Human Development & Behavioral Decision Making Lab

The HD-BDM Lab focuses on the study of human development and human decision-making process with rigorous scientific approaches.

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Team

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Principal Investigator Ph.D Students Master Students Research Assistants Alumni All
Xiaotian Wang
Professor,
PI of the HD-BDM Lab,
Director of Applied Psychology Programme at CUHK-SZ
Xiaotian Wang

Publications

Xiao, F, Wang, XT
October, 2025 In Lifespan Dev. Ment. Health
Adaptive Time Management A Life-History Framework Integrating Mental Time Travel, Mortality Awareness, and Anticipatory Decision-Making
Adaptive Time Management A Life-History Framework Integrating Mental Time Travel, Mortality Awareness, and Anticipatory Decision-Making

Adaptive time management is a newly developed life-history framework that integrates humans’ capacity for mental time travel with mortality awareness as a strategic process for time and resource allocation.
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Xiao, F, Peng, Q, Wang, XT
August, 2025 In Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
Intertemporal Meditation Regulates Time Perception and Emotions An Exploratory fNIRS Study
Intertemporal Meditation Regulates Time Perception and Emotions An Exploratory fNIRS Study

Mental time travel enables humans to project life episodes into the future, shaping present behavior through episodic future thinking.
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News

Good News | Professor Xiaotian Wang s Research Team Publishes in APA s Flagship Journal American Psychologist
On January 30, 2025, a study by Professor Xiaotian Wang’s team was published online in the prestigious journal American Psychologist (Impact Factor 12.3, 5-year Impact Factor 16.2). The first author of the paper is Zheng Liu, a Ph.D.
Nov 12, 2024 6 min read
Good News | Professor Xiaotian Wang s Research Team Publishes in APA s Flagship Journal American Psychologist
PhD Student Liu Zheng Wins Third Place at CUHK(SZ)-CUHK Joint Graduate Research Forum
On November 8th, PhD student Liu Zheng from our research group secured third place in the oral presentation at the CUHK(SZ)-CUHK Joint Graduate Research Forum. Liu’s presentation, titled “Registered Reports in Psychology across Scholarly Citations and Public Dissemination,” highlighted the lab’s latest findings and received widespread acclaim from attendees.
Nov 12, 2024 1 min read
PhD Student Liu Zheng Wins Third Place at CUHK(SZ)-CUHK Joint Graduate Research Forum
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Invited Talks

Professor Wang Xiaotian Delivers Keynote Speech at the Forum on Innovation in Psychological Science and Service to the Nation
On August 19–20, the Forum on Innovation in Psychological Science and Service to the Nation was successfully held in Jinan, Shandong.
Last updated on Aug 19, 2025
Professor Wang Xiaotian Delivers Keynote Speech at the Forum on Innovation in Psychological Science and Service to the Nation
Professor Wang Xiaotian – Curiosity as a Guiding Principle The 10th Anniversary Interview Series of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen)
Time passes swiftly. In 2024, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen) celebrates its 10th anniversary. In this moment of celebration, the faculty has launched a special series of interviews with key figures. Over the past decade, what changes and developments have taken place at the faculty? What are its goals and plans for the next decade? Let us follow the professors’ footsteps as we reflect on the past and look to the future. In this issue, we are honored to invite Professor Wang Xiaotian to share his thoughts and insights.
Last updated on Nov 25, 2024
Professor Wang Xiaotian – Curiosity as a Guiding Principle The 10th Anniversary Interview Series of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen)
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Funding & Projects

National Natural Science Foundation of Shenzhen
May 2022
Cognitive mechanisms, coping strategies, brain imaging detection and causal modeling of suicide risk Construction of domestic morms of suicide risk factors and guidelines for assessment and prevention
Chinese National Science Foundation
Jan 2020 – Dec 2023
Principle Investigator. Grant 31971025. Anticipatory Emotions as Information for Social Decision Making under Risk Examining Emotional and Cultural Mechanisms underlying Risky Decision Making in Public.
Shenzhen Research Institute of Big Data (SRIBD)
Jun 2019 – Jun 2021
Co-Principal Investigator. Internal Grant. Early Detection of Psychological Problems in University Student.
Chinese National Social Science Foundation
Jan 2016 – Jan 2021
Co-Investigator (PI for one sub-project). Grant 15ZDB121, Advanced Studies of Human Cooperative Behavior A Cognitive Perspective.

Contact Us

We are currently seeking candidates with a solid background in experimental psychology. We also welcome candidates who excel in one of the following areas, behavioral science, data analytics, neuroscience and so on. Candidates must hold a master’s degree or be expected to acquire master’s within 6 months. We are located in Shenzhen, a modern metropolis that links Hong Kong to China’s mainland. Interested candidates should send a cover letter, current CV to Prof. Xiaotian Wang, xtwang@cuhk.edu.cn