I study the cognitive and social foundations of human storytelling

Folktales. Gossip. Fiction. For millennia, storytelling has been a core form of human coordination. Yet the mechanisms that enable us to tell complex stories with such ease remain one of the most elusive puzzles in the study of human cognition. 

How do people tell different stories depending on their communicative goals?  These goals can be wide-ranging, whether to entertain or teach, to portray someone positively or negatively. How can people tell distinctive stories about the same set of events? I work on these questions by crafting experiments. As a PhD student at Princeton University, I am advised by Professors Susan T. Fiske Molly J. Crockett, and Alin Coman. 

Outside the lab, I spend too much time day dreaming. I like nature walks, chocolate and painting.