He teaches and studies cognition from an evolutionary perspective. This new and exciting combination of two academic subfields is paving the way for advances in research and out understanding of cognitive evolution as psychology continues to hybridize with genetics, evolutionary biology, and neuroscience. Specifically, he studies the animacy memory effect in adults and children in an attempt to understand how the brain processes evolutionarily relevant information more efficiently than non-survival relevant info. His work on cognitive development, specifically attention and memory, also offers modern insights into the nature of the developing brain and mind.