Avi Karni, Prof.
Chair, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Science & Science Education;
Member, the Departments of Learning Disabilities & Neurobiology and Ethology,
Phone: 04-8288052, 04-8288429
Email: avi.karni@yahoo.com
Research Interests: Neurobiology of learning & memory, sleep, memory consolidation, language-brain systems, motor control & motor learning, acquisition of language & arithmetical skills, perceptual learning, functional MRI.
Recent publications:
A. Karni, G. Meyer, C. Rey-Hippolito, P. Jezzard, M. M. Adams, R. Turner and L. G. Ungerleider (1998): The acquisition of skilled motor performance: fast and slow experience-driven changes in primary motor cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 95(3) 861-868.
H. Neville, D. Bavelier, D. Corina, A. Braun, V.P. Clark, A. Karni, A. Lalwani, J. Rauschecker, P. Jezzard and R. Turner (1998): Cerebral organization in language in deaf and hearing people: Biological constraints and experience specific effects. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 95(3), 922-929.
Y. Bonneh, D. Sagi and A. Karni (2001): Object and eye competition in binocular rivalry: ambiguity resolved at different levels. Vision Research8, 981 – 989.
L.G. Ungerleider, J. Doyon and A. Karni (2002): Imaging brain plasticity during motor skill learning. Neurobiol. Learn. Mem. 78:553-564.
B. Hauptmann and A. Karni (2002): Primed to learn: saturation of repetition priming and the induction of long-term memory. Brain Research - Cognitive Brain Research 13(3): 313-322.
J. Doyon, A.W. Song, A. Karni, F. Lalonde, M.M. Adams and L.G. Ungerleider (2002): Experience-dependent changes in cerebellar contributions to motor sequence learning.Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 99(2):1017-1022.
T. Bitan & A. Karni (2003): The acquisition of word segmentation skills: implicit and explicit knowledge in learning to read a morse-like script. Brain Research - Cognitive Brain Research 16:323-337.
M. Korman, N. Raz, T. Flash and A. Karni (2003): Multiple shifts in the representation of a motor sequence during the acquisition of skilled performance. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 100(21):14292-14297.
N. Ofen-Noy, Y. Dudai and A. Karni (2003): Skill learning in mirror reading: how repetition determines acquisition. Brain Research - Cognitive Brain Research 17:507-521.
R. Sosnik, B. Hauptmann, A. Karni & T. Flash (2004): When a longer path is faster: The evolution of a movement primitive in the adult motor system. Experimental Brain Research156(24)422-438;
T. Bitan and A. Karni (2004): Procedural and declarative knowledge of word recognition and letter decoding in reading an artificial script. Brain Research - Cognitive Brain Research19(3): 229-243.
D. Ari-Even Roth, L. Kishon-Rabin, M. Hidesheimer & A. Karni (2005): a latent consolidation phase in auditory identification learning: time in the awake state is sufficient. Learning & memory 12(2):159-64.
T. Bitan, D. Manor, I. Morocz and A. Karni (2005): Effects of alphabeticality, practice and type of instruction on reading an artificial script: An fMRI study. Brain Research - Cognitive Brain Research 25(1):90-106.
A. Karni, I.A. Morocz, T. Bitan, S. Shaul, T. Kushnir and Z. Breznitz (2005): An fMRI study of the differential effects of word presentation rates (reading acceleration) on dyslexic readers’ brain activity patterns. J. Neurolinguistics 18(2):197-219.
Hauptmann B, Reinhart E, Brandt SA, Karni A (2006): The predictive value of the leveling off of within session performance for procedural memory consolidation. Brain Research -Cognitive Brain Research 24(2):181-9.
N. Censor, A. Karni, & D. Sagi (2006): A link between perceptual learning, adaptation and sleep. Vision Research 2006 46(23):4071-4.
M. Merhav, S. Kuulmann-Vander, A. Elkobi, S. Jacobson-Pick, A. Karni, K. Rosenblum (2006): Behavioral interference and C/EBPbeta expression in the insular-cortex reveal a prolonged time period for taste memory consolidation. Learning & Memory 2006 13(5):571-4.
M. Balas, N. Roitenberg, N, Giladi & A. Karni. (2007): When practice does not make perfect: well-practiced handwriting interferes with the consolidation phase gains in learning a movement sequence. Experimental Brain Research 2007 Apr;178(4):499-508.
M. Balas, N. Roitenberg, N, Giladi & A. Karni. (2007): Interference to consolidation phase gains in learning a novel movement sequence by handwriting: dependence on laterality and the level of experience with the written sequence. Experimental Brain Research. 2007 Jun;180(2):237-46.
S. Dorfberger, E. Adi-Japhe & A. Karni (2007): Reduced susceptibility to interference in the consolidation of motor memory before adolescence. PLoS ONE. 2007 28;2(2):e240.
M. Korman, J. Doyon, J. Doljansky, J. Carrier, Y. Dagan and A. Karni (2007): Daytime sleep condenses the time–course of motor memory consolidation. Nature Neuroscience 2007 10(9):1206-13.
D. Hecht, M. Reiner, A. Karni (2008): Enhancement of response times to bi- and tri-modal sensory stimuli during active movements. Experimental Brain Research 2008 185(4):655-65.
Hecht D, Reiner M, Karni A. (2008): Multisensory enhancement: gains in choice and in simple response times. Experimental Brain Research 2008 189(2):133-43.
Morin A, Doyon J, Dostie V, Barakat M, Hadj Tahar A, Korman M, Benali H, Karni A,Ungerleider LG, Carrier J. Motor sequence learning increases sleep spindles and fast frequencies in post-training sleep. Sleep. 2008 Aug 1;31(8):1149-56.
Adi-Japha E, Karni A, Parnes A, Loewenschuss I, Vakil E. (2008): A shift in task routines during the learning of a motor skill: group-averaged data may mask critical phases in the individuals’ acquisition of skilled performance. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 2008 Nov;34(6):1544-51.
Hecht D, Reiner M, Karni A. (2009): Repetition priming for multisensory stimuli: task-irrelevant and task-relevant stimuli are associated if semantically related but with no advantage over uni-sensory stimuli. Brain Research. 2009 Jan 28;1251:236-44.
Hauptmann B, Sosnik R, Smikt O, Okon E, Manor D, Kushnir T, Flash T, Karni A. (2009): A new method to record and control for 2D-movement kinematics during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Cortex. 2009 Mar;45(3):407-17.
Dorfberger S, Adi-Japha E, Karni A. (2009): Sex differences in motor performance and motor learning in children and adolescents: An increasing male advantage in motor learning and consolidation phase gains. Behav Brain Res. 2009 Mar 2;198(1):165-71.
Doyon J, Korman M, Morin A, Dostie V, Hadj Tahar A, Benali H, Karni A, Ungerleider LG, Carrier J. (2009): Contribution of night and day sleep vs. simple passage of time to the consolidation of motor sequence and visuomotor adaptation learning. Exp Brain Res.2009 May;195(1):15-26.
