Principal Investigator

Dimitris Xygalatas

Dr. Xygalatas received his PhD in from the Institute of Cognition and Culture at Queen's University Belfast. His research primarily focuses on cultural practices that soothe, excite, unite and divide humans, such as ritual, sports, and music.

Graduate Researcher (Psychology)

Gabriela Baranowski Pinto

Gabriela is a doctoral student at the Department of Psychological Sciences at UConn and a researcher at the Center for the Ecological Study of Perception and Action and the Experimental Anthropology Lab. Her research focuses on leisure-time physical activity and behavior, collective action, and complex and intentional dynamic systems.

Graduate Researcher (Anthropology)

Michelle Reed

Michelle is a graduate student in the Anthropology Department at UConn. Her research focuses on the evolution of social intelligence in humans and other animals, theory of mind, self-awareness, and primate behavior.

Graduate Researcher (Anthropology)

Christopher Manoharan

Chris is a graduate student in the Anthropology Department at UConn. His research focuses on sufi theology and rituals, which he studies in his field site in Turkey.

Graduate Researcher (Psychology)

Lana Delasanta

Lana is a doctoral student in the Department of Psychologyical Sciences at UConn. She conducts research in both the Music Dynamics Lab and the Experimental Anthropology Lab that focuses on music cognition, group synchrony, physiological arousal, and how music affects people socially, physiologically, and emotionally.