The Language and Cognition Laboratory (LCL) hosted by the Department of Linguistics and Translation at City University of Hong Kong offers state-of-the-art research facilities for studying the behavioural, cognitive, and neural underpinnings of language and language-related abilities in humans. With a strong focus on real-time language processing, the LCL is geared toward measurements with high temporal precision that enable the tracking and disentangling of the dynamic dance of cognitive and neural processes that ultimately give rise to our linguistic abilities. It supports research in the department ranging from child language acquisition to adult second-language learning, from single-language studies in Cantonese, English, and Mandarin (amongst others) to cross-linguistic and comparative studies, and from self-paced reading and speech recordings to psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics.
Behaviour and Eye Tracking
The lab is equipped with two research-dedicated stimulus presentation PCs, the latest versions of stimulus presentation software (E-Prime, PsychoPy, and Experiment Builder), and various timing-sensitive response peripherals to ensure precise millisecond timing in all experiments run in the lab. (1) A classic eye tracker, EyeLink 1000 (SR Research Ltd., Canada), is available in the lab for recording eye movement data (including gaze and pupil dilation) during reading and other language-related tasks with a sampling rate of 1000 Hz. (2) An advanced eye tracker, EyeLink Portable DUO (SR Research Ltd., Canada), has also been launched, with head-fixed and free-movement options and the highest sampling rate of up to 2000 Hz.
Electroencephalography (EEG)
A new EEG recording system (eego, ANT Neuro Ltd.) is available in the lab for recording electrical potentials from participants’ scalps while they engage in a variety of linguistic tasks. Research-dedicated data recording PCs are equipped with the latest versions of EEG recording software to ensure precise millisecond timing. The same recording system offers the possibility to perform 128-/64-channel hyperscanning (simultaneous EEG recordings) with 2 participants to observe how their brains synchronize and desynchronize during conversation and other linguistic and non-linguistic interactions. An electrode digitizer is available in the lab to enable precise recordings of the position of each electrode relative to the scalp of participants. This is designed to facilitate and improve source reconstruction analyses performed on the recorded EEG data. Another 64-channel Neuroscan EEG system (Quick-Caps in combination with NuAmps amplifiers) is available in the lab for lab training and pilot experiments that require fewer electrodes and shorter preparation time.
Language and Cognition Lab News Updates
2025-07-17 The EEG workshop was successfully held. The new EEG system (eego mylab with waveguard original 128-channel and 64-channel caps) was delivered and finished installation/testing/training at L & C Lab. Cheers!
2025-07-01 Congrats to Ying Fu (MA student), Hao Huang (MA student), and Jun Qin (PhD student) for successfully finishing their first ERP and eye-tracking experiments. Cheers!
2025-06-10 Delegates Prof. Aijun Li, Prof. Feng Wang, Prof. Hua Zhang, Prof. Quan Wan, Prof. Yebing Zhou, Prof. Yingyi Luo, and Prof. Yongwei Zhang, from the Key Laboratory of Linguistics of the Chinese Academy of Social Science, visited our lab.
2024-12-04 CityU's Space Audit Team visited our lab.
2024-05-06 Happy graduation to Dr. Yushu Wu, who will serve as a postdoctoral fellow at CityUHK. Cheers!
2024-02-29 Congrats to Dr. Bertie Bing Li for her move to Taiwan as a postdoctoral scientist at the National Health Research Institutes. Cheers!
2023-11-10 Eye-tracking and ERP Training Workshop (ERP session) was successfully held.
2023-11-09 Eye-tracking and ERP Training Workshop (Eye-tracking session) was successfully held.
2023-11-08 Prof. Edward A. Gibson from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) visited our lab.
2022-06-15 Happy graduation to Dr. Bertie Bing Li, who will serve as a postdoctoral fellow at CityUHK. Cheers!
2022-01-07 Happy graduation to Dr. Wenting Xue, who will usher at HUST (Huazhong University of Science and Technology, QS #319) as a lecturer in Wuhan. Cheers!
2021-05-28 Online Eye-tracking Workshop (Part III: Data Collection and Visualisation by Data Viewer)
2021-05-27 Online Eye-tracking Workshop (Part I: Installation and Hardware Introduction of Eye-tracker Portable DUO; Part II: Experiment Design by Experiment Builder)
2020-08-24 Happy graduation to Dr. Xianhe Li, who will work at Fudan University as a lecturer in Shanghai (QS #30). Cheers!
2017-05-17 Happy graduation to Dr. Nannan Zhou, who will serve as a postdoctoral fellow at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Cheers!
Enquiry: LTenquiry@cityu.edu.hk