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Jin Wang

Jin Wang

Assistant Professor

Research and Teaching Interests

My research focuses on understanding the neural mechanism of various linguistic development in children from infancy to elementary school using fMRI. I teach the Education and Neuroscience (a graduate seminar) and the Language, Literacy, and Academic Development: Educational Considerations for Multilingual Learners (an undergraduate class) that students of all majors are welcome to enroll.

Biography

Jin Wang joins the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies as an assistant professor of education in 2024 and joint appointed by the Department of Psychology, Developmental Psychology Area in 2026. Her research employs a combination of behavioral assessments and neuroimaging techniques (fMRI, MRI, and DTI), using both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs, to examine individual differences in the development of the linguistic brain and its influence on academic achievement. Her research goal is to construct a neurocognitive model that interprets the underlying mechanisms of language (i.e., phonological, semantic, and syntactic) development during children’s first ten years of life and how these various linguistic processes are associated with reading and math skills.

Curriculum Vitae

Representative Publications

  1. Compton, A. B., Banaszkiewicz, A., Wang, J., Booth, J. R. The relation of home literacy environment to brain specialization for phonological and semantic processing. (accepted by Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, pre-registration https://osf.io/btgm7 and https://osf.io/prhbg).
  2. Mathur, A., Wang, J., and Booth, J. R., Does connectivity between frontotemporal areas at age 7 predict specialization for phonological and semantic processing at age 9? (accepted in Sept. 2025, by Imaging Neuroscience, pre-registration https://osf.io/zae62/).
  3. Wang, J., Booth, J. R. (2025). Development and disorders of phonological processing in the brain. Book chapter in Encyclopedia of Human Brain – Language, edited by Binder, J. Elsevier, pages 326-241, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-820480-1.00119-4
  4. Wang, J., Wagley, N., Rice, M., Gaab, N., Booth, J. R. (2024). Semantic and syntactic specialization in 9- to 10-year-old children during auditory sentence processing. Scientific Report, 14, 26965. (Pre-registration https://osf.io/gm9uj/).
  5. Wang, J., Turesky, T., Loh, M., Barbera, J., Hue, V., Escalantea, E., Medinaa, A., Zuk, J., Gaab, N. (2024). Left-lateralization of activation in the superior temporal gyrus during speech perception in sleeping infants was associated with subsequent language skills in kindergarten: a passive-listening task-fMRI study. Brain and Language, 257, 105461.
  6. Dębska, A., Wang, J., Dzięgiel-Fivet, G., Chyl, K., Wójcik, M., Jednoróg, K, Booth, J. R. (2023). The development of orthography and phonology coupling in ventral occipitotemporal cortex and its relation to reading. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 153(2), 293–306.
  7. Wang, J., & Joanisse, M. F., Booth, J. R. (2023). Reading skill strengthens the functional connectivity between ventral occipitotemporal cortex and superior temporal gyrus during an auditory phonological awareness task in developing children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 1-15.
  8. Wang, J., Tong, F., Joanisse, M. F., Booth, J. R. (2023). A sculpting effect of reading on later representational quality of phonology revealed by multi-voxel pattern analysis in young children. Brain and Language, 239, 105252.
  9. Wang, J., Yamasaki, B. L., Booth, J. R. (2023). Phonological and semantic specialization in 9- to 10-year-old children during auditory word processing. Neurobiology of Language, 1-28. (Pre-registration at https://osf.io/5p3es/)
  10. Wang, J., Lytle, M.N., & Booth, J.R. (2022). A longitudinal neuroimaging dataset on language processing in children median ages 6, 7.5, and 9 years old. Scientific Data, 9(1), 1-13.
  11. Wang, J., Wagley, N., Rice, M. L., & Booth, J. R. (2021). Semantic and syntactic specialization during auditory sentence processing in 7-8-year-old children. Cortex, 145, 169-186. (Registered Report at https://osf.io/8jqc7/)
  12. Wang, J., Yamasaki, B. L., Weiss, Y., & Booth, J. R. (2021). Both frontal and temporal cortex exhibit phonological and semantic specialization during spoken language processing in 7- to 8-year-old children. Human Brain Mapping,42 (11), 3534-3546.
  13. Wang, J., Pines, J., Joanisse, M., & Booth, J. R. (2021). Reciprocal relations between reading skill and the neural basis of phonological awareness in 7-to 9-year-old children. NeuroImage, 236, 118083.
  14. Wang, J., Joanisse, M. F., & Booth, J. R. (2021). Letter fluency in 7-8-year-old children is related to the anterior, but not posterior, ventral occipito-temporal cortex during a phonological awareness task. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 47, 100898.
  15. Wang, J., Joanisse, M. F., & Booth, J. R. (2020). Neural representations of phonology in temporal cortex scaffold longitudinal reading gains in 5-to 7-year-old children. NeuroImage, 207, 116359.
  16. Wang, J., Rice, M. L., & Booth, J. R. (2020). Syntactic and semantic specialization and integration in 5-to 6-year-old children during auditory sentence processing. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 32(1), 36-49.
  17. Wang J., Deng Y., & Booth, J. R. (2019). Automatic semantic influence on early visual word recognition in the ventral occipito-temporal cortex. Neuropsychologia, 133, 107188.
  18. Wang, J., Joanisse, M. F., & Booth, J. R. (2018). Reading skill related to left ventral occipitotemporal cortex during a phonological awareness task in 5- to 6-year old children. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 30, 116-122.
  19. Cao, F., Yan, X., Wang, Z., Liu, Y., Wang, J., Spray, G. J., & Deng, Y. (2017). Neural signatures of phonological deficits in Chinese developmental dyslexia. NeuroImage, 146: 301-311.
  20. Deng, Y., Wu, Q., Wang, J., Feng, L., & Xiao, Q. (2016). Event-related potentials revealed an early and independent activation of grammatical information. Neuroscience Letters, 631: 19-23.
  21. Wang, J., Tang, H., & Deng, Y. (2016). Novel symbol learning-induced Stroop effect: evidence for a strategy-based, utility learning model. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 45(5), 1161-1171.
  22. Wang J., & Deng Y. (2014). The effect of language system on different numerical systems in human cognition. Progress in Psychological Science, 22(6): 926-933. (In Chinese)