Moshe Bar (neuroscientist)

Summary

Moshe Bar (born 1964) is an Israeli cognitive neuroscientist. He is a professor at Bar-Ilan University. He was previously head of the Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center at Bar-Ilan University and before that director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Moshe Bar
Moshe Bar
Born1964
Dimona, Israel
NationalityIsraeli
Education
Scientific career
FieldsCognitive neuroscience
Institutions
  • Bar-Ilan University
  • Harvard Medical School

Bar's research focuses on various aspects of brain function, including memory, foresight, mental load, mind-wandering, mood, and creativity. Bar has also contributed to the development of conscious cities, which takes into account the effects of urban design on mental health.

He has published over 80 research articles, edited two scientific books and published the popular science book Mindwandering.

Biography edit

Bar completed a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at Ben-Gurion University in 1988.[1] Thereafter, in parallel with military service in the Israeli Air Force, he completed a master's degree in computer science and applied mathematics in 1994[2] at the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he worked under the supervision of Shimon Ullman.[3]

He pursued doctoral studies in psychology at the University of Southern California, under the supervision of Irving Biederman,[3] earning a Ph.D. in 1998.[1] He continued with postdoctoral research at the psychology department at Harvard University, collaborating with Daniel Schacter and Roger Tootel.[3] Since 2000, Bar held a joint faculty appointment at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital as the director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory,[3][1] before returning to Israel in 2011 to head the Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center at Bar-Ilan University.[2][4]

In 2022 Bar published the popular science book Mindwandering: How Your Constant Mental Drift Can Improve Your Mood and Boost Your Creativity.[5]

Bar is a fellow of the Society of Experimental Psychologists[6] and of the American Psychological Association.[7]

Selected publications edit

Scientific articles edit

  • Bar, M. (2004). "Visual objects in context". Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 5: 617–629. doi:10.1038/nrn1476.
  • Bar, M.; Kassam, K.; Ghuman, A.; Boshyan, J.; Dale, A.; Hämäläinen, M.; Marinkovic, K.; Schacter, D.L.; Rosen, B.; Halgren, E. (2006). "Top-down facilitation of visual recognition". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (2): 449–54. doi:10.1073/pnas.0507062103. PMC 1326160.
  • Bar, M. (2007). "The Proactive Brain: Using analogies and associations to generate predictions". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 11 (7): 280–289. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2007.05.005.

Books edit

  • Bar, M., ed. (2011). Predictions in the Brain: Using Our Past to Generate a Future. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195395518.
  • Bar, M.; Bubic, A. (2013). "Top-down Effects in Visual Perception". In Ochsner, K.; Kosslyn, S. (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Neuroscience. The Oxford Handbook Series. Oxford University Press. pp. 60–73. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199988693.013.0004. ISBN 9780190629878.
  • Kveraga, K.; Bar, M. (2014). Scene Vision: Making Sense of What We See. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262319898.
  • Bar, M. (2022). Mindwandering: How Your Constant Mental Drift Can Improve Your Mood and Boost Your Creativity. Hachette Go. ISBN 9780306925306.[5]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Blum, Brian (6 October 2019). "Raising the Bar". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Moshe Bar - Director and Professor, Leslie and Susan Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d "Prof. Moshe Bar: Adventures in memory". Weizmann Institute. 25 September 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  4. ^ "Prof. Moshe Bar". Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  5. ^ a b Sim, Walter (30 April 2022). "Book review: Mind wandering? That may not be a bad thing". The Straits Times. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  6. ^ "SEP Fellows". Society of Experimental Psychologists. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  7. ^ "Fellows". American Psychological Association. Retrieved 13 September 2023.

External links edit

  • Official website
  • Publications
  • Bar-Ilan University Lab