Dr. Gal Raz

Our research group conducts interdisciplinary research into key psychophysiological aspects of cinema, gaming, virtual-, augmented-, and mixed-reality. We investigate the experiential affordances of these media, focusing on the unique ways in which they trigger perceptual effects, emotions, empathy, and embodied cognition. The group, which includes students from diverse academic backgrounds, actively constructs bridges between art and science, theory and empirics, design and academic inquiry, and basic and applied research.

We strongly believe that the research of motion pictures and immersive media should be profoundly and continuously informed by cognitive neuroscience. On the other hand, we posit that basic and applied research in cognitive neuroscience could substantially benefit from a nuanced scrutiny of motion picture aesthetics and experiential aspects of immersive media. Our research methods include fMRI, encephalography, eye tracking, and physiological and behavioral measurements. The lab is integrated in the Sagol Brain Institute, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center.