Prof. Avi Karni

Short CV

1981 - M.D.	The Sackler School of Medicine,Tel-Aviv University (magna cum laude)
1993 - PhD.	The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot (Department of Applied Mathematics & Computer Science, Neurobiology).
1992-1996	Post-doctoral fellowship, with Dr. Leslie Ungerleider, at the National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD.
2001-present	Assoc. Professor at the Faculty of Science and The Department of Learning Dysabilities, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa.

Scholarships & awards:

1992         J. William Fulbright Scholarship (USIEF-USIA-CIES).

1996         Y. Alon Fellowship, Israeli Council for Higher Education.

Research interests

Using behavioral (psychophysics) and brain imaging (fMRI) techniques, the lab focuses
on studying what drives the ability of the human brain to change with experience and
establish effective long-term memory:

• Learning motor sequences; perceptual skills (auditory discrimination); linguistic
• skills (invented morphological rules & reading) and arithmetical skills and
  mathematical problem solving.
• Time, sleep and the consolidation of skill memory.
• Handwriting & developmental and acquired dysgraphia (Writer's Cramps).
• Brain processes of reading and reading disabilities. Can we train the dyslexic
  brain for reading?
• What can the visual cortex hear: between modality interactions in the adult
  brain.

Key words: procedural learning; memory consolidation; functional brain mapping; MRI

Titles for ongoing projects:

• A behavioral, ERP and fMRI study of the effects of training on the representation
  of language skills in the dyslexic brain (with Z. Breznitz & D. Manor).
• Cross modal interaction in the adult brain (behavioral & fMRI studies).
• Behavioral & fMRI study of the representation of handwriting in an acquired
  dystonia (Writers' cramps). (with N. Giladi (Tel Aviv Medical Center) & D. Manor).
• The kinematics of skilled movement & co-articulation (with T. Flash (WIS).

• The representation of arithmetical skills in the dyscalculic brain (with Z. Breznitz,
  I. Morocz (Harvard) & R Shalev (Sha'arei Zedek Medical Center).
• Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) studies of the stages in learning
  a cognitive skill.
• (with E Vakil (Bar Ilan U.) & L. Grunhouse (Sheba Medical Center).
• The effects of time and daytime napping on skill memory consolidation.
  (with Y. Dagan (TAU)).

Selected publications:

1)   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.

2)   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.

3)   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.

4)   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.

5)   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.

Graduate students and post-docs:

PhD students:

• Shosi Dorfberger             - Motor Sequence Learning & Handwriting in Children.
• Meirav Balas                   - Motor learning in Writers Cramps                   
• Semion Rozanov, M.D.     - EMG in Motor Sequence Learning        
• Michael Inspector, M.D.   - Prosody, tempo and declarative memory

MA students:

• Eyal Zioni;
• Anava Gazov;
• Tali Lavie (with Dr. Rachel Tomer);
• Rim Halabi;

• Rinatia Ma'aravi;
• Michal Weizmann;
• Avital Toviana;
• Orly Pearlson;

PhD students not in the Haifa program:

• Maria Korman               - Stages in Motor Sequence Learning (WIS)        
• Sara Ferman                - Acquisition of a Linguistic Rule (Hebrew U)
• Iris Leweschus              - Priming & Skill Learning (Bar Ilan U)    
• Ronen Sosnik               - Motor Sequence Learning – kinematics (WIS) 
• Anna Sterkin                - Cross Modal Processing (WIS)      
• Daphna Ari-Even Roth  - Auditory plasticity (TAU)