Ana Díaz Barriga is a puppetry practitioner and scholar interested in the application of cognitive science approaches and methods to the study of puppetry and spectatorship. She is the recipient of a Cognitive Science Advanced Research Fellowship and a Mellon Cluster Fellowship in Science Studies. Her current research investigates the sophisticated ways puppeteers guide viewers’ minds and bodies to make meaning of contemporary puppetry performance using methods from both cognitive science and theatre studies. Ana has presented her work at IFTR and ASTR. In addition to her research, she is also a CIRTL Scholar and a Graduate Teaching Mentor at the Searle Center for Advanced Learning and Teaching. Ana has a BA in Drama from the University of Glamorgan (UK) and an MA in Advanced Theatre Practice from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (UK).