His research focuses on the neurobiology and evolution of primate vocal communication and how both aspects are influenced by body morphology and socioecological context. Asif received his B.Sci. in Philosophy from the University of Idaho and his Ph.D. in Neurobiology from Duke University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and a research scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tuebingen, Germany before moving to Princeton.