Lab members

Dr. Erez Freud

Principal Investigator

Erez is the head of the lab. His interests are neuropsychology of the visual system, object recognition, visuomotor control and developmental Psychology.

CV; Google Scholar Profile

email: efreud@yorku.ca

Dr. Yadurshana Sivashankar

Postdoctoral researcher

Yadurshana Sivashankar is a cognitive neuroscientist whose research sits at the intersection of memory and visuomotor processes. Her doctoral work examined the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying successful retention of spatial representations. During her graduate career, she developed expertise in virtual reality, fMRI, neuropsychological assessment, and eye-tracking. In her current postdoctoral research, she is investigating the lifespan development of visuomotor processes in healthy populations, with extensions to autism spectrum disorder. She aims to leverage insights from visuomotor research to inform understandings of higher-order functions such as memory. Her research has received funding from NSERC, Mitacs, CPA, WiCS, and Connected Minds. In her spare time, she enjoys travelling, cooking, and watching thriller and horror films.

Felicia Tassone

PhD Student

Felicia is a second-year PhD student in York's Doctoral Psychology program. She is part of the Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science stream, with expertise in the field of visual neuroscience. As a master's student in the Freud Lab, she looked at how older adults' perceptual and visuomotor behaviours differ from younger adults using the Ponzo illusion. In her current PhD work, she employs motion-tracking and fMRI to characterize the evolution of these behaviours across the lifespan and in different populations, including older adults, stroke patients, and autistic children. As a recipient of the Connected Minds Travel Award in 2025, she was able to conduct a study in partnership with neurologist Elisabeth Rounis at Imperial College London and Cambridge University, which focused on investigating grasping behaviours in stroke patients with limb apraxia. Outside of research, Felicia is a tutor for high school students, a mentor for Psychology undergraduates, the York Lead of Connected Minds' Training Advisory Group, and is actively involved in York's Centre for Vision Research and Centre for Integrative and Applied Neuroscience.

Mario Costantino

Master's Student

I am a Master's student in the Freud Lab. I am interested in understanding how the brain processes visual information and how changes in the visual environment can impact perception and action. My research focuses on investigating action prediction in individuals with autism. In my free time I love watching movies, swimming, and making food!

Nicole Barkan

Master's Student

Nicole is a first-year Master’s student in the Brain, Behaviour and Cognitive Science stream at York University with a specialization in Neuroscience. Her research focuses on perception-action dissociations in tool-mediated grasping, with a particular interest in how tool use influences grasping movements during perceptual tasks and the underlying visuomotor processes involved. As an NSERC USRA recipient, her undergraduate research examined metacognitive errors in cognitive recalibration and the extent to which metacognitive reflection generalizes to novel stimuli. Outside of the lab, Nicole enjoys painting, reading and exploring coffee shops.

Austin Shaw

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Austin is an undergraduate student in the Neuroscience program. Before returning to school, he spent over 13 years working in the trades. He is fascinated by the brain and why we do what we do—not only at the psychological level, but particularly by the neural mechanisms underlying behaviour. Vision plays an enormous role in how we perceive and interact with the world, so learning how the visual system processes information to shape perception and behaviour has been a great experience for him. When he is not in the library studying, Austin can usually be found lifting weights, running, eating, or writing and telling awful jokes.

Yigal Bruk

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Yigal is a former professional athlete studying neuroscience at York University, where he is fascinated by the neural mechanisms underlying thought, movement, and behaviour. His academic interests centre on the clinical applications of neuroscience research, particularly disorders affecting motor and cognitive function. Beyond his studies, he leads a nationwide charity that educates senior citizens about fraud. Outside of volunteering and the library, he enjoys country line dancing and spending time with family and friends.

Ava Vafaie

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Ava is a fourth-year Kinesiology and Health Sciences student at York University. She is interested in motor control and human movement, particularly how we plan, coordinate and adapt our movements and what these processes can tell us about human behaviour. She enjoys learning about how the mind and body work together and how movement shapes the way we interact with the world around us. Outside of university, Ava enjoys playing tennis, baking and spending time with family and friends.

Evelyn Duong

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Evelyn is a fourth-year Psychology student. She is particularly interested in understanding the human mind and how certain behaviours and thoughts can be explained through underlying mechanisms. She is also curious about how the brain can be tricked by visual illusions and how the structure and function of the nervous system vary across age groups and genders, both with and without psychological disorders. She usually spends her free time outside of school working out and listening to music.