I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Emory broadly ​interested in the evolution of primate social cognition, the mechanisms that influence social choices, and the context in which these decisions are adaptive. My work unpacks both proximate and ultimate mechanisms of social decision-making in primates, offering a promising avenue for understanding the importance of sociality, cooperation, and conflict on primate cognitive evolution.  At the Capuchinos de Taboga fieldsite, my research focuses on developing methods to examine decision-making, similar to lab-based paradigms, but in wild white-faced capuchins. This ”cognition gone wild” approach gives us valuable insight into how monkeys make decisions, how social and ecological factors may impact these choices, and ultimately why these decisions may be adaptive.  

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