I received my Ph.D. from the College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Science at Zhejiang University and am recognized as a Category C talent in the Shenzhen "Pengcheng Peacock Program." My research interests focus on the cognitive functions of neural oscillations, including their dynamic organization, physiological origins (brain-body interaction), and their role in fundamental cognitive processes such as auditory perception and speech processing, as well as applications in brain disorders. I primarily use fMRI, EEG, and MEG in my work.
In recent years, I have published as first author, co-first author, or corresponding author in leading international journals such as PLOS Biology, Schizophrenia Bulletin, NeuroImage, Cerebral Cortex, and Human Brain Mapping. Additionally, I have served as a reviewer for peer-review journals including Brain, Molecular Psychiatry, NeuroImage, Psychological Medicine, Cerebral Cortex, and Human Brain Mapping.
ACEDEMIC POSITIONS
August 2021 - Present Shenzhen University, School of Psychology, Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Sciences, Assistant Professor, Master's Supervisor
May 2016 - September 2017 Zhejiang University, School of Medicine, Mental Health Center, Research Assistant, Supervisor: Georg Northoff
September 2015 - May 2016 Peking University, School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Research Assistant, Supervisor: Huan Luo
EDUCATION
September 2017 - June 2021 Zhejiang University, College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Science, Ph.D. in Electronic Information Technology and Instruments, Supervisor: Nai Ding
September 2012 - June 2015 Hangzhou Normal University, School of Education, M.Ed. in Clinical Cognitive Neuroscience, Supervisor: Xuchu Weng, Co-supervisor: Georg Northoff
September 2008 - June 2012 Hangzhou Dianzi University, School of Computer Science, B.Eng. in Network Engineering
HONORS & AWARDS
2018 Zhejiang University Ph.D. Academic Rising Star Program
2019 CSC Joint Ph.D. Scholarship (China Scholarship Council)
GRANTS
2023-2025 National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Youth Project (No. 32201129), "Physiological Mechanisms and Dynamic Functions of global Brain Signals: A Joint fMRI and MEG Study," Principal Investigator.
2023-2025 Shenzhen University New Talent Research Startup Project, "Multimodal Study on the Dynamic Characteristics and Physiological Origins of Whole-Brain Activity", Principal Investigator.
2022 – 2024 Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission, General Program (No. 20220811094132001), "Global Dynamics of the Neural Activity, a fMRI Study", Principal Investigator.
2018 - 2021 NSFC General Project (No. 31771248), "Effects of Attention and Learning on Neural Processing of Continuous Speech", Participant.
2013 - 2016 NSFC General Project (No. 31271195), "Cognitive Neural Mechanisms of Abnormal Future Self-Projection in Depression", Participant.
PUBLICATIONS
Northoff, G #., Zilio, F., & Zhang, J #. (2024). Beyond task response–pre-stimulus activity modulates contents of consciousness. Physics of life reviews.
Hu, Y. T., Hu, X. W., Han, J. F., Zhang, J. F., Wang, Y. Y., Wolff, A., ... & Northoff, G. (2024). Motor cortex repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in major depressive disorder-A preliminary randomized controlled clinical trial. Journal of Affective Disorders, 344, 169-175.
Goheen, J., Anderson, J. A., Zhang, J., & Northoff, G. (2023). From lung to brain: respiration modulates neural and mental activity. Neuroscience Bulletin, 39(10), 1577-1590.
Zhang, J1., Liu, D. Q1., Qian, S., Qu, X., Zhang, P., Ding, N., & Zang, Y. F. (2023). The neural correlates of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation: a multimodal resting-state MEG and fMRI–EEG study. Cerebral Cortex, 33(4), 1119-1129.
Zhang, Y1., Zhang, J1., Xie, M., Ding, N., Zhang, Y., & Qin, P. (2023). Dual interaction between heartbeat-evoked responses and stimuli. NeuroImage, 266, 119817.
Zhang, J1,#., & Northoff, G1,#. (2022). Beyond noise to function: reframing the global brain activity and its dynamic topography. Communications Biology, 5(1), 1350.
