People
Principal Investigator
Uri Hertz, PhD
I am a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of Haifa. My research focuses on the way cognitive processes shape collective behavior and social decision-making. I am also a Fellow of the Center for Social Norms and Behavioral Dynamics at the University of Pennsylvania.
Previously, I was a Visiting Scholar at the Department of Psychology at Princeton University. I conducted postdoctoral research at the Crowd Cognition group working with Prof. Bahador Bahrami at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL, and was a part of the Human Mind Project at the University of London, working with Prof. Chris Frith.
Before that, I completed my PhD in Computational Neuroscience at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in the Interdisciplinary Center for Neural Computation (ICNC), where I studied multisensory integration and perception in Amir Amedi's lab. I hold a B.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering from Ben-Gurion University.
Email: uhertz@cog.haifa.ac.il
Phone: (+972) 4 6146239
Address: Room 7108, Rabin Building, University of Haifa, Israel
CV
Post Doctoral Fellows
Hernan Anllo, PhD
Studies how social variables and explicit/implicit information transfer between human agents can impact low and high-level mechanisms of cognition. Currently starting second postdoctoral appointment at the HRL team at LNC2, École Normale Supérieure-PSL, France, thanks to the support of a Marie Sklodowska Curie fellow. During this appointment, he is set to study the computational substrates of human teaching, in collaboration with Drs. Stefano Palminteri (École Normale Supérieure) and Uri Hertz (University of Haifa). In collaboration with Prof. Stefano Palminteri.
Tamar Rosenberg-Yefet, PhD
I am an archaeologist exploring ancient stone tools to uncover the lives and minds of the people who made them. My research focuses on lithic technology, cognition, learning processes in the Paleolithic, cultural evolution theory, and human-environment relations in the Old World. These days, I’m focusing on the intersection of cognitive neuroscience and evolutionary archaeology, specifically on decision-making through stone knapping, which offers unique insights into the evolution of the human mind. Her current study models stone tool production as a series of decision points using cognitive neuroscience decision-tree approaches, linking knapping choices under uncertainty with the aim of investigating whether more complex decision-trees foster peer learning and support the development of complex technologies. In addition, we investigate brain activity during stone knapping using fNIRS to capture brain activity at key decision-making points in the stone tool reduction sequence. In collaboration with Prof. Ron Shimelmitz.
PhD and Master Students
Inbal Tadmor
Inbal is a PhD student researching decision making in severe mental illness using a translational approach that combines neuropsychological and laboratory tools with ecological, performance-based assessments. Her work aims to bridge basic and applied science to better capture everyday decision-making processes. In collaboration with Prof. Naomi Josman.
Lior Gazit
PhD student, working on human-algorithms interactions, advice taking and trust, in collaboration with Prof. Ofer Arazy. In collaboration with Prof. Ofer Arazy.
Gili Barkai
PhD student, working on the role of locus coeruleus-noradrenergic system in uncertainty-based learning, in collaboration with Dr. Shai Gabay. In collaboration with Prof. Shai Gabay.
Undergraduate Students
Yotam Goshchevsky
Studying mechanisms for socializing and pro-social behavior through the lens of early hominin evolution and the use of stone tools. In collaboration with Prof. Ron Shimelmitz.
Hila Wielgus
Studying the cognitive mechanisms underlying signaling and cooperation in small groups. In collaboration with Dr. Moti Michaeli.