Team
Click a card to read more about each member.
Prof. Yaara Yeshurun
Lab Director
Dr Yeshurun received her Ph.D. in Neurobiology from Weizmann Institute of Science in 2011. Her dissertation, under the guidance of Prof. Noam Sobel and Prof. Yadin Dudai, focused on the unique aspects of olfactory memory. She then completed her postdoctoral training with Prof. Uri Hasson in Princeton University, focusing on the neural correlates of interpretation of naturalistic stimuli. Yeshurun joined the school of Psychological Sciences as a faculty member in 2018.
Liron Amihai
PhD student & Technical lab manager
Graduated BIU's gifted youth program, with a BSc in Mathematics, with honors. Served in Israel's national encryption and cyber-security unit, and after that worked for 5 years as an Android and iOS cloud researcher at Cellebrite. During that time finished my Masters in Neuroscience at BIU under the supervision of Prof. Michal Lavidor, using TDCS.
Passionate about Neurotech and relationships between people!
Argaman Bell Meir
PhD Student & Lab Administrative Manager
After graduating my BA in psychology here in Tel Aviv University, I found the field of social interaction most appealing. I believe that those interactions shape our lives in the most significant way of all, and I plan to investigate how they reflect in brain activity.
Tal Ohad
PhD Student
Received a BA in the double major program of Psychology and Biology with an emphasis on Neuroscience at Sagol school in Tel Aviv University. Fascinated by the neural mechanisms that associate with social interactions, which are commonplace yet convoluted.
Amit Freiman
PhD Student
After graduating my BA in psychology and biology with an emphasis on neuroscience I joined the lab for my MA in order to further my understanding on the neural and behavioral construct of social interaction as to me this is the centerpiece of society today.
Yohai Zvi
PhD Student
I received both my BSc in Psychology and Biology track and MSc in the Cognitive track from Sagol school of neuroscience, and am currently a PhD candidate in the school.
In my thesis I focused on religious-dependent neural synchronization, exploring the different neural responses of religious, secular and Ex-religious individuals.
In my PhD I aim to investigate the neural mechanisms underlie social synchronization, in the joint supervision of Prof. Yaara Yeshurun and Prof. Nitzan Censor.
Gabriel Braun
PhD student
I hold a BA and MSc from the Sagol School of Neuroscience. Currently pursuing a PhD under the co-supervision of Prof. Einat Shetreet and Prof. Yaara Yeshurun, my research centers on discerning the truth in a world clouded by doubt. I explore processes involved in truth and lie assessments, as well as their impact on and interaction with language processing.
Uri Shinitsky
PhD Student
I'm a musician-researcher studying auditory cognition.
My current focus is music's evolutionary role, and its effects on social interaction.
I'm also interested in tracking auditory attention in freely behaving humans.
Eldad Aviv
PhD Student
I received my BA with honors in Behavioral Sciences, specializing in Applied Psychology, from the Ruppin Academic Center. My data-driven thesis focuses on linguistic patterns as indicators of interaction quality. I also aspire to adopt linguistic preferences of language models, inspired by human language behavior in social contexts.
Tzlil Tabib
MSc Student
With a BA in Psychology, I am currently pursuing my master's degree in Cognitive Neuroscience to explore the neural correlates of social behavior. My research focuses on the neural mechanisms involved in social polarization. Specifically, I study the effects of outgroup derogation and ingroup favoritism on neural synchronization between group members.
Talya Firon
MSc Student
I am currently pursuing an MSc in cognitive neuroscience at Sagol School as part of the Lautman Interdisciplinary Program for Outstanding Students. Under the joint supervision of Prof. Yaara Yeshurun and Prof. Liad Mudrik, my research focuses on how social meaning affects conscious perception. Specifically, I explore how political affiliation influences awareness of out-group pain.
Alumni
Omer Itzhak
MA Student
While combining the studies of psychology and neuroscience as part of the multidisciplinary Adi Lautman program at Tel Aviv University, I further realized my innate interest in human interactions and connections. I am fascinated by the unaware ways in which we influence each other's thoughts, feelings and behavior and I am excited to explore this field.
