My research deals with development of Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities and their relationship with prefrontal functioning. Specifically, I examine the distinction between cognitive and affective ToM with respect to child development and the developing prefrontal functions. I do so by testing both typically developing children, as well as children with brain injuries, on ToM tasks and other tasks tapping prefrontal functions.

Social phobia is characterized by a marked and persistent fear of scrutiny by others. Most research efforts emphasized cognitive aspects and neuroanatomical characteristics of social phobia, and these individuals' social cognition capacities have never been examined before. In this research it is suggested that, in social phobia, biased processing of the external social environment may influence the perceptiveness of social stimuli, and this bias may be manifested in a unique profile of social-cognitive abilities.

The objective of our research is to elucidate the behavioral and neuroanatomical aspects of empathy using functional MRI (fMRI) and seeks to highlight the emotional and cognitive processes that underlie this ability.

My main research interests are the foundations of human social cognition and behaviour. I'm currently conducting a research project investigating the neural basis of social emotions such as envy and schadenfreude, through brain imaging.

This research project will investigate the effect of intranasal administration of the hormone oxytocin (which has been shown to have a significant role in numerous prosocial behaviors, such as maternal behavior and human trust) on empathic abilities, both in healthy people and in people who suffer from schizophrenia.

My thesis research aims at investigating the relations between facial and motor mimicry, emotion recognition and empathy. Research findings suggest that merely observing another individual engage in action, or experience an emotion, activates the corresponding muscles involved in that action. However, it is still largely unknown whether physical mimicry is an essential component in the process of understanding others and recognizing their emotions, or rather a by-product of other processes. We intend to use an experimental design in which spontaneous mimicry will be manipulated in order to examine this question.

I am interested in people and in the ways we can relate to one another, I practice Tai-Chi and enjoy dancing.

My goal is to explore oxytocin's role in positive social behaviours, particularly the effects oxytocin has on cooperative behaviors amongst lab rats.

A neuropsychological characterization of the role of the PFC in social phobia. Using neuropsychological tools I'm studying PFC and amygdale dysfunction in social phobia. These tests include the IGT (Iowa Gambling Task) and tasks designed to evaluate the vigilance towards threatening facial expressions in individuals with high tendency to social phobia.

My research project aims at testing social decision making in patients with frontal lobes lesions. Using the ultimatum game we plan to examine how theory of mind contributes to everyday decision making. Physiological measures will be monitored to look for an abnormal arousal response.