Tara’s research spans a number of topics at the intersection of emerging technologies, the arts, and the brain. 

Her undergraduate research at Yale University with Professors Joshua Knobe and George Newman covered a range of topics, such as why people enjoy sad music and subjective evaluations of artificial intelligence-composed music. During her PhD at Oxford University, she investigated the impact of haptic wearable devices on our sense of connection to musicians in virtual reality concerts and the impact of digital album art on perception of music. She has also conducted research on infant social cognitive development at the Early Childhood Development Lab at MIT and the Harvard Lab for Developmental Studies with Professor Elizabeth Spelke. 

Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals and her work on haptics will be featured as a chapter in a forthcoming book on haptics research published by MDPI.  See Google Scholar page for a full list of publications. 

While at Yale, Tara was a member of Psi Chi, the international honour society in psychology, and co-founded Omega Psi, the first international honour society in cognitive science. As a high schooler, she was the founder-convener of the first student-led international conference on cognitive science in Asia, which was inaugurated by the Singapore Minister for Education and covered extensively by international media outlets such as Channel News Asia, Asia Pacific Biotech News, and the Asian Scientist.

She currently serves as the Principal Cognitive Scientist at Universal Music Group where directs behavioural and neuroscientific research on listener tastes and preference for music and the impact of sound on sleep, relaxation, and focus. 

Tara frequently communicates science for and is featured in popular press such as the The New York Times,  Health Magazine, and The Economic Times.