neural processing of emotional prosody in native and non-native Chinese speakers at HSP 38 .
• [Oct, 2024] My first-authored paper on emotional prosody perception in Mandarin Chinese words and sentences has been published in Second Language Research.
• [July, 2024] My first-authored paper examining semantic effects on the perception of emotional prosody in native and non-native Chinese speakers has been published in the special issue of Cognition and Emotion on the interplay between language and emotion.

Publications

• Xiao, C., & Liu, J. (2024b). The Perception of Emotional Prosody in Mandarin Chinese Words and Sentences. Second Language Research. 1-28. Link, PDF
• Xiao, C., & Liu, J. (2024a). Semantic Effects on the Perception of Emotional Prosody in Native and Non-native Chinese Speakers. Cognition and Emotion. 1-11. Link, PDF
• Wang, B. X., Chen, S., Zhou, F., Liu, J., Xiao, C., Chan, A., & Tang, T. (2024). English Prosodic Focus Marking by Cantonese Trilingual Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 67(3), 782-801. Link
• Liu, J., & Xiao, C. (2021). Tone Category Learning Should Serve Tone Word Learning: An Experiment of Integrating Pronunciation Teaching in L2 Chinese Curriculum. In Edited Volume The Acquisition of Chinese as a Second Language Pronunciation: Segments and Prosody. Edited by Yang, Chunsheng: Springer. Link
• Xiao, C., Liu, J., Shinkareva, S., Yang, X., Desai, R.H. (under review). Knowing and Feeling: The Role of Semantic Valence in Emotional Prosody Perception for L2 Chinese Learners. Preregistration
• Arheix-Parras, S., Xiao, C., Crouse, C., Riccardi, N., Johari, K., Desai, R.H. (in revision). The Role of the Anterior Temporal Lobe in Reading: an HD-tDCS Study.
• Xiao, C., Arheix-Parras, S., Johari, K., Riccardi, N., Desai, R.H. (to be submitted). The Effects of Thematic and Taxonomic Semantic Neighbors in Anterior Temporal Lobe Stimulation.
• Yang, X., Gao, C., Xiao, C., Riccardi, N., Desai, R.H. (manuscript available upon request). Psycholinguistic Constructs Underlying Words in Naturalistic Listening.

Grants

• 2023-2025, NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, The Semantic Effect on the Processing of Emotional Prosody in a Tone Language: A Neurolinguistic Study, USD 17,780.
• 2022-2023, University of South Carolina SPARC Graduate Research Grant, Bridging Meaning and Sound: The Effects of Semantics on Emotional Prosody Processing in Mandarin Chinese Words and Sentences, USD 4,938.
• 2020-2021, University of South Carolina Graduate Teaching Resource Development Grant, for course enrichment of CHIN121: Elementary Mandarin Chinese, USD 400.
• 2020-2021, University of South Carolina Graduate Teaching Resource Development Grant, for course enrichment of CHIN321: Advance Mandarin Chinese, USD 400.

Teaching Experience

• Instructor of Record, Linguistics Program, University of South Carolina
  • Spring 2023, LING 301/ENGL 389: The English Language
  • Fall 2022, LING 101: Introduction to Language
• Instructor of Record, Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, University of South Carolina
  • Spring 2021, CHIN 122: Basic Proficiency Mandarin Chinese
  • Fall 2020, CHIN 121: Elementary Mandarin Chinese
  • Spring 2022, CHIN 222: Intermediate Mandarin Chinese II
  • Fall 2022, CHIN 221: Intermediate Mandarin Chinese I
  • Spring 2020, CHIN 322: Advance Mandarin Chinese II
  • Fall 2019, CHIN 321: Advance Mandarin Chinese I
• Guest Lecturer, Linguistics Program, University of South Carolina
  • Fall 2024, LING 474/PSYC 474: Cognitive and Social Aspects of Bilingualism
  • Spring 2023, LING 300/PSYC 300: Introduction to Language Sciences
• Tutor, International Accelerator Program, University of South Carolina
  • 2019-2020, English as a second language (ESL) Tutor

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