PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Huihui Zhang

Huihui Zhang is a researcher whose work at Peking University's Institute for Artificial Intelligence aims to uncover neural mechanisms of human intelligence and to develop brain-inspired AI algorithms. She earned an engineering bachelor's degree at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications in 2010, a science master's at Peking University in 2013 and a psychology PhD at the University of Sydney in 2019. From 2019 to 2024, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Peking University's School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, while her studies from 2012 to 2025 examined cross-modal timing, auditory-rate perception, emotional speech and the neural mechanisms of serial dependence in perception and decision-making. As of October 2026, she is an assistant researcher at Peking University's Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

Timeline

  1. 2010

    An engineering degree

    She earns a bachelor's degree in engineering from the School of Information and Communication Engineering at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications in 2010.

  2. 2012

    Cross-modal timing and apparent motion

    In November 2012, with Lihan Chen and Xiaolin Zhou, she coauthors a study showing that adapting to visual or auditory time intervals modulates visual apparent-motion perception, suggesting an amodal representation for sub-second timing across modalities in a temporal pacemaker framework.

  3. 2013–2019

    A master's and a psychology PhD

    She earns a master's degree in science from Peking University's Department of Psychology in 2013 and completes a PhD at the University of Sydney's School of Psychology in 2019.

  4. 2019–2024

    Postdoctoral research at PKU

    From 2019 to 2024, she works as a postdoctoral researcher at Peking University's School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences.

  5. 2020

    Auditory rate and choice biases

    In 2020, she coauthors a study of auditory-rate reproduction that identifies central tendency and serial dependence, and separates stimulus-linked perceptual effects from response-linked postperceptual effects. Another 2020 study examines how attractive perceptual choices and repulsive motor responses shape individual differences in serial dependence.

  6. 2023

    Neural reactivations and serial bias

    In 2023, her PLOS Biology study shows that past and present information shifts neural representations of current-trial features and modulates serial-bias behavior.

  7. 2024–2025

    Speech emotion and decision reactivation

    A 2024 study establishes serial dependence for emotion processing in speech and introduces a methodology to disentangle perceptual from post-perceptual processes. In 2025, she coauthors a PLOS Biology study showing that past decisions shape sensory encoding and decision-making, with these effects arising in sensory and prefrontal cortex, respectively.

  8. As of October 2026

    Assistant researcher at PKU

    As of October 2026, she is an assistant researcher at Peking University's Institute for Artificial Intelligence, where her work aims to uncover fundamental principles and neural mechanisms of human intelligence and to develop brain-inspired AI algorithms.

Career

  1. Since 2019Peking UniversityPostdoctoral researcher

Education

  1. 2019University of SydneyPhD
  2. 2013Peking UniversityMaster's degree in science
  3. 2010Beijing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsBachelor's degree in engineering

From the biography.

  1. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes Peking University. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Peking University. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. Companies supply the most prior-work hires at 7 of the 9 frontier AI labsIncludes Peking University. Our estimates of the organizations where 550 people worked directly before joining 9 frontier AI labs across 620 career transitions, comparing the main feeder organizations per lab.
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Peking University. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Huihui Zhang -北京大学人工智能研究院 ai.pku.edu.cn. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. Adaptation to visual or auditory time intervals modulates the perception of visual apparent motion frontiersin.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. Frontiers Article Alert | Neuroscience | Wednesday, 7 November 2012 frontiersin.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. Auditory Rate Perception Displays a Positive Serial Dependence dspace.stir.ac.uk. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. Individual difference in serial dependence results from opposite influences of perceptual choices and motor responses ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. Feature-specific reactivations of past information shift current neural encoding thereby mediating serial bias behaviors journals.plos.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. Opposing serial dependencies revealed for sequences of auditory emotional stimuli ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Checked 22 October 2026.
  8. Reactivation of previous decisions repulsively biases sensory encoding but attractively biases decision-making journals.plos.org. Checked 22 October 2026.