Principal Investigator
Sharon Naparstek, Ph.D
sharonnaparstek@gmail.com
Sharon is a Rehabilitation Psychologist and Neuropsychologist, and a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Bar-Ilan University. She earned her Master’s and Ph.D. at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, studying the cognitive building blocks of numerical cognition in Avishai Henik’s Cognitive Neuroscience Lab. Her postdoc at Stanford’s Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences examined cognitive and neural biomarkers of PTSD treatment response.
Ph.D Students
Avigail Rosenfeld Ganzel
avigail.1212@gmail.com
She earned an M.A. (with honors) in Clinical Rehabilitation Psychology from Bar-Ilan University, where her thesis examined oxytocin’s role in emotion and cognitive control. Her research probes individual and dyadic affective flexibility in parent–child relationships, including changes after pediatric acquired brain injury and links to outcomes. The goal is to identify protective factors in at-risk groups and develop integrative assessments.
Lihi Cohen
lihi.cohen1010@gmail.com
Lihi earned her M.A. in Rehabilitation Psychology from Bar-Ilan University, where her thesis examined the mechanisms of affective flexibility using a novel affective voluntary task-switching paradigm. Her PhD research extends this concept to the clinical setting, focusing on therapist flexibility, with the goal of developing a tool for therapist self-feedback and reflection on micro-processes and session dynamics, aimed at increasing attunement and responsiveness.
Geffen Markusfeld
geffenmarkusfeld@gmail.com
She holds an M.A. (with honors) in Clinical Rehabilitation Psychology from Bar-Ilan University; her EEG thesis examined neural markers of sense of agency. A clinical intern at the National Institute for Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, she treats cognitive decline after TBI and cancer. Her research tests links between cognitive flexibility and borderline personality disorder using neuropsychological and self-report measures.
Yonatan Schwartz
yonatan.shwartz@gmail.com
Yonatan earned an M.A. from Ben-Gurion University, researching time estimation in ADHD (Ora Kaufman’s lab). He has years of experience in neuropsychological assessment of neurodegenerative disorders at Sheba’s Sagol Center. His interests center on cognitive reserve—especially its relationship to cognitive strategy use in middle-aged adults at elevated Alzheimer’s risk.
MA Students
Inbar Ben Hayun
inbar1922000@gmail.com
Inbar holds a B.A. in Psychology from Tel Aviv University and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology at Bar-Ilan University. Her research interests focus on exploring the role of rumination, executive functions, and vocal measures in the early and objective identification of depression.
Maya Shadmi
mayashadmi6@gmail.com
I received my B.A in psychology from the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yafo. Currently I'm a master's student at the clinical psychology program at Bar Ilan University. I'm interested in measuring psychological flexibility and its presence among adults with eating disorders.
Noam Erez
noam.l1994@gmail.com
Noam received her B.A. in Psychology, Cognition & Computer Science from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She is currently a Master's student in the Clinical Psychology Program at Bar Ilan University. Noam is interested in studying the relationship between subjective age evaluations and depressive symptoms, using a Network Analysis approach.
Shani Kandler
shaniabh99@gmail.com
Shani received her B.A. in Psychology from Bar Ilan University. She is currently a Master's student in the Clinical Psychology Program at Bar Ilan University. Shani is interested in the field of rehabilitative psychology, with her research focusing on coping with aging and suicide risk factors, with an emphasis on the impact of the marital relationship.
Eran Khalif Josef
eranthegreatish@gmail.com
Eran is a master’s student at Bar-Ilan University, studying in the unified clinical psychology program. His thesis-in-writing will explore aspects of socio-emotional ambiguity in elderhood, and the effects biases, flexibility, cognition, and affective states have on it. Other past research interests from his undergraduate work concern the neuropsychological mechanisms of addiction and empathy and the mental experience of the self and others online.
Shir Levy
shir.smile@gmail.com
Shir received her B.A. in Psychology from the Open University of Israel and is currently a Master's student in the Clinical Psychology Program at Bar-Ilan University. She is interested in the interplay between emotion and cognition, with a particular focus on numerical cognition. Her research examines basic versus self-conscious emotions and how they influence executive control mechanisms and task-switching in arithmetic tasks.
Research Assistants
Yael Barbash
Chen Reif
Ayala Spodek
Idan Perez
Alumni
Eli Saban
elisaban1@gmail.com
Eli is a clinical psychologist who is currently in a clinical internship in the Psychological Counseling Services for students at Bar Ilan University. In his thesis, Eli explores the link between relationship satisfaction and suicide ideation in older adults.
He also has an M.A. in social-organizational psychology at Ben-Gurion University, studying Holocaust education for Israeli-Arab youth. He has experience as an organizational psychologist in the Israeli Air Force and is a certified couple and family therapist.
Asaf Kafzan
Assaf is a clinical psychologist who is doing a clinical internship at the Community Service Clinic of the Department of Psychology at Bar Ilan University.
Sapir Vaturi
Sapir is a clinical psychologist who is currently in a clinical internship in the Psychological counseling services for students Tel Aviv University
Yarin Vassover
My thesis examined the link between depression severity and executive functions through the lens of speech and language processing, focusing on acoustic and prosodic features of speech. I am currently a clinical psychology intern at the Haverim Center, specializing in group psychotherapy for children and adults.