Maya Haklai

I am a Research Assistant at the Body, Mind and Behaviour Laboratory. I currently work with a research team directed by Professor Simone Schnall on the interdisciplinary project “Higher Values: Aesthetic Experiences, Transcendence, and Prosociality”, funded by the Templeton Religion Trust. This research examines how encounters with art, aesthetic objects, and environments shape cognition, emotion, and social behaviour.

Alongside this, I assist with other projects in the lab, including work on how people interact with artificial intelligence and how these interactions influence cognitive processes and social understanding.

I completed my MSc in Social Cognition at University College London, where I developed a strong interest in social perception, group processes, and the psychological mechanisms underlying meaning, values, and connection.