People

Dr. Feilong Ma

Principal Investigator

feilong@sc.edu | Google Scholar | 0000-0002-6838-3971
@feilong.bsky.social | @mafeilong | feilong

Feilong began his academic career at Beijing Normal University, working with Prof. Jia Liu, where he developed his interest in individual differences and brain–behavior relationships. He completed his Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience at Dartmouth College under the supervision of Prof. James V. Haxby, focusing on individual differences in fine-grained brain functional architecture. He continued his research at Dartmouth as a Postdoctoral Fellow and later as a Research Assistant Professor. In 2025, Feilong joined the University of South Carolina, where he is expanding his research to the neural mechanisms of language abilities, aphasia, and other disorders.

Mengxin (AvA) Ran

Lab Manager & Research Assistant

mran@mailbox.sc.edu | Google Scholar
@avaaaaran.bsky.social | @ran_mengxin | AvARan2001

AvA Ran received a B.S. in Psychology from The Ohio State University in 2024, where she worked with Prof. Julie Golomb. She is interested in how narrative structures are formed in human brain, and how these processes relate to intelligence and individual differences. Her research aims to uncover the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying narrative construction and comprehension, combining neuroimaging and computational modeling approaches.