Dr. Li Yi received her bachelor’s degree from Department of Psychology, Peking University in 2003. Then she got her master and Ph.D. degrees majoring in Developmental Psychology from Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University. She worked as an assistant professor and then an associate professor at Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-sen University from 2009-2015. Since 2015, she joined the School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University.

Our research interest mainly focuses on autism, especially its psychopathological mechanism. Most of our research efforts have been put on understanding the diversity in social information processing in autism. We are also working on developing novel techniques based on objective measures for the early detection and supports for autism.

The on-going projects in our lab focus on the following themes:

  1. neural mechanisms underlying social information processing (social attention, emotion understanding, arousal, sensory sensitivity, ect) in autism
  2. early development and early detection of autism
  3. behavioral and neural heterogeneity within the autistic population

List of Publications

Peng, X. #, Li, T. #, Liu, G., Ni, W., & Yi, L*. (2024). Enhanced neural synchronization during social communications between dyads with high autistic traits. Cerebral Cortex.

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.

Li, T., Xiong, Q., Shi, R., & Yi, L.* (2024). Autistic and non-autistic children's pain perception is modulated by their first-hand pain sensitivity and Theory of Mind. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology.

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.

Wang, Q., Li, X., Gong, X., Yin, T., Liu, Q., Yi, L.*, & Liu, J.* (2023). Autistic children’s visual sensitivity to face movement. Development and Psychopathology, 1–10, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579423000883

Feng, S., Wang, Q., Hu, Y., Lu, H., Li, T., Song, C., Fang., J., Chen, L.*, & Yi, L. * (2023). Improving audiovisual speech integration in autism through enhanced attention to mouth. Developmental Science, 26(4), e13348

Yi, L. *, Wang, Q., Song, C., Han, Z.* (2022). Hypo-arousal or hyperarousal? the mechanisms underlying social information processing in autism. Child Development Perspectives, 16(4), 215-222.

Wang, Q.*, Lu, H., Feng, S., Song, C., Hu, Y., & Yi, L.* (2022). Investigating intra-individual variability of face scanning in autistic children. Autism, 26(7):1752-1764.

Hu, Y., Xiong, Q., Wang, Q., Song, C., Wang, D., Lu, H., Shi, W., Han, Y.*, Liu, J.*, Li, X.*, & Yi, L. (2022). Early development of social attention in toddlers at high familial risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Infant Behavior and Development.

Li, T.#, Li, Y.#, Hu, Y., Wang, Y., Lam, C., Ni, W., Wang, X.*, & Yi, L.* (2021). Heterogeneity of visual preferences for biological and repetitive movements in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autism Research, 14(1), 102-111.

Feng, S., Lu, H., Wang, Q., Li, T., Fang, J., Chen, L.*, & Yi, L.* (2022). Face-viewing patterns predict audiovisual speech integration in autistic children. Autism Research, 14, 2592-2602. doi: 10.1002/aur.2598

Feng, S., Lu, H., Fang, J., Li, X., Yi, L.*, & Chen, L.* (2022). Audiovisual speech perception and its relation with temporal processing in children with and without Autism. Reading and Writing：An Interdisciplinary Journal.

Liu, Q.#, Wang, Q.#, Li, X.#, Gong, X., Luo, X., Yin, T., Liu, J.*, & Yi, L.* (2021). Social synchronization during joint attention in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autism Research, 14(10), 2120-2130.

Wang, H., Suveg, C., West, K. B., Han, Z. R. *, Zhang, X., Hu, X., & Yi, L. (2021). Synchrony of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in parents and children with autism spectrum disorder: Moderation by interaction quality and child behavior problems. Autism Research, 14, 512-522.

Wang, Q., Hoi, S., Wang, Y., Lam, C., Fang, F., Yi, L.* (2020). Gaze response to others' gaze following in children with and without autism. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 129, 320-329.

Wuyun, G., Wang, J., Zhang, L, Wang, K., Yi, L.*, & Wu, Y.* (2020). Actions speak louder than words: The role of action in self-referential advantage in children with autism. Autism Research, 13, 810-820.

Lu, H., Yi, L.*, Zhang, H.* (2020). Autistic traits influence the strategic diversity of information sampling: insights from two-stage decision models. PLOS Computational Biology,15(12): e1006964. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006964.

Wang, Q., Zhu, G., Yi, L., Cui, X., Wang, H., Wei, R., & Hu, B. (2020). A review on the use of functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy for motor and cognitive function studies in preterm infants. Neuroscience Bulletin, 36(3):321-329. doi:10.1007/s12264-019-00441-1.

Chan, B. S., Deng, J., Li, Y., Li, T., Shen, Y., Wang, Y.*, & Yi, L.* (2020). The role of self-compassion in the relationship between Post-Traumatic Growth and psychological distress in caregivers of children with autism. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29, 1692-1700.

