Academic Staff
- HHB714, Hung Hom Bay Campus
- +852 2766 4914
- ran.tao@polyu.edu.hk
ORCID ID
SCOPUS ID
Google ScholarBiography
Prof. Ran Tao is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Language Science and Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where he leads the MA in Chinese Linguistics (MACL) programme. He received his PhD in Psycholinguistics from The University of Hong Kong. His research interests lie in neurolinguistics and psycholinguistics, particularly speech perception, lexical tone normalization in Cantonese, and the impact of music training on language processing using behavioral experiments, EEG, and fMRI techniques. He has obtained research grants as PI and published in journals such as Brain and Language, Human Brain Mapping, and Frontiers in Psychology.
Education and Academic Qualifications
- PhD in Psycholinguistics, The University of Hong Kong
Teaching Areas
- CBS596 Neurolinguistics
- CBS538 MACL Dissertation
- CBS503 Language in Society
- CBS4953 Techniques in Language Sciences
- CBS4943 Language and Society
Research Interests
Selected Publications
- Tao, R., Zhang, K., Feng, Y., Weng, Y., & Peng, G. (2026). Suprasegmental aspects of phonetic feature representation in human cortex: An fMRI investigation of Cantonese lexical tones. Brain and Language, 274, 105702. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105702
- Lu, M., Tian, Y., & Tao, R. (2025, August). Talker Normalization in Chinese Bilinguals: A Comparative Study. In Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the International Speech Communication Association, INTERSPEECH, 2025, 2315-2319. https://doi.org/10.21437/Interspeech.2025-1857
- Zhang, K., Tao, R., & Peng, G. (2023). The advantage of the music-enabled brain in accommodating lexical tone variabilities. Brain and language, 247, 105348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105348
- Tao, R., Zhang, K., & Peng, G. (2021). Music does not facilitate lexical tone normalization: a speech-specific perceptual process. Frontiers in psychology, 12, 717110. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.717110
- 2026 - 2028
Principal Investigator, Tuning the Brain: The Impact of Music Training on Speech Perception in Cantonese. RGC ECS (Project No. 25616125)
