Rea Antoniou

Rea obtained her BA degree in psychology (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece). As a bachelor thesis student, she was introduced to the fascinating world of research by undertaking a behavioral study probing the association between cheating, creativity and moral reasoning. The question which psychological mechanisms tilt our moral compass sparked her interest. However, pieces were definitely missing from understanding such a perplex topic in depth.

Her MS degree in Neural and Behavioural Sciences (University of Tubingen, Germany) provided a bigger piece to the puzzle by giving her the opportunity to work out interdisciplinary questions such as how cognitive enhancers affect cheating upon monetary payoff (Oxford University, UK) and how arousal mediates different contexts of lying (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Germany).

Now, being part of the Decision Lab at the Memory and Aging Center, she is thrilled to have the opportunity to add another major piece, dementia. In other words, investigating conditions characterized notably by impairment of memory and judgment. In the lab, she is responsible for fMRI task design, data collection and analysis for the Decision-Making in Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias and the Online Studies of Decision-Making in Healthy Aging projects. Some questions she is eager to examine include how moral reasoning, dishonest behavior and overall value-based decision making processes are altered in different types of dementia, including corresponding brain areas.

In her free time she enjoys dancing, hiking and camping. When she experiences a rush of adrenaline, she is most likely trying to surf.