Assist. Prof. Dr. Tie Sun | Psychology and Behavioral Science | Best Researcher Award
Assistant Professor | Zhejiang Normal University | China
Assist. Prof. Dr. Tie Sun is an emerging cognitive neuroscientist and experimental psychologist whose research explores the intricate mechanisms of reasoning, creativity, and executive control. His work integrates cognitive psychology, electrophysiology (EEG/ERP), and neural modeling to decode how the human brain processes conflicts, detects patterns, and generates novel ideas. With 11 peer-reviewed publications indexed in SCI and Scopus, and 20 citations with an h-index of 2, his scholarship bridges empirical data and theoretical insight into higher-order cognition. His major contributions include identifying distinct neural oscillations underlying top-down and bottom-up conflicts in numerical inductive reasoning, and revealing how relational integration and cognitive load modulate brain activity during creative and logical problem-solving. As principal investigator and collaborator on multiple National Natural Science Foundation of China projects, he has investigated the cognitive and neural bases of creative thinking, concept formation, and mathematical rule learning. His ongoing studies advance understanding of conflict adaptation, semantic and perceptual chunking, and experience-dependent creative cognition-key to educational and AI-based cognitive enhancement research. Assist. Prof. Dr. Tie Sun has collaborated internationally, notably with Leiden University (Netherlands), and nationally with Zhejiang University, Hangzhou Normal University, and Beijing Normal University. He serves as an ad hoc reviewer for prestigious journals such as BMC Psychology, Scientific Reports, and Cognitive Computation, reflecting recognition of his expertise. His research areas encompass numerical inductive reasoning, creative thinking, decision making, and cognitive neuroscience of learning. Through his innovative use of EEG microstate analysis and ERP paradigms, Assist. Prof. Dr. Tie Sun’s work contributes to elucidating how cognitive control and experiential factors shape creativity and reasoning. His interdisciplinary research has positioned him as a promising scholar contributing to the advancement of cognitive psychology and neural creativity research in China and beyond.
Featured Publications
1. Xiao, F., Sun, T., Qi, S., & Chen, Q. (2019). Common and distinct brain responses to detecting top‐down and bottom‐up conflicts underlying numerical inductive reasoning. Psychophysiology, 56(12), e13455.
2. Xiao, F., Sun, T., Cai, X. L., & Chen, Q. F. (2020). Task relevance effect on number/shape conflict detection in the number-matching task: An ERP study. Acta Psychologica, 208, 103126.
3. Sun, T., Xiao, F., Liang, P. P., & Luo, J. (2023). The influence of perceptual and semantic chunking on the neural mechanism of remote association. PsyCh Journal, 12(5), 618–627.
4. Zheng, L., Yuan, S., Wu, X., & Sun, T. (2022). Conflict adaptation effect on numerical inductive reasoning: An ERP study. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 129(6), 1658–1671.
5. Sun, T., Xi, J., Xu, P., Wang, Z., Zhang, J., Xiao, F., & Yuan, S. (2025). Cognitive mechanisms of creative thinking: The role of conflict detection and inhibition under different experience constraints. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 102037.