Wolff, A., Gomez-Pilar, J., Zhang, J., Choueiry, J., de la Salle, S., Knott, V., & Northoff, G. (2022). It’s in the timing: reduced temporal precision in neural activity of schizophrenia. Cerebral Cortex, 32(16), 3441-3456.
Zhang, X., Guan, Q., Li, Y., Zhang, J., Zhu, W., Luo, Y., Zhang, H., & Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (2022). Aberrant Cross-Tissue Functional Connectivity in Alzheimer's Disease: Static, Dynamic, and Directional Properties. Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD, 88(1), 273–290.
Wainio-Theberge, S., Wolff, A., Gomez-Pilar, J., Zhang, J., & Northoff, G. (2022). Variability and task-responsiveness of electrophysiological dynamics: Scale-free stability and oscillatory flexibility. NeuroImage, 256, 119245.
Hua, J., Wolff, A., Zhang, J., Yao, L., Zang, Y., Luo, J., ... & Northoff, G. (2022). Alpha and theta peak frequency track on-and off-thoughts. Communications Biology, 5(1), 209.
Lu, X1., Zhang, J. F1., Gu, F., Zhang, H. X., Zhang, M., Song, R. Z., ... & Northoff, G. (2022). Altered task modulation of global signal topography in the default-mode network of unmedicated major depressive disorder. Journal of affective disorders, 297, 53-61.
Hu, Y. T., Hu, X. W., Han, J. F., Zhang, J. F., Wang, Y. Y., Wolff, A., ... & Northoff, G. (2021). Childhood trauma mediates repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation efficacy in major depressive disorder. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 271(7), 1255-1263.
Wang, Y., Hu, X., Han, J., Scalabrini, A., Hu, Y., Hu, Z., ... Zhang, J#& Northoff, G#. (2021). Time is of essence-Abnormal time perspectives mediate the impact of childhood trauma on depression severity. Journal of psychiatric research, 137, 534-541.
Zhang, J., Huang, Z., Tumati, S., & Northoff, G. (2020). Rest-task modulation of fMRI-derived global signal topography is mediated by transient coactivation patterns. PLoS biology, 18(7), e3000733.
Tanabe, S., Huang, Z., Zhang, J., Chen, Y., Fogel, S., Doyon, J., Wu, J., Xu, J., Zhang, J., Qin, P., Wu, X., Mao, Y., Mashour, G. A., Hudetz, A. G., & Northoff, G. (2020). Altered Global Brain Signal during Physiologic, Pharmacologic, and Pathologic States of Unconsciousness in Humans and Rats. Anesthesiology, 132(6), 1392–1406.
Gao, Y1., Zhang, J1., & Wang, Q. (2020). Robust neural tracking of linguistic units relates to distractor suppression. The European journal of neuroscience, 51(2), 641–650.
Duncan, N. W., Zhang, J., Northoff, G., & Weng, X. (2019). Investigating GABA concentrations measured with macromolecule suppressed and unsuppressed MEGA-PRESS MR spectroscopy and their relationship with BOLD responses in the occipital cortex. Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI, 50(4), 1285–1294.
Zhang, J1., Magioncalda, P1., Huang, Z., Tan, Z., Hu, X., Hu, Z., Conio, B., Amore, M., Inglese, M., Martino, M1., & Northoff, G. (2019). Altered Global Signal Topography and Its Different Regional Localization in Motor Cortex and Hippocampus in Mania and Depression. Schizophrenia bulletin, 45(4), 902–910.
Zou, J., Feng, J., Xu, T., Jin, P., Luo, C., Zhang, J., Pan, X., Chen, F., Zheng, J., & Ding, N. (2019). Auditory and language contributions to neural encoding of speech features in noisy environments. NeuroImage, 192, 66–75.
Wang, Y1., Zhang, J1., Zou, J., Luo, H., & Ding, N. (2019). Prior Knowledge Guides Speech Segregation in Human Auditory Cortex. Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 29(4), 1561–1571.
