How is the multimodal brain functionally organized? What neural patterns correspond to how the brain integrates multiple cues to form a multisensory decision? Cognitive Neuroscience is the study of the brain and the neural mechanisms that underlie mental processes. This line of inquiry involves both typical processing in multisensory contexts (e.g., multisensory illusions, audiovisual speech), as well as atypical cross-modal processing (e.g., synesthesia).
How do people construct unique, subjective realities from the same external world? Why do people have different perceptual experiences than each other, including experiences that are non-veridical or otherwise anomalous? Cognitive Psychology is the study of the mind and the cognitive and computational strategies that are used to generate our subjective experiences. My Master’s thesis investigates a novel visual-proprioceptive illusion in which trials with the same amount of cue integration result from different integration mechanisms. This line of work involves inquiry into Bayesian Causal Inference priors, the relationship between bottom-up and top-down processing, and individual differences in qualia.
Cognitive Neuropsychology is the study of patients who have experienced brain damage. This line of inquiry can reveal organizational patterns, and inform how the brain is disrupted by impairment and reorganizes over time. I've worked with Dr. David Brang and Dr. Shawn Hervey-Jumper who investigate neuroplasticity after brain tumor diagnosis, measuring changes in motor and language performance, and performing intraoperative mapping to preserve functions essential to each individual patient. I've worked with Dr. Jared Medina who conducts studies with stroke patients. I also enrolled in Dr. Bob Rafal’s graduate seminar on clinical and experimental neuropsychology to learn about functional human neuroanatomy and the neurological underpinnings neuro-rehabilitation.