Prof. Xiaoqing HU

Associate Professor

Office: 6.62

Phone: (852) 3917-2291

Email: xiaoqinghu@hku.hk

EDUCATION

Ph.D. Northwestern University 2014
M.S. Northwestern University 2010
M. Education. Zhejiang Normal University 2009
B.S. Zhejiang University 2006

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Sleep: How sleep shapes our memories, emotions and mental wellness, and how to manipulate memory and emotion during sleep?
• Memory: How memories are acquired, updated, corrected, and retrieved, and how unwelcome memories can be controlled and forgotten?
• Social Learning: How we know about ourselves, how we acquire likes and dislikes, and how we learn from others?

For a full publication list see google scholar https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SxV9Em8AAAAJ&hl=en

Selected Publications

underline denotes trainee author(s), # denotes co-first author(s), * denotes corresponding author(s).
Xia, T.^*, Hu, CP, Türker, B., Musat, E.M., Naccache, L., Arnulf, I., Oudiette, D.^*, & Hu. X.^* (2026) How sleeping minds decide: State-specific reconfigurations of lexical decision-making. PLOS Computational Biology 22(2): e1014007. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1014007

Xia, T.^* & Hu, X.^* (2026). Memory editing during sleep: mechanisms, clinical applications, and technological innovations. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2025.07.010

Liu, J.^*, Chen, D., Xia, T., Zeng, S., Xue, G., & Hu, X.^* (2025). Slow-wave sleep and REM sleep differentially contribute to memory representational transformation. Communications Biology, https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.08.05.606592

Yao, Z., Tu, P., Wei, J., Zuo, X., & Hu, X.^* (2025). Modulating positive self-referential processing by 40 Hz tACS in individuals with subthreshold depression: A double-blind, sham-controlled study. Journal of Psychiatric Disorders, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2025.04.004

Zeng, S., Sit, H., Li, X., Bottary, R., Pace-Schott, E., Cunningham, T., Li, X.^*, Hu, X.^*(2025). Impaired emotional memory dissipation in insomnia disorder. Psychological Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291725101566

Chen, D., Xia, T., Yao, Z., Zhang, L., & Hu, X.^* (2024). Modulating social learning-induced evaluation updating during human sleep. npj Science of Learning, 9, 43, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-024-00255-5

Chen, D., Yao, Z., Liu, J., Wu, H., & Hu, X.^* (2024). Social conformity updates the neural representation of facial attractiveness. Communications Biology, 7, 1369, https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06791-5

Lin, X., Chen, D., Liu, J., Yao, Z., Xie, H., Anderson, M.^*, & Hu, X.^* (2024). Observing the suppression of individual aversive memories from conscious awareness. Cerebral Cortex, 34(6), bhae080, https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhae080

Varma, M. M. ^#, Zeng, S. ^#, Singh, L., Holmes, E. A., Huang, J., Chiu, M, H., & Hu, X.^* (2024). A systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental methods for modulating intrusive memories from lab-analogue trauma exposure in non-clinical population. Nature Human Behaviour, 8(10), 1968–1987, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01956-y

Xia, T., Chen, D., Zeng, S., Yao, Z., Liu, J., Qin, S., Paller, K.A., Torres-Platas, S. G., Antony, J.W., & Hu, X.^* (2024) Aversive memories can be weakened during human sleep via the reactivation of positive interfering memories.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(31), e2400678121, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2400678121

Zheng Q., Huang, Y., Mu, C., Hu, X.^*, & Lai, C. S.W.^* (2024). Selective modulation of fear memory in non-rapid eye movement sleep. Advanced Science, https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202400662

Liu, J., Xia, T., Chen, D., Yao, Z., Zhu, M., Antony, J. W., Lee, T.M.^*, & Hu, X.^* (2023). Item-specific neural representations during human sleep support long-term memory. PLOS Biology, 21(11): e3002399. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3002399

Varma, M. M.^#, Chen, D.^#, Lin, X., Aknin, L. B., & Hu, X.^* (2023). Prosocial behavior promotes positive emotion during the COVID-19 pandemic. Emotion, 23(2), 538-553. doi: 10.1037/emo0001077

Xia, T., Yao, Z., Guo, X., Liu, J., Chen, D., Liu, Q.^*, Paller, K.A., & Hu, X.^* (2023). Updating memories of unwanted emotions during human sleep. Current Biology, 33(2), 309-320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.12.004

Xie, H., Lin, X., Hu, W., & Hu, X.^* (2023). Emotion regulation promotes forgetting of negative social feedback: Behavioral and EEG evidence. Acta Psychologica Sinica 心理學報, 55(6), 905-919. https://journal.psych.ac.cn/xlxb/CN/10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.00905 [in Chinese]

Hu, X.^*, Cheng, L. Y., Chiu, M. H., & Paller, K.A. (2020). Promoting memory consolidation during sleep: A meta-analysis of targeted memory reactivation. Psychological Bulletin, 146(3), 218-244. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000223

Hu, X.^*, Bergström, Z.M., Gagnepain, P., & Anderson, M.C. (2017). Suppressing unwanted memories reduces their unintended influences. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26, 197-206. doi: 10.1177/0963721417689881

Hu, X.^*, Gawronski, B., & Balas, R. (2017). Propositional versus dual-process accounts of evaluative conditioning: I. The effects of co-occurrence and relational information on implicit and explicit evaluations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43, 17-32. doi: 10.1177/0146167216673351

Hu, X., Antony, J. W., Creery, J. D., Vargas, I. M., Bodenhausen, G. V., & Paller, K. A.^* (2015). Unlearning implicit social biases during sleep. Science, 348, 1013-1015. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa3841.

Hu, X.^*, Bergström, Z. M., Bodenhausen, G. V., & Rosenfeld, J. P. (2015). Suppressing unwanted autobiographical memories reduces their automatic influences: Evidence from electrophysiology and an implicit autobiographical memory test. Psychological Science, 26, 1098-1106. doi: 10.1177/0956797615575734.

RESEARCH LABORATORY

Social & Cognitive Neuroscience Lab