Benjamin Xu, Ph.D.

Investigator, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience

Benjamin Xu, Ph.D., serves as a researcher at the Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience. He earned his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh, USA, in 1997, and subsequently worked for many years at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States. During his tenure there, he held roles as a full-time scientist at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), Program Director at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) for the National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment (NCANDA); Scientific Advisor for the HBCD Research Program; and a member of the Steering Committee for the U.S. BRAIN Initiative. As an NIH researcher, Dr. Xu published numerous papers in areas such as cognitive neuroscience of language, human executive function and its impairments, and human brain neuroimaging. He made significant contributions to research on child brain development, alcohol and drug addiction, and the advancement of the U.S. BRAIN Initiative. In 2023, he received the Director’s Award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). At the end of 2023, he resigned from his position at the NIH.

Selected Publications:

  1. Volkow, ND, Gordon, JA, Bianchi, DW, Chiang, MF, Clayton, JA, Klein, WM, Koob, GF, Koroshetz, WJ, Pérez-Stable, EJ, Simoni,JM, Tromberg, BJ, Woychik, RP, Hommer, R, Spotts, EL, Xu, B, … (2024). The HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD): NIH collaboration to understand the impacts of prenatal and early life experiences on brain development, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101423
  2. Xu B, Sandrini M, Volochayev R, Awosika O, Wang W, Butman JA, Cohen LG (2020). Transcranial direct current stimulation facilitates response inhibition through dynamic modulation of the fronto-basal ganglia network. Brain Stimulation, 13; 96-104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2019.08.004
  3. Xu, B, LaBar, KS (2019). Advances in understanding addiction treatment and recovery. Sci. Adv. 5, eaaz659.
  4. Xu B, Sandrini M, Levy, S., Volochayev, R., Awosika O, Butman J, Pham, D. L., Cohen L.G. (2017). Lasting deficit in inhibitory control with mild traumatic brain injury. Scientific Reports, 7: 14902 DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-14867-y
  5. Wang, W.T., Xu, B. Butman, B.A. (2017). Improved SNR for combined TMS-fMRI: A support device for commercially available body array coil. Journal Neuroscience Methods, 289: 1-7.
  6. Xu B, Sandrini M, Wang W, Smith J, Sarlls J, Awosika O, Butman J, Horwitz, B., Cohen LG. (2016). PreSMA stimulation changes task-free functional connectivity in the fronto-basal-ganglia that correlates with response inhibition efficiency. Human Brain Mapping, 4, doi: 10.1002/hbm.23236.
  7. Sepeta, L.N., Berl, M.M., Wilke, M., You, X., Mehta, M., Xu, B., Inati, S., Dustin, I., Khan, O., Austermuehle, A., Theodore, W.H., Gaillard, W.D. (2016) Age-Dependent Mesial Temporal Lobe Lateralization in Language FMRI, Epilepsia, 57(1): 122-30. doi: 10.1111/epi.13258.
  8. Xu B, Levy S, Butman J, Pham D, Cohen LG, Sandrini M. (2015). Effect of foreknowledge on neural activity of primary "go" responses relates to response stopping and switching. Front Hum Neurosci. Feb 4;9:34. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00034.
  9. Lerner A, Bagic A, Simmons JM, Mari Z, Bonne O, Xu B, Kazuba D, Herscovitch P, Carson RE, Murphy DL, Drevets WC, Hallett M. (2012) Widespread abnormality of the γ-aminobutyric acid-ergic system in Tourette syndrome. Brain. 135(6):1926-36.
  10. Kim, K.K., Byun, E., Lee, S.K., Gaillard, W.D., Xu, B., Theodore, W.H. (2011) Verbal working memory of Korean–English bilinguals: An fMRI study, Journal of NeuroLinguistics, 24, 1- 13.
  11. Sehm, B., Perez, M. A., Xu, B., Hidler, J., and Cohen, L. G. (2010). Functional neuroanatomy of mirroring during a unimanual force generation task. Cerebral Cortex, 20:34-45.
  12. Schaefer, M., Xu, B., Giraux, P., Flor, H., and Cohen, L. G. (2009). Effects of different viewing perspectives on somatosensory activations during observation of touch. Human Brain Mapping.
