A B O U T

The Eitam Lab is a lively research group at the School for Psychological Sciences at the University of Haifa. In general, we aim to uncover principles of how the mind works, with a special focus on selection of both input (what enters the mind and conscious experience) and output (behavior and its intensity). We use whatever tools and populations we think will advance this goal, and as such, we do behavioral work, collaborate with animal researchers doing optogenetics, use mathematical modeling and study clinical populations and infants. Being part of the community of psychological science is important for us to make our research as rigorous, transparent and open as possible.

R E S E A R C H

We are interested in what drives human thought and action. Our underlying assumption is that as optional inputs ("stimuli" or information) and outputs (behaviors) are abundant, if not infinite, and the attention of mental systems is limited—prioritization is necessary. Given this, and treating the mind as an ensemble of processes that create, modify and enact mental representations, the question of motivation can often be reduced to the question of selection among representations at both the input (perceptual) and output (behavior) levels. Accordingly, our work explores the effects of motivational relevance (i.e. the type and degree of information that is deemed important) on selection at both input and output levels. 

N E W S