Xiaoqing Hu

Xiaoqing Hu earned her Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 2014 and her M.S. from Northwestern University in 2010, where she worked as a graduate student researcher in J. Peter Rosenfeld's laboratory in the Department of Psychology. She is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of Hong Kong, where she directs the Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab. During her time at Northwestern (approximately 2009-2014), she contributed significantly to the development and validation of P300-based Concealed Information Test (CIT) protocols for deception detection.

Hu's polygraph-related research focused primarily on advancing P300-based memory detection methods and understanding countermeasures to these tests. Her 2012 study examined how increasing the number of irrelevant stimuli increases ability to detect countermeasures to the P300-based complex trial protocol for concealed information detection, published in Psychophysiology. She also investigated how deception awareness improves P300-based deception detection in Concealed Information Tests. Another key contribution was her work combining the P300-complex trial-based Concealed Information Test and the reaction time-based autobiographical Implicit Association Test in concealed memory detection, demonstrating that combining multiple detection modalities could enhance diagnostic accuracy. Her research explored both autobiographical memory and incidentally acquired information in deception detection contexts.

As a prolific collaborator within Rosenfeld's research group, Hu co-authored numerous studies with J. Peter Rosenfeld, Elena Labkovsky, J. Meixner, and M. R. Winograd on the evolution of new P300-based protocols for detection of concealed information, particularly the P300-based complex trial protocol (CTP) described as a countermeasure-resistant protocol. Her 2013 review paper with these co-authors became an influential synthesis of the field's developments. Beyond her Northwestern colleagues, she also collaborated with researchers studying reaction time-based CIT methods, including work with Kang Lee and Genyue Fu on behavioral measures of concealed information.

While Hu's early career research contributed importantly to psychophysiological deception detection, her subsequent work has shifted toward broader cognitive neuroscience topics. Her current research at the University of Hong Kong focuses on how sleep shapes memories and emotions, how memories are acquired and controlled, and social learning processes. Her interdisciplinary approach bridges psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and applied psychophysiology, demonstrating how fundamental memory research connects to practical applications in credibility assessment and lie detection.