Prof. Boaz M. Ben-David, PhD
Head, Communication Aging and Neuropsychology lab
Prof. Ben-David is a cognitive psychologist and a speech scientist. He heads the Communication Aging and Neuropsychology lab (CANlab) at Reichman University.He holds a bachelor’s degree in both physics and psychology, a Masters (Summa cum Laude) and a PhD in Cognitive Psychology, all from Tel-Aviv University. Prof. Ben-David pursued his postdoctoral training at the University of Toronto examining several aspects of sensory and cognitive aging: The effects of aging and background noise on spoken word recognition, the time-line for perceptually segregating speech from ambient noise, and mechanisms underlying selective attention. In 2012, Prof. Ben-David took a faculty position at Reichman University.
Prof. Ben-David also holds academic positions as an adjunct scientist at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute (TRI, a research hospital) and as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Toronto, in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute (RSI).
His current focus is on communication, neuropsychological testing and cognitive and sensory integration in aging.
He investigates the premise that reductions in the quality of the sensory input will result in less efficient cognitive functioning, specifically when communicating in adverse situations (such as a noisy restaurant).
Prof. Ben-David also investigates the different routes for the perception of emotions in spoken language.
In his lab, he uses various sophisticated methods including eye-tracking, auditory analysis, mathematical modeling and attentional paradigms.
Prof. Ben-David investigates new routes for cognitive resilience in aging, including employing playfulness and attachment mechanisms. He is looking to uncover the sophisticated compensation mechanisms used by older adults, and by people with cognitive/sensory impairments, to process speech so efficiently.
Prof. Ben-David has won several grants and awards. Notably, a multinational €1 Million grant on active and healthy aging, from the European Commission; two consecutive grants from the Israeli Science Foundations (ISF); a grant from the German-Israeli Foundation (GIF); a grant from the Israeli Science and Technology Ministry; the Marie Curie Career Integration award (EU), Global Aging Initiative (Washington University), Bronfman Philanthropies (Brandeis University); Alzheimer’s Society of Canada; Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation; and several local Israeli grants: Emily Sagol Center, SHALEM, (Intellectual Disabilities) and Effectivate.