Huang, Z., Zhang, J., Wu, J., Liu, X., Xu, J., Zhang, J., Qin, P., Dai, R., Yang, Z., Mao, Y., Hudetz, A. G., & Northoff, G. (2018). Disrupted neural variability during propofol-induced sedation and unconsciousness. Human brain mapping, 39(11), 4533–4544.
Zhang, J1., Huang, Z1., Chen, Y1., Zhang, J., Ghinda, D., Nikolova, Y., Wu, J., Xu, J., Bai, W., Mao, Y., Yang, Z., Duncan, N., Qin, P., Wang, H., Chen, B., Weng, X., & Northoff, G. (2018). Breakdown in the temporal and spatial organization of spontaneous brain activity during general anesthesia. Human brain mapping, 39(5), 2035–2046.
Ding, N., Pan, X., Luo, C., Su, N., Zhang, W., & Zhang, J. (2018). Attention Is Required for Knowledge-Based Sequential Grouping: Insights from the Integration of Syllables into Words. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 38(5), 1178–1188.
Huang, Z., Zhang, J., Wu, J., Qin, P., Wu, X., Wang, Z., Dai, R., Li, Y., Liang, W., Mao, Y., Yang, Z., Zhang, J., Wolff, A., & Northoff, G. (2016). Decoupled temporal variability and signal synchronization of spontaneous brain activity in loss of consciousness: An fMRI study in anesthesia. NeuroImage, 124(Pt A), 693–703.
Huang, Z., Zhang, J., Longtin, A., Dumont, G., Duncan, N. W., Pokorny, J., Qin, P., Dai, R., Ferri, F., Weng, X., & Northoff, G. (2017). Is There a Nonadditive Interaction Between Spontaneous and Evoked Activity? Phase-Dependence and Its Relation to the Temporal Structure of Scale-Free Brain Activity. Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 27(2), 1037–1059.
Qin, P., Wu, X., Huang, Z., Duncan, N. W., Tang, W., Wolff, A., Hu, J., Gao, L., Jin, Y., Wu, X., Zhang, J., Lu, L., Wu, C., Qu, X., Mao, Y., Weng, X., Zhang, J., & Northoff, G. (2015). How are different neural networks related to consciousness?. Annals of neurology, 78(4), 594–605.
Huang, Z., Davis, H. H., IV, Yue, Q., Wiebking, C., Duncan, N. W., Zhang, J., Wagner, N. F., Wolff, A., & Northoff, G. (2015). Increase in glutamate/glutamine concentration in the medial prefrontal cortex during mental imagery: A combined functional mrs and fMRI study. Human brain mapping, 36(8), 3204–3212.
Huang, Z., Wang, Z., Zhang, J., Dai, R., Wu, J., Li, Y., Liang, W., Mao, Y., Yang, Z., Holland, G., Zhang, J., & Northoff, G. (2014). Altered temporal variance and neural synchronization of spontaneous brain activity in anesthesia. Human brain mapping, 35(11), 5368–5378.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
I teach several courses in our Psychology Department. For undergraduates, I lead "Experimental Psychology" and "Introduction to R Software". At the graduate level, I offer courses on "Language and Cognition", "Advanced Research Methods in Contemporary Psychology", "Topics in Basic Psychology", and "Introduction to Magnetoencephalography (MEG) Data Analysis".
In my laboratory, I'm always looking to recruit motivated undergraduate and master's students. I welcome those who are passionate about pursuing the interdisciplinary field of brain science. My lab provides extensive support for students to acquire a diverse range of methods and techniques. I also encourage my students to explore research areas and directions that align with their personal interests, fostering individual growth within our shared field of study. If you're interested in joining my lab, please send your CV to me at zhangjianfeng@szu.edu.cn.
Additionally, I'm continuously seeking postdoctoral researchers to join my team. I offer competitive compensation packages for these positions. For more detailed information, please visit https://hr.szu.edu.cn/info/1024/7761.htm. If you're interested in a postdoctoral position, feel free to contact me directly at zhangjianfeng@szu.edu.cn.
