I am interested in the evolutionary origins of social cognition using interdisciplinary methods in evolutionary anthropology and comparative cognition. By adapting socio-cognitive experiments to the field, my research will investigate how capuchin monkeys acquire and utilize social information under ecologically relevant conditions. In doing so, I aim to explore the evolution of Theory of Mind as it relates to distinctly human cognition, as well as the socio-ecological pressures that shape species-specific perspective-taking in nonhuman primates. For a comparative and multi-species approach, I will also investigate chimpanzee social and technical development as it relates to the evolutionary origins of cognition and culture.
Before coming to Emory, I completed my MSc in Evolutionary and Comparative Psychology from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, and my BAS in Zoology and Psychology from the University of Guelph, Canada.