I study how humans make predictions, or inferences, about unknowable or uncertain things, and how those inferences contribute to learning and decision-making. Some of the inferences that I’m interested in are our own feelings and internal cues, other people’s feelings, and how much control we have over the world around us. I use behavioral experiments, computational modeling, and neuroimaging to investigate how these inference processes arise and influence behavior. 

Portrait Photo by Celia Muto

When did you know that you wanted to be a scientist?
My dad was a huge influence on me in terms of loving the sciences. He has a collection of old nature field guides, and my brother and I would use them to identify birds and reptiles in our backyard. I grew up in California, so we had a large variety of wildlife in our neighborhood (deer, coyotes, mountain lions, snakes, lizards, etc.). This led to my interest in nature, broadly speaking, and set me along the path to focusing on science.

I think I’ve always been drawn to the idea of asking scientific questions about the “great unknown.” I was particularly interested in the ocean and space. Like every child of the 1980’s and 90’s, I went through a phase where I wanted to be a marine biologist. Now, as an adult, I have the opportunity to ask questions about another great unknown – the brain. I like the idea of never really being able to know the complete answer to something, because that means you always get to ask more questions. I’m pretty confident that in my lifetime we won’t have all the answers for how the brain works, the same way we won’t be able to classify every oceanic species or know how the universe was formed. I think many people find that idea frustrating or daunting, but I think it’s beautiful. 

What is the trait you admire most in others?
Kindness. Too often in academia we encourage this idea of a single “genius” in a particular field, and I think that’s really dangerous. Being a good scientist isn’t just about being smart. In fact, I’d argue that’s probably the least useful trait. Good science requires the generation of novel questions, the dissemination of ideas and information, and the ability to mentor the people who will continue the scientific process after you. All of these things are more successful when we work kindly and collaboratively, and yet, our community often tells us that we should aspire to be the “genius” above all else. I hope someday we learn that kind, humble, hard-working people are the ones who will ultimately move science forward and value them as such. 

What do you feel most passionately about?
I’m passionate about promoting equity and combating harassment and discrimination in academia. As a grad student, I started the Harvard Women in Psychology group, and through that endeavor learned that I wanted to devote a lot of my spare time to helping to cultivate an inclusive, diverse, and supportive workplace. I also believe that mentorship is a powerful tool for working against imbalance in academia, so some of my other “side projects” involve researching and advocating for improved mentorship policies.