  13. Floel, A., Garraux, G., Xu, B., Breitenstein, C., Knecht, S., Herscovitch, P., Cohen, L. G. (2008). Levodopa increases memory encoding and dopamine release in the striatum in the elderly. Neurobiology of Aging. 29: 267-279.
  14. Hidler, J., Hodics, T., Xu, B., Dobkin, B., Cohen, L. G. (2006). MR compatible force sensing system for real-time monitoring of wrist moments during fMRI testing. Journal of Neuroscience Methods. 155(2):300-7.
  15. Balsamo, L. M., Xu, B., Gaillard, W. D. (2006). Language lateralization and the role of the fusiform gyrus in semantic processing in young children. Neuroimage. 1;31(3):1306-14.
  16. Berl, M. M., Balsamo, L. M., Xu, B., Moore, E. N., Weinstein, S. L., Conry, J. A., Pearl, P. L., Sachs, B. C., Grandin, C. B., Frattali, C., Ritter, F. J., Sato, S., Theodore, W. H., Gaillard, W. D. (2005) Seizure focus affects regional language networks assessed by fMRI. Neurology. 22;65(10):1604-11.
  17. Gaillard, W. D., Balsamo, L., Xu, B., McKinney, C., Papero, P. H., Weinstein, S., Conry, J., Pearl, P. L., Sachs, B., Sato, S., Vezina, L. G., Frattali, C., Theodore, W. H. (2004). fMRI language task panel improves determination of language dominance. Neurology. 26;63(8):1403-8.
  18. Ahmad, Z., Balsamo, L. M., Sachs, B. C., Xu, B., Gaillard WD. (2003). Auditory comprehension of language in young children: neural networks identified with fMRI. Neurology. 2003 May 27;60(10):1598-605.
  19. Gaillard, W. D., Sachs, B. C., Whitnah, J. R., Ahmad, Z., Balsamo, L. M., Petrella, J. R., Braniecki, S. H., McKinney, C. M., Hunter, K., Xu, B., Grandin, C. B. (2003). Developmental Aspects of Language Processing: fMRI of Verbal Fluency in Children and Adults. Human Brain Mapping. 18, 176-185.
  20. Gaillard, W. D., Balsamo, L. M., Ibrahim, Z., Sachs, B. C., Xu, B. (2003). fMRI identifies regional specialization of neural networks for reading in young children. Neurology. 60, 94-100.
  21. Xu, B., Grafman, J., Gaillard, W., Spanaki, M., Ishii, K., Balsamo, L., Pugliese, M., Makala, M., Theodore, W. (2002). Neuroimaging Reveals Automatic Speech Coding During Perception of Written Word Meaning. NeuroImage. 17, 859-870.
  22. Balsamo, L. M., Xu, B., Grandin, C. B., Petrella, J. R., Braniecki, S. H., Elliott, T. K., Gaillard, W. D. (2002). A functional magnetic resonance imaging study of left hemisphere language dominance in children. Archives of Neurology, 59(7), 1168-74.
  23. Gaillard, W. D., Balsamo, L., Xu, B., Grandin, C. B., Braniecki, S. H., Papero, P. H., Weinstein, S., Conry, J., Pearl, P. L., Sachs, B., Sato, S., Jabbari, B., Vezina, L. G., Frattali, C., Theodore, W. H. (2002). Language dominance in partial epilepsy patients identified with an fMRI reading task. Neurology, 59, 256-265.
  24. Gaillard, W. D., Xu, B., Balsamo, L. M. (2002). Neuroimaging and Disorders of Communication. In: Disorders of Language Development (XXIII th Spectrum of Developmental Disabilities). York Press
  25. Xu, B., Grafman, J., Gaillard, W. D., Ishii, K., Vega-Bermudes, F., Pietrini, P., Reeves-tyer, P., DiCamillo, P., & Theodore, W. (2001). Evidence of Conjoint and Extended Neural Networks for the Computation of Speech Codes: The Neural Basis of Selective Impairment in Reading Words and Pseudowords. Cerebral Cortex. 11, 267-277.
  26. Gaillard, W.D., Grandin, C.B., Xu, B. (2001) Developmental Aspects of Pediatric fMRI: Considerations for Image Acquisition, Analysis, and Interpretation. Neuroimage, 13(2), 239-249.
  27. Gaillard, W. D., Pugliese, M., Grandin, M. D., Braniecki, M. A., Kondapaneni, B. A., Hunter, M. D., Xu, B., Petrella, M. D., Balsamo, L. M., Basso, G. (2001). Cortical localization of reading in normal children: A fMRI language study. Neurology, 57, 47-54.
  28. Xu, B., Grafman, J., Gaillard, W. D., Ishii, K., Balsamo, L., Spanaki, M., Pugliese, M., Kryjak, A., Liow, K., & Theodore, W. (1999). Functional coupling of phonological processes during the activation of word meaning: An fMRI study of visual word perception. Neuroimage, 9, 1081.
  29. Xu, B. & Perfetti, C. A. (1999). Nonstrategic subjective threshold effects in phonemic masking. Memory & Cognition, 27, 26-36.