Research

Broadly, I am interested in the default-mode network (DMN) and the social, affective, and spontaneous processes it subserves.

Overarching role(s) of the DMN

Why does DMN underlie such a vast and disparate array of functions? What cognitive and computational properties tie these functions together? Does DMN play overarching role(s) in cognition and brain function?

Spatiotemporal dynamics of social & affective processing

How do DMN and other brain regions work together to create our social and emotional worlds? What feedforward, feedback, and recurrent computations facilitate these processes, and how do they progress through time?

DMN at rest

Why is DMN so active during rest? How does resting DMN activity shape our social and emotional worlds? What are the interrelations between resting and task-related DMN activity?

Broader Impacts

DMN-related processes are implicated in entrenched societal issues such as prejudice, social polarization, and mental illness. DMN-related research may aid in understanding and mitigating such issues. For example, neural patterns associated with implicit biases could be identified and deactivated through decoded neurofeedback.

Methods

To explore my research interests, I use ECoG, source-space EEG, and fMRI in conjunction with advanced techniques in signal processing, statistics, and machine learning.

I am particularly keen on using decoded neurofeedback to manipulate social and affective processes. I am also interested in using causal modeling, especially on ECoG and source-space M/EEG data, to characterize causality and information flow during social cognitive and affective computations.

Code I’ve written for some of the above methods can be found on my Github.

Collaborators

I work closely with Josef Parvizi’s lab on human intracranial electrophysiology projects.

I’ve also worked with Meghan Meyer’s lab on default network research using fMRI.

Previous Experience

I worked in Michael Tarr’s lab doing visual neuroscience research using EEG and fMRI.

I also worked in Greg Siegle’s lab doing affective & clinical neuroscience research using fMRI.

My first research experience was in Marilyn Carroll’s lab doing neuropsychopharmacology research on macaques and rats.