Wai Ting Siok, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience

Dr. Siok received her Ph.D. in Psychology and Education from the University of Hong Kong's Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences in 2001. After a two-year postdoctoral training at Stanford University Psychology Department and the Stanford Institute of Reading and Learning, Dr. Siok began her work in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Hong Kong in 2004. Dr. Siok's research focuses on bilingualism, language development and language neuroscience. Her ongoing research is aimed at determining the neural mechanisms that underlie reading in normal and dyslexic children. She has published a lot of papers in prestigious journals, including Nature, PNAS and Current Biology.

Selected Publications:

  1. Ansaldo, U., Matthews, S. J., Tan, L. H., & Siok, W. T. (2015). Neural basis for processing hidden complexity indexed by small and finite clauses in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 33, 118-127.
  2. Chen, H., Xia, J., Zhou, Y., Gao, Y., Wang, G., Xu, J., Huen, M. S. Y., Siok, W. T., Jiang, Y., Tan L. H., & Sun, Y. (2015). Association study of developmental dyslexia candidate genes DCDC2 and KIAA0319 in Chinese population. Neuropsychiatric Genetics, 16:7.
  3. Wang, W., Zhou, Y., Gao, Y., Chen, H., Xia, J., Xu, J., Huen, M. S. Y., Siok, W. T., Jiang, Y., Tan, L. H., Sun, Y. (in press). Association of specific language impairment candidate genes CMIP and ATP2C2 with developmental dyslexia in Chinese population. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 33, 163-171.
  4. Xu, M., Yang, J., Siok, W. T., & Tan, L. H. (2015). Atypical lateralization of phonological working memory in developmental dyslexia. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 33, 67-77.
  5. Sun, Y., Gao, Y., Zhou, Y., Chen, H., Wang, G., Xu, J., Xia, J., Huen, M. S. Y., Siok, W. T., Jiang, Y., Tan, L. H. (2014). Association study of developmental dyslexia candidate genes DCDC2 and KIAA0319 in Chinese population. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics, 165, 627-634.
  6. Chen, H., Wang, G., Xia, J., Zhou, Y., Gao, Y., Xu, J., Huen, M. S. Y., Siok, W. T., Jiang, Y., Tan, L. H., Syn, Y. (2014). Stuttering candidate genes DRD2 but not SLC6A3 is associated with developmental dyslexia in Chinese population. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 10:29.
  7. Tan, L.H., Xu, M, Chang, C.Q., Siok, W. T. (2013). China’s language input system in the digital age affects children’s reading development. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 110, 1119-23.
  8. Qiu, D., Tan, L. H., Siok, W. T., Zhou, K., Khong, P. L. (2011). Lateralization of the arcuate fasciculus and its differential correlation with reading ability between young learners and experienced readers: A diffusion tensor tractography study in a chinese cohort. Human Brain Mapping.
  9. Tan, L. H., Chen, L., Yip, V., Chan, A. H. D., Yang, J., Gao, J. H., & Siok, W. T. (2011). Activity levels in the left hemisphere caudate–fusiform circuit predict how well a second language will be learned. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108, 2540-2544.
  10. Siok, W. T., Spinks, J. A., Jin, Z., & Tan, L. H. (2009). Developmental dyslexia is characterized by the co-existence of visuospatial and phonological disorders in Chinese children. Current Biology, 19, 890-892.
  11. Siok, W. T., Kay, P., Wang, W. S. Y., Chan, A. H. D., Chen, L., Luke, K. K., & Tan, L. H. (2009). Language regions of brain are operative in color perception. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106, 8140-8145.
  12. Siok, W. T., Niu, Z. D., J. Z., Perfetti, C. A., & Tan, L. H. (2008). A structural–functional basis for dyslexia in the cortex of Chinese readers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105, 5561-5566.
  13. Hoeft, H., Meyler, A., Hernandez, A., Juel, C., Taylor-Hill, H., Martindale, J. L., McMillon, G., Kolchugina, G., Black, J. M., Faizi, A., Deutsch, G. K., Siok, W. T., Reiss, A. L., Whitfield-Gabrieli, S., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2007). Functional and morphometric brain dissociation between dyslexia and reading ability. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104, 4234-4239.
  14. Hoeft, F., Hernandez, A., McMillon,G., Taylor-Hill, H., Martindale, J. L., Meyler, A., Keller, T. A., Siok, W. T., Deutsch, G. K., Just, M. A., Whitfield-Gabrieli, S., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2006). Neural basis of dyslexia: A comparison between dyslexic and nondyslexic children equated for reading ability. Journal of Neuroscience, 26, 10700 –10708.
  15. Perfetti, C. A., Tan, L. H., & Siok, W. T. (2006). Brain-behavior relations in reading and dyslexia: Implications of Chinese results. Brain and Language, 98, 344-346.
  16. Tan, L.H. & Siok, W. T.(2006). The reading center of Chinese users’ brain. In P. Li, L.H. Tan, E. Bates, & O. Tzeng (eds.), The Handbook of East Asian Psycholinguistics, Volume 1: Chinese (pp. 358-371). Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. (Reviewed by other authors of the same volume).
  17. Tan, L. H., Spinks, J. A., Eden, G., Perfetti, C. A., & Siok, W. T. (2005). Reading depends on writing, in Chinese. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102, 8781-8785.
  18. Deutsch, G. K., Dougherty, R. F., Bammer, R., Siok, W. T., Gabrieli, J. D. E., & Wandell, B. (2005). Children’s reading performance is correlated with white matter structure measured by diffusion tensor imaging. Cortex, 41, 3, 354-363.
  19. Siok, W. T., Perfetti, C. A., Jin, Z., & Tan, L. H. (2004). Biological abnormality of impaired reading constrained by culture: Evidence from Chinese. Nature, 431, 71-76.
  20. Siok, W. T., Jin, Z., Fletcher, P., & Tan, L. H. (2003). Distinct brain regions associated with syllable and phoneme. Human Brain Mapping, 18, 201-207.
  21. Tan, L. H., Spinks, J. A., Feng, C. M., Siok, W. T., Perfetti, C. A., Xiong, J., Fox, P. T., & Gao, J. H. (2003). Neural systems of second language reading are shaped by native language. Human Brain Mapping, 18, 158-166.
  22. Siok, W. T., & Fletcher, P. (2001). The role of phonological awareness and visual-orthographic skills in Chinese reading acquisition. Developmental Psychology, 37, 886-899.