I am an HFSP long-term postdoctoral research fellow at the Social Neuroscience Lab in Princeton University. I am interested in human communication and the brain. My current research employs neuroimaging and two-person approaches to study why we enjoy and engage in social interactions. You can read more about my research here.
My background
I grew up in the beautiful city of Guadalajara, Mexico — the cradle of mariachi, tequila, and filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. I earned a Licenciatura in psychology from the University of Guadalajara, where I conducted a dissertation on the cognitive processing of cute stimuli (e.g., kittens). After that, I discovered a passion for teaching and spent two years as a second-language instructor, teaching Spanish, English, and German in various academic and corporate settings.
In 2019, I was accepted into the Institute of Neurobiology (INB) at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) to pursue a master’s degree in neurobiology. I worked under the supervision of Dr. Fernando Barrios to look at the brain structural correlates of emotion regulation and empathic skills in psychotherapists using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). I developed a passion for neuroimaging, coding, and data analysis during this time. Then I began my PhD at McGill University’s School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, along with the complementary Language Acquisition Program. My research there explored what makes social speech engaging, and how people coordinate (from behavior to brain activity) across both good and less good conversations.
Teaching
I’m also very passionate about teaching and have served twice as a Teaching Assistant for the course Research Methods and Laboratory in Human Perception (PSYC 353) at McGill. There, I was responsible for the practical component of the course, where I taught students how to use MATLAB to code perceptual experiments and test psychophysical hypotheses. By the end of the course, students were able to apply their knowledge to program their own experiments. I have also been guest lecturer for Introduction to Speech Science (LING 210) and Neurolinguistics (SCSD 638) at McGill University. I have also co-supervised an honors research project and multiple research assistants.
Beyond academia
When I’m not in the lab, I enjoy cinema, rock climbing, percussion instruments, learning languages, reading, and chess. I also enjoy video games and love trying international cuisine.