As a theoretical neuroscientist, Dr. Reinagel specializes in visual perception and is currently researching how animals and humans select actions in spite of unresolvable uncertainty. As an avocational singer she is drawn to traditional ballad singing, leading to a curiosity about why these songs are so emotionally compelling, why they are so dark, and why they have persisted so long in oral tradition. She has hosted workshops at UCSD on the neural mechanisms of empathy, and others on oral tradition in folk songs, but this is the first time she brings these topics together.