Lixia Yang

Lixia Yang is a Professor in Psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University. Her research specializes in aging, cognition, and community psychosocial wellbeing. Her research covers three related areas: cognition and cognitive plasticity of the aging brain, cultural differences in attention and memory, as well as psychosocial wellbeing of vulnerable populations such as immigrants and older adults. She has been dedicated to developing and validating prevention and intervention programs to promote psychosocial functions of older adults. Dr. Yang has 92 peer-refereed publications and has received research funding from NSERC, CIHR, SSHRC, Mitacs, and AGE-WELL. Her SRC and community contributions have been recognized by a few prestigious awards, including the Dean’s Scholarly, Research and Creative Activity Award (2021), Yeates School of Graduate Studies Outstanding Contribution to Graduate Education Award (2015), and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Award for Outstanding Community Contribution (2022, 2023).

Recent Publications

Vo, A.T., Yang, L., Urquhart, R., Yi, Y., & Wang, P.P. (2024). Delayed access to medical care and psychosocial distress among Chinese immigrants in Canada during the pandemic. Healthcare, 12(6), 1639. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12161639 (external link)  

Yang, L., Kandasamy, K., Na, L., Zhang, W., & Wang, P.P. (2022). Perceived and experienced anti-Chinese discrimination and its associated psychological impacts among Chinese Canadians during the Wave 2 of the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychology, Health & Medicine. DOI: 10.1080/13548506.2022.2142947 

Yang, L., Kandasamy, K., & Hasher, L. (2022). Inhibition and creativity in aging: Does distractibility enhance creativitiy? The Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 4, 353-375.