Research Areas

The Psychology department at BGU is home to 21 faculty members who perform research in three general areas.

Cognitive Psychology

Labs use a variety of research methods, including behavioral research, EEG/ERP, fMRI, DTI, computational modeling, and psychobiology in animal models to study perception, attention, memory, executive functions, sensory system function, numerical cognition, social cognition, emotions, and consciousness. Research includes the study of typical and atypical populations across the lifespan.

Prof. Galia Avidan - We study the psychological and neural properties of the human visual system. The work in the lab is designed to elucidate brain mechanisms that give rise to perception of objects, faces and scenes and in turn, to visually guided behavior.
Prof. Andrea Berger – ERP lab for developmental studies. We focus on the development of executive aspects of attention and control as well as the development of number representations in young children.
Prof. Ilan Dinstein – Computation Neuroimaging lab. We study sensory and motor system function and structure using MRI and EEG techniques with a specific focus on how these functions differ in children and adults with autism.
Prof. Tzvi Ganel – We study visual perception while focusing on dissociating processes of visual perception and visually-guided actions using behavioral methods and fMRI.
Distinguished Emeritus Prof. Avishai Henik - Cognitive Neuropsychology Lab. We carry out studies on the neural and cognitive basis of numerical processing, attention, cognitive control, emotion, word processing, and synesthesia. Various methods (e.g., behavioral, neuroimaging techniques including fMRI and ERP, computation) are used to study the brain-behavior relationship in various populations (e.g., normal, brain-injured, archer fish).
Prof. Yoav Kessler – Cognitive neuroscience of working memory and executive functions, using behavioral, computational and EEG/ERP techniques.
Prof. Ora Kofman – We study the role of pesticide exposure on the development of emotional and cognitive deficits as manifested in anxiety behaviors, fear learning, motor development, and social behaviors in different mouse models.
Prof. Nachshon Meiran - We study how the mind controls itself. We focus on the control of thought, action, and emotion. The functions we study include cognitive flexibility, working memory, inhibition, coordination of dual tasks and multi-step tasks, and emotion regulation.
Emeritus Prof. Yossi Tzelgov – We use behavioral techniques to study skill acquisition, automatization, and consciousness. We try and understand how skill acquisition results in automaticity and how this affects consciousness with a particular emphasis on the domains of reading and numerical cognition.

Social Psychology

Labs utilize a variety of techniques to study behavioral economics, social cognition, self-regulation, and decision making.

Dr. Tal Eyal – We study the role of emotions in self-regulation and in social cognition. We are particularly interested in understanding how psychological distance and construal level affect different processes such as moral judgments, impression formation and mind reading accuracy.
Emeritus Prof. David Leiser – We study social and economic psychology and focus on lay understanding and its consequences. Amongst the topics studied are: financial literacy, the financial crisis, the social protest, the unconscious, alternative medicine, theories of conspiracy, and psychological aspects of retirement. Determinants examined include personality, social demographics, culture, and breakdown in pathology.
Prof. Yoela Bereby Meyer - The social decision making lab. We study questions related to social preferences such as reciprocity, trust, and cooperation. Specifically, we examine how social preferences are affected by the availability of cognitive control, different types of emotions and the ability to regulate emotions.

Clinical Psychology

Combining the scientist-practitioner vision, our labs train students to consult the best available scientific evidence in assessing psychopathology and in devising and administering psychological treatment.

Such training is achieved by emphasizing hands-on scientific research in the following labs.

Prof. Gideon Anholt – We study obsessive-compulsive behavior (OCD) and different psychosocial factors affecting its course. Furthermore, we are interested in the integration of neurocognitive research with clinical psychology, particularly in OCD and other anxiety disorders.
Prof. Gary Diamond - Our research focuses on attachment in adolescence, emotional processing, the therapeutic alliance, sexual minority youth and the change mechanisms in family-based treatments. Current studies include examining the efficacy and process of Attachment-Based Family Therapy with young adults suffering from unresolved anger toward a parent and promoting acceptance among parents of sexual minority youth.
Dr. Nirit Soffer-Dudek - We focus on the relationships between unique consciousness states and traits (such as dream and sleep experiences, dissociation, and transliminality), on one hand, and psychopathology, stress, and resilience on the other hand. Subjective self-reported experiences are a focus of interest, and reseach utilizes longitudinal designs.
Prof. Naama Atzaba-Poria - Child development and family studies lab. We study child development through an ecological perspective, with emphasis on parenting as well as mother-child and father-child relationship in stressful life situations (e.g., feeding and sleeping disorders, prematurity, special needs, and immigration).
Prof. Golan Shahar – Stress, Self, & Health Lab (STREALTH). We focus on the roles of external stress and internal, subjective, self-related processes in mental and physical health and illness.
Prof. Liat Tikotzki - We study child development and psychopathology. We perform longitudinal studies that focus on the links between parenting and infant sleep problems. Techniques include measurements of actigraphy that enable objective assessment of sleep durations.