
My research focuses on the cognitive and neural bases of social processing, with the goal of understanding how brains encode social information and use it in behaviors like vocal communication and navigation.
My postdoc work at the University of California, San Diego focuses on the encoding of social space in the primate brain, specifically working with common marmoset monkeys. I am interested in how cognitive maps support social interaction and how they form in development.
I received my PhD in 2021 in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science from the University of Maryland, College Park. My PhD research examined how songbirds and parrots listen to sequences of sounds and the acoustic features of individual elements using both behavioral and neurophysiological techniques. This work highlighted intriguing differences between how birds and humans perceive vocal communication signals.
I believe that comparative work with animal models can help us understand deeply fascinating questions about the neurobiological foundations of human language and cognition and how such systems evolved.