Biography
Daniel Casasanto is an Associate Professor of Human Development and Psychology at Cornell University and director of the Experience and Cognition Laboratory. He studies how the diversity of human experience is reflected in our brains and minds: how people with different physical and social experiences come to think, feel, and act differently, in fundamental ways. To study cognitive diversity across cultures, his lab conducts research on five continents, using methods that range from watching children at play to brain imaging and neuro-stimulation.
A former opera singer, Casasanto received a graduate diploma in Voice from the Peabody Conservatory before earning a doctorate from the department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT in 2005. Casasanto’s honors include a National Research Service Award, the James S. McDonnell Foundation’s Scholar Award, the Association for Psychological Science’s Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions, the American Psychological Association’s Fantz Memorial Award for Young Psychologists, and the Psychonomic Society’s Early Career Award for Exceptional Research Contributions to Scientific Psychology.
Casasanto has authored over 100 scientific publications, which are featured routinely in the national and international media. These include over 60 papers and chapters on metaphor in language, mind, and brain. He serves on the editorial board of seven journals and was a founding editor of Cambridge University Press’s interdisciplinary journal Language and Cognition.