Wang, Q., Hoi, S. P., Wang, Y.*, Song, C., Li, T., Lam, C., Fang, F., & Yi, L.* (2020). Out of mind, out of sight? Investigating abnormal face scanning in autism spectrum disorder using gaze-contingent paradigm. Developmental Science, 23(3), e12856. doi: 10.1111/desc.12856

Wang, Q., Han, Z., Hu, X., Feng, S., Wang, H., Liu, T.*, & Yi, L.* (2020). Autism symptoms modulate interpersonal neural synchronization in children with autism spectrum disorder in cooperative interactions. Brain Topography, 33(1):112-122. doi: 10.1007/s10548-019-00731-x

Zhao, J.*, Chen, S., Tong, X., Yi, L.* (2019). Advantage in character recognition among Chinese preschool children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49(12), 4929-4940. doi:10.1007/s10803-019-04202-x

Li, T., Decety, J., Hu, X., Li, J., Lin, J., & Yi, L.* (2019). Third-party sociomoral evaluations in children with autism spectrum disorder. Child Development, 90(5), e584-e597. doi: 10.1111/cdev.13206

Lu, H., Li, P., Fang, J., & Yi, L.* (2019). The perceived social context modulates rule learning in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 49(11), 4698-4706. doi: 10.1007/s10803-019-04174-y

Zhang, Y., Song, W., Tan, Z., Zhu, H., Wang, Y., Lam, C., Weng, Y., Hoi, S. P., Chan, B., Chen, J.*, & Yi, L. * (2019). Could social robots facilitate children with autism spectrum disorders in learning distrust and deception? Computers in Human Behavior, 98, 140-149. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2019.04.008

Liu, T.*, Liu, X., Yi, L., Zhu, C., Markey, P., & Pelowski, M. (2019). Assessing autism at its social and developmental roots: A review of autism spectrum disorder studies using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. NeuroImage, 185, 955-967. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.09.044

Wang, Q., Lu, L., Zhang, Q., Fang, F., Zou, X., & Yi, L.* (2018). Eye avoidance in young children with autism spectrum disorder is modulated by emotional facial expressions. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 127(7), 722-732. doi: 10.1037/abn0000372

Wang, Q. #, Hu, Y. #, Shi, D. #, Zhang, Y., Zou, X., Li, S., Fang, F., & Yi, L.* (2018). Children with autism spectrum disorder prefer looking at repetitive movements in a preferential looking paradigm. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 48(8), 2821-2831. doi:10.1007/s10803-018-3546-5

Li, T., Wang, X., Pan, J., Feng, S., Gong, M., Wu, Y., Li, G., Li, S.*, & Yi, L.* (2017). Reward learning modulates the attentional processing of faces in children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorders. Autism Research, 10, 1797-1807. doi: 10.1002/aur.1823

Yang, Y., Tian, Y., Fang, J., Lu, H., Wei, K*, & Yi, L.* (2017). Trust and deception in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A social learning perspective. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47(3), 615-625. doi: 10.1007/s10803-016-2983-2

Liu, W., Li, M.*, & Yi, L.* (2016). Identifying children with Autism Spectrum Disorder based on their face processing abnormality: A machine learning framework. Autism Research, 9(8), 888-898.

Li, P., Zhang, C., & Yi, L.* (2016). Sensitivity of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders to face appearance in selective trust. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 46(7), 2520 - 2525.

Yi, L.*, Quinn, P. C., Fan, Y., Huang, D., Feng, C., Joseph, L., Li, J., & Lee, K*. (2016). Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder scan own-race faces differently from other-race faces. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 141, 177-186. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2015.09.011

Yi, L.*, Quinn, P. C., Feng, C., Li, J., Ding, H., & Lee, K*. (2015). Do individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder process own- and other-race faces differently? Vision Research, 107, 124-132. doi: 10.1016/j.visres.2014.11.021

Yi, L.*, Fan, Y., Li, J., Huang, D., Wang, X., Tan, W., Zou, X., & Lee, K.* (2014). Distrust and retaliatory deception in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 8. 1741-1755. doi: 10.1016/j.rasd.2014.09.006

Yi, L. *, Feng, C., Quinn, P. C., Ding, H., Li, J., Liu, Y., & Lee, K.* (2014). Do individuals with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder scan faces differently? A new multi-method look at an existing controversy. Autism Research, 7, 72-83. doi: 10.1002/aur.1340

Yi, L.*, Fan, Y., Joseph, L., Huang, D., Wang, X., Li, J., & Zou, X. (2014). Event-based perspective memory in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: The role of executive function. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 8, 654-660. doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2014.03.005

Yi, L.*, Pan, J., Fan, Y., Zou, X., Wang, X., & Lee, K.* (2013). Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder are more trusting than typically developing children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 116, 755-761. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2013.05.005

Yi, L.*, Fan, Y., Quinn, P. C., Feng, C., Huang, D., Li, J., Mao, G., & Lee, K.* (2013). Abnormality in face scanning by children with Autism Spectrum Disorder is limited to the eye region: Evidence from multi-method analyses of eye tracking data. Journal of Vision, 13, 1–13. doi:10.1167/13.10.5

Yi, L.*, Fan, Y., Zhao, J., Huang, D., Li, Y., & Zou, X. (2013). Atypical understanding of mental terms in Chinese-speaking children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 7, 1411-1417. doi: 10.1016/j.rasd.2013.08.009