Yunzhe Liu
2016 - 2020 Ph.D. Computational Neuroscience, University College London
2013 - 2016 M.S. Cognitive Neuroscience, Beijing Normal University
2021 - present Principal Investigator, Chinese Institute for Brain Research & Beijing Normal University
2020 - 2021 Postdoc, University of Oxford
How can we learn so much from so little? How can we make flexible decisions in novel context with little experience? This ability of efficient learning and inference is at the core of human intelligence. We study the neural and computational basis of its underlying cognitive process, through an integrative and cross-species approach. We combine non-invasive neuroimaging technique (fMRI, M/EEG) and invasive electrophysiology recording in both human and animals, coupled with carefully crafted cognitive tasks that enabling precise characterisation of behaviour.
2021 Early Career Investigator Award in Neuroimaging Techniques, UCL, UK
2020 Early Career Neuroscience Prize, UCL, UK
2020 Jon Driver Prize, UCL, UK
2019 Governmental award for outstanding PhD students abroad, China
For full publications, please see: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=JTvHJzUAAAAJ
For accompanying code and model, please see: https://github.com/YunzheLiu
1. Qu, Y., Ou, J., Pang, L., Wu, S., Luo, Y., Behrens, T., & Liu, Y*. (2026). Development of non-spatial grid-like neural codes tracks inference and intelligence. Cell, 189, 1-16
2. He, L., Wang, X., Zhang, J., Xiao, Z., Hu, X., Schwartenbeck, P., Bakermans, J., Behrens, T., & Liu, Y*. (2026). Human hippocampal ripples coordinate planning sequences and compositional representation in neocortex. Nature Neuroscience, online
3. Zhou, X., Wang, X., Hu, X., Wang, H., Zhang, J., Yu, Q., Xu, J., Xiao, Z., He. L., & Liu, Y*. (2026). Human hippocampal ripples prioritise model-based learning. Neuron, online
4. Chen, Z., Zheng, H., Zhou, J., Zheng, L., Lin, P., Wang, H., Busche, M., Behrens, T., Dolan, R., & Liu, Y*. (2026). Interpreting Human Sleep Activity Through Neural Contrastive Learning. Neuron , online
5. Xiao, Z., Wang, X., Zhang, J., Ou, J., He, L., Qu, Y., Hu, X., Behrens, T., & Liu, Y*. (2025). Human hippocampal ripples predict the alignment of experience to a grid-like schema. Neuron, 113(21), 3661-3672.
6. Liu, Y.*, Nour, M., Schuck, N., Behrens, T. E., Dolan, R. J. (2022) Decoding cognition from spontaneous neural activity. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 23, 204–214.
7. Liu, Y.*, Mattar, M., Behrens, T. E., Daw, N., Dolan, R.J. (2021) Experience replay is associated with efficient nonlocal learning. Science, 372(6544).
8. Liu, Y.*, Dolan, R. J., Kurth-Nelson, Z., Behrens, T. E. (2019) Human replay spontaneously reorganises experience. Cell, 178(3), 640-652.
9. Nour, M. #, Liu, Y. #, Arumuham, A., Kurth-Nelson, Z., Dolan, R. (2021) Impaired neural replay of inferred relational structure in schizophrenia. Cell, 184(16), 4315-4328.
10. Liu, Y., Lin, W., Li, W., Wang, X., Pan, X., Yan, X., Rutledge, R. Ma, Y. (2019) Oxytocin modulates social value representations in the amygdala. Nature Neuroscience, 22(4), 633.
