David Brang
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
djbrang@umich.edu
CV |: @DavidJBrang | Google Scholar Citations
Dr. David Brang is an Associate Professor of Psychology and the Principal Investigator of the Multisensory Perception Lab. Dr. Brang investigates how the human brain integrates information from auditory, visual, and tactile modalities to generate computationally efficient estimates of the external world. He received his Ph.D. from University of California San Diego, and conducted postdoctoral work at University of Chicago and Northwestern jointly through the Psychology and Neurology departments.
Postdoctoral
Iain Dewitt
idewitt@umich.edu
Dr. Iain DeWitt is a Research Neuroscientist working on multisensory speech perception and laminar processing. His prior work addressed topics in the cortical organization of language, visual and auditory word-form recognition, and the evolution of speech and cognition. He is experienced in computational modeling, corpus linguistics, neuroanatomical morphometrics, pediatric brain imaging, functional MRI, PET, intracranial EEG, scalp EEG, vagus nerve stimulation, and non-human primate sharp electrophysiology and awake-behaving fMRI. He received his doctorate from Georgetown University and did post-doctoral training at the National Institutes of Health. He has also worked at the Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital, and the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Emily Cunningham
ecngham@umich.edu
Dr. Emily Cunningham is a postdoctoral researcher in the Multisensory Perception Lab. A vision scientist by training, her research interests lie broadly at the intersection of audition and vision. Her previous work has handled questions related to visual perception & awareness, auditory-visual interaction, and sustained attention, leveraging EEG and behavior to probe the neural circuitry that enables (and restricts) these processes in humans. She earned her PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, specializing in Attention & Perception. Outside of the lab, she manages the research activities of two curious canines: Mabel and Bob (notable for their recent coauthored discovery of ‘the top of the fridge’).
Graduate Students
Zhewei “Cody” Cao
zhewei@umich.edu |: @neurocow | zheweicao.github.io
Cody is a graduate student advised by David Brang and Jonathan Brennan. He uses ECoG, EEG, fMRI, and eyetracking to answer questions about how we process speech information from multiple modalities in the brain. Cody cannot handle spicy food at all, but is stubbornly building his spice tolerance.
Yike “Echo” Li
yikeli@umich.edu |: @EchoLi1054 | yike-echo-li
Yike is a graduate student in CCN advised by Dr. David Brang, NYU and PKU alumna. She is interested in how sensory information is integrated in the brain to give rise to language and music. Outside the lab, Yike enjoys reading, cooking, and exploring bubble tea shops.
Lab Manager
Zoë Hajratwala
hajratwz@umich.edu
Zoë graduated in 2024 with a degree in Neuroscience from the University of Michigan. She is interested in the cognitive applications of the thalamus and brain imaging. Outside of the lab, Zoë loves to bake and explore Ann Arbor.
Appa
Appa is the Lab pup (but not a lab). He studies the visuotactile and olfactory properties of tasty treats and uses advanced statistics to predict the trajectory of airborne sticks.
Undergraduate Research Assistants