My research focuses on the cognitive mechanisms necessary to perceive emotion, and whether these mechanisms are shared with other nonhuman primates. Currently, I am studying how language (the words people know) shapes the ability of people to "see" an emotion in another individual. My work builds on a theory in which emotion is viewed as constructed by a perceiver from the more basic parts of core affect and conceptual knowledge.

Biography

At the most basic level, I am interested in how primates categorize social information. More specifically, I am interested in how what a species knows (conceptual knowledge) interacts with social cues in the environment (perceptual information) to produce meaningful categories. I received my Ph.D. from Emory University in 2008 where I studied how chimpanzees perceive conspecific facial expressions and vocalizations. Shortly thereafter, I joined the interdisciplinary affective sciences laboratory of Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett at Boston College as a postdoctoral fellow. Here I am working on a series of projects that investigate the role of language on emotion perception.

Projects

the effect of verbal labels on categorical perception of facial expressions

This line of research investigates whether language influences an effect called categorical perception. Through several studies which vary the method of training people use to learn facial expression categories, we are investigating how verbal labels contribute to categorical perception of facial expressions.

the effect of emotion words on facial expression perception

This line of research investigates whether language influences emotion perception. Through several studies which vary the dependency of language in the task, we are investigating how primed emotion words affect people's judgments of facial expressions.

the effect of context on the detection of micro-expressions

This line of research investigates whether task constraints influence emotion detection. Through several studies which vary signal detection parameters, we are investigating how context affects people's detection of micro-expressions.

the effect of emotion words on face sampling

This line of research investigates whether language changes patterns of looking to different facial expressions. Through several studies which vary the congruency of emotion words to faces, we are investigating whether emotion words change how people "sample" the face.

Teaching

In the summer of 2005, I taught Cognitive Psychology for the Center for Talented Youth sponsored by John Hopkins University.

In the fall of 2007 and spring of 2008, I taught Comparative Cognition at Emory University as part of a course on the scientific study of the mind and spirit (funded by Howard-Hughes Medical Institution). The course highlighted recent scientific discoveries by Emory graduate students in religion, psychology, neuroscience, chemistry, and biology. Syllabus

In the fall of 2009, I am teaching Cognitive Psychology at Boston College. Syllabus