Saar Kerlik
MSc Student
I have always been intrigued by how our inner-perception of reality can shape our external reality. I believe that different states of consciousness can affect self-perception, general perception, cognition, and more, and through the understanding of basic brain structures, it is possible to reach a greater understanding of a person's subjective experience.
In my opinion, if we can find the answers to questions like the 'hard problem of consciousness', it would be by investigating several different approaches and not reducing it to one approach. That is, the combination between the mind, body and spirit can support each other and create a more comprehensive and broader picture for us about these questions and once again about the subjective experience.
Inbal Ravreby
PhD Student
Natural dyadic interactions change our lives, and of course mine. I want to understand how, and this is what my Ph.D., which is co-supervised by Prof. Noam Sobel from the Weizmann Institute of Science, is about. I focus on dyadic synchronization with an emphasis on the influence of breathing and smell. I also study how emotions and the autonomic system shape our synchronization with others as manifested behaviorally, physiologically and in the brain level.
Noam Edelshtein
Technical Lab Manager
Currently pursuing BSc in Bio-Medical Engineering, as well as BSc in Biology, focusing on neuroscience. Working in the field of social interaction allows me to learn of conducting and planning experiments and analyzing data in a practical manner, as well as expands my knowledge in different aspects of neuroscience.
Gal Boiman
MSc Student
I graduated BA with honor in Psychology and Political Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I find great interest in combining those two doctrines to test how political partisanship shape one's interpretation of political stimuli and study the underlying brain mechanisms. In my research, I use both fMRI and behavioral tools.
Nitai Kerem
MSc Student
B.A in Cognitive Sciences & Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I'm fascinated by how people interpret different aspects of other people's mental states as well as their own, and how these can change over time. I plan to conduct an fMRI study, which along with behavioural tools could illuminate whether initial mental filters have privileged brain representation.
Keren Ruzal
Lab Administrative Manager
Undergrad student in the double major program of Psychology and Biology with emphasis on Neuroscience at Sagol school in Tel Aviv University. Has great interest in the neural mechanisms underlying human behavior.
Valery Kostovetsky
MA student
I did my BA in psychology at IDC Herzlyia, where I also worked as a project manager at the CNS lab, probing the effects of EEG-neurofeedback on memory consolidation enhancement. I also studied Neuroscience for 1 year at the Weizmann Institute.
We humans are part of a highly social species. We are extremely sensitive to the signals our conspecifics emit. These signals can be processed without awareness and influence physiology, perception and behavior. I am doing my thesis under the co-supervision of Yaara Yeshurun and Nira Liberman, where I intend to look at how behavioral interpersonal synchronization within a group setting influences subsequent individual perceptions.
Noa Katabi
MSc Student
I got my BA in psychology and cognitive science at Ben Gurion University.
In my MSc I plan to use fMRI to study the neural mechanisms underlying interpretation of real-life situations both between different individuals, and within an individual on different time points.
Ran Amram
PhD Student
In my research, I focus on group and individual differences in interpretation of social information, using naturalistic stimuli and constructing settings of real-life interactions. I plan to employ both behavioral and neuroimaging (fNIRS and fMRI) measures to promote two main goals: 1) examining brain-to-brain synchronization between members of different social groups during realistic interactions 2) exploring the dynamics of subjective interpretation over time.
Sharon Yakim
Lab Technical Manager
R&D professional. Enthusiastic about the science and technology that helps unravel and expand human cognitive nature. Pursuing bachelor's degree in Cognitive & Computer Science from The Open University of Israel.
Yaara Lev
MA Student
Student at The Adi Lautman Interdisciplinary Program for Outstanding Students — a unique four-year program that allows an interdisciplinary curriculum from the first year of study, leading directly to a M.Sc. degree.
As an interdisciplinary student, my M.Sc. combines Social Psychology and Social Work: with the help of Prof. Katz's lab from the Bob Shapell School of Social Work, I plan to examine how synchronization between children and interviewers in forensic interviews influence the child's testimony. In other words, I will use the amazing research that has been done in this lab and apply it in the real world.