The Team

Prof. Tom Schonberg
Principal Investigator | Dept. of Neurobiology
My laboratory is focused on the study of the neural basis of behavior change. We are interested in the process of value construction, how values can be perturbed and changed and how these processes are manifested in the human brain. We study the multiple components of this process by designing novel behavioral paradigms and using converging research tools to analyze them. We use functional MRI, eye tracking and computational learning models to better understand human mental function and its underlying neural substrates. The lab currently focuses on studying the structural and functional plasticity underlying non-reinforced behavioral manipulations of snack food items in humans, as well as extending the scope of change to multiple domains of objects using other tools such as effort.
Michal Gabay
Ph.D. student | Sagol School of Neuroscience
In 2018 I joined the Ph.D. program of Sagol School of Neuroscience. I am coming from a background of B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering from the Technion and Tel-Aviv University respectively; followed by about six years in a biomedical startup company as an algorithms developer. Fascinated by individual neural patterns related to learning, cognitive performance and decision making, I am using the tools of machine learning and mathematical modeling in the endeavor to infer on these mechanisms.
Oren Kobo
Ph.D. student | Sagol School of Neuroscience
In 2015 I completed my B.Sc. in linguistic and biology with emphasis in neuroscience from TAU. After completing my M.Sc. in the Department of Neurobiology, in my current project of language and representation we study the role of underlying decision-making processes in fluent reading using NLP tools with fMRI imaging, eye-tracking and behavioral measures.
Maya Bar Or
Ph.D. student | Sagol School of Neuroscience
In 2020 I graduated my M.A in Psychology from Haifa University where I studied the neural circuits of goal-directed and habitual behavior. I joined the Ph.D. program of Sagol School of Neuroscience in 2021. Here, I hope to continue exploring goal-directed and habitual behaviors and related pathologies, and further understand their neural mechanisms.
Hadar Rosenbach
M.Sc. student | Dept. of Neurobiology
In 2015 I completed my B.Sc. in civil engineering with a water engineering specialty at the Technion and since then I worked in the field. I am currently a M.Sc. student in the neurobiology school of Tel-Aviv University. My current study involves the detection of stress using wrist-worn heart rate monitor and heart rate variability measures.
Evgeniia Gelfand Morgenshteyn
M.Sc. student | Dept. of Neurobiology
I obtained my B.A in psychology and neuroscience in Bar-Ilan University. I am currently an M.Sc. student in neurobiology and behavioral neuroscience at Tel-Aviv University. My study goal is to investigate how physical interactions in virtual reality affects working memory.
Masha Khlopovsky
M.Sc. student | Dept. of Neurobiology
The first degree I obtained was a 5-year degree in linguistics at Moscow State Linguistic University back in 2013. In 2017 I moved to Israel, and in 2018 I joined the B.Sc. program in biomedical sciences with the focus on neurobiology at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. From 2019 till 2021 I worked as a B.Sc. researcher at Adi Inbals lab, that dedicated itself to retinal development. In 2021 I started M.Sc. program in neurobiology at Tel-Aviv University and joined our lab. My project is “located” at the intersection of neurobiology and linguistics. I am trying to understand the neural mechanism and pattern of unsatisfied verbal expectation with the help of pupillometry. In other words, I am studying what happens to your nervous system when instead of hearing what you expected, you hear what you did not.
Maya Harel
M.Sc. student | Sagol School of Neuroscience
I recently graduated my B.Sc in Biology and Psychology from TAU. I am currently an M.Sc. student in Segol School of neuroscience and an aviation physiology officer in the IAF. My study goal is to create a behavioral intervention to prevent spatial disorientation during flight.
Yehuda Bergstein
M.Sc. student | Dept. of Neurobiology
I obtained my B.Sc in Biotechnology from TAU in 2022. Currently I am an M.Sc. student in the Neurobiology and Behavioral Neuroscience track, participating in a joint project in Prof. Tom Schonberg and Prof. Pablo Blinder's laboratories, involving the study of exploratory and learning behaviors. Our study is being conducted through the utilisation of a large spatial task (i.e maze) with humans and mice.