PhD Candidate, Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience
PhD Candidate, CARES Lab
Research Interests: Social and Affective Science, The role of Somatosensory in empathy and emotional regulation
Advisors: Dr. Casey Kanyon Brown and Dr. Peter Turkeltaub
Rotations: Dr. Ella Striem-Amit, Dr. Max Riesenhuber, Dr. Peter Turkeltaub, and Dr. Anna Seydell-Greenwald
Prior Education: University of Haifa, B.A. Psychology; University of Haifa, M.A. Neurocognitive Psychology
Naama is a fourth year Ph.D. candidate in the Interdisciplinary Program for Neuroscience (IPN) and a member of Dr. Casey Brown’s lab. She holds an M.A. in Neurocognitive Psychology from the University of Haifa. Prior to Georgetown, she worked as a researcher in a collaboration between the Psychology Department at Haifa university and the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at the Technion, conducting EEG research on the type of architectural designs that could enhance well-being in condensed urban settings.
Currently, Naama’s research is focused on the role of the somatosensory cortex and empathy in vicarious social touch, where transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on somatosensory cortex, was applied on healthy individuals of varying degrees of state empathy, to test how emotional responses are affected during observation of positive social interactions. Outside the lab, Naama enjoys going to museums and concerts.