David Perlman earned his doctorate in psychology and neuroscience of meditation at University of Wisconsin, where his advisor Richie Davidson gave him the opportunity to travel to India and work with numerous yogis, monks, and teachers. Later he worked on psychophysiology, data science, and behavioral user research in product design at Google and Twitter. He has consulted with various U.S. and NATO defense clients on misinformation in social media. He has been interviewed in the Wall Street Journal for his work on misinformation.

His academic publications are listed on Google Scholar.