סגל

הגעתי לחקר המוח מתחום הנדסת חשמל (תקשורת) ופיסיקה. משנת 1997 עבדתי בתעשייה בפיתוח אלגוריתמים בתחום תקשורת ספרתית, עיבוד אותות, ועסקתי במחקר בתקשורת אופטית. בשנת 2005 עברתי לתחום חקר המוח.

האם ניתן להסתכל על המוח כמערכת תקשורת מורכבת? כיצד תקשורת בין איזורים שונים (או רשתות שונות) במוח קשורה להתנהגות אנושית? איך הדבר קשור לתקשורת בין מוחות ? שאלות מרתקות אלה מעסיקות אותי בשנים האחרונות. ההסתכלות על המוח כמערכת תקשורת מבוזרת שבה לדינמיקת הקשרים בין איזורים שונים ישנה משמעות קוגנטיבית חשובה,והיכולת לעקוב אחר קשרים כאלה בזמן מטלה, הם חלק מרכזי מהמחקר שלי כיום.

כדי לנסות ולענות על שאלות אלה, אני משתמש בטכנולוגיית דימות תהודה מגנטית תפקודי (fMRI) בזמן שאנשים מקשיבים לסיפורים, הרצאות או רואים סרטים, ומפתח שיטות חדשות לניתוח המידע הרב המתקבל מניסויים אלה.כמו כן אני משתדל להציע מודלים מתמטיים אשר יסבירו תוצאות אלה. תרומת מחקר זה היא הן בהיבט המדע הבסיסי (האם ישנם עקרונות בסיסיים בתקשורת בין איזורים (רשתות), ומהו הבסיס לתקשורת זו) ובהיבט הישומי, כמו אבחון וטיפול בבעיות זיכרון.

תרומת ההנדסה לחקר המוח חשובה מאוד. אני מקווה שעוד מהנדסים יצטרפו לתחום מרתק זה.

• Computational Neuroscience
• System Neuroscience
• Cognitive neuroscience
• Neuro-engineering

1. E. Simony, C. Chang
   Analysis of stimulus-induced brain dynamics during naturalistic stimulation
   Neuroimage Special Issue on "Naturalistic Imaging" December 2019

2. M. Regev, E. Simony, K. Lee, K.M. Tan, J. Chen, U. Hasson
   Propagation of information along the cortical hierarchy as a function of attention while reading and listening to stories Cereb Cortex, bhy282, 2018
   [https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhy282]

3. G. Rosenthal, M. Tanzer, E. Simony, U. Hasson, M. Behrmann, and G. Avidan,
   Altered topology of neural circuits in congenital prosopagnosia,
   2017, vol. 6,  eLife.   
4. Y. Liu, E. A. Piazza, E. Simony, P. A. Shewokis, B. Onaral, U. Hasson, H. Ayaz,
   Measuring Speaker-Listener Neural Coupling with Functional near Infrared Spectroscopy,
    2017 , Scientific Reports.    
5. Y. Yeshurun, S. Swanson, E. Simony, J. Chen, C.J. Honey, C. Lazaridi, U. Hasson
   Same story, different story: Neural representation of context-dependent ToM
   2017, Psychological Science.  
6. E. Simony, C.J. Honey, J. Chen, O. Lositsky, Y. Yeshurun, A. Wiesel, U. Hasson
   Dynamic reconfiguration of the default mode network during narrative comprehension
   Nature Communications, 7, 2016 (13 pages)       
7. J. Chen, C.J. Honey, E. Simony, M.J. Arcaro, K.A. Norman, U. Hasson
   Accessing real-life episodic information from minutes versus hours earlier modulates hippocampal and high-order cortical dynamics
    Cerebral Cortex, 26(8), 2015 (3428-3441)  
8. L.J. Silbert, C.J. Honey, E. Simony, D. Poeppel, U. Hasson
   Coupled neural systems underlie the production and comprehension of naturalistic narrative speech
   PNAS - Proc. of the National Academy of Sciences, 2014 (E4687-E4696) published online 
9. M. Regev, C.J. Honey, E. Simony, U. Hasson
   Selective and invariant neural responses to spoken and written narratives
   The J. of Neuroscience, 33(4), 2013 (15978-15988)  
10. K. Bagdasarian M. Szwed, P.M. Knutsen, D. Deutsch, D. Derdikman, M. Pietr,E. Simony, E. Ahissar
    Pre-neuronal morphological processing of object location by individual whiskers
    Nature Neuroscience, 16, 2013 (622-631)   
11. S. Haidarliu, E. Simony, D. Golomb, E. Ahissar
    Collagenous skeleton of the rat mystacial pad
    The Anatomical Record, 294, 2011 (7640-773)  
12. E. Simony, K. Bagdasarian, L. Herfst, M. Brechi, E. Ahissar, D. Golomb
    Temporal and spatial characteristics of vibrissa responses to motor commands
    The J. of Neuroscience, 30(26), 2010 (8935-8952)  
13. S. Haidarliu, E. Simony, D. Golomb, E. Ahissar
    Muscle architecture in the mystacial pad of the rat
    The Anatomical Record, 293, 2010 (1192-1206)  
14. E. Simony, I. Saraf-Sinik, D. Golomb, E. Ahissar [News and Views]
    Sensation-targeted motor control: Every spike counts? Focus on: Whisker movements evoked by stimulation of single motor neurons in the facial nucleus of the rat
    The J. of Neurophysiology, 99(6), 2008 (2757-2759) 
15. M. Nazarathy, E. Simony
    Error probability performance of equi-energy combined transmission of differential phase, amplitude, and polarization
    J. of Lightwave Technology, 25(1), 2007 (249-260) 
16. M. Nazarathy, E. Simony
    Generalized Stokes parameters shift keying approach to multichip differential phase
    encoded optical modulation formats
    Optics Letters, 31(4), 2006 (435-437)   
17. M. Nazarathy, E. Simony
     Stokes space optimal detection of multi-differential phase and polarization shift keying modulation
    J. of Lightwave Technology, 24(5), 2006 (1978-1988) 
18. M. Nazarathy, E. Simony, Y. Yadin
    Analytical evaluation of bit error rates for hard detection of optical Differential
    Phase Amplitude Shift Keying (DPASK)
    J. of Lightwave Technology, 24(5), 2006 (2248-2260) 
19. M. Nazarathy, E. Simony
    Generalized Stokes parameters-shift keying: A new perspective on optimal detection over
    electrical optical vector incoherent channels
     IEEE Trans. on Communications, 54(3), 2006 (499-509) 
20. M. Nazarathy, E. Simony
    Multichip differential phase encoded optical transmission
    IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 17(5), 2005 (1133-1135) 
21. M. Nazarathy, E Simony
    Performance limits of multilevel DPSK
    IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 17(11), 2005 (2310-2312) 

1. O. Shaham, S. Aviran, E. Simony, Y. Shapira
   Rate control for advanced wireless networks
   Proc. IEEE Int'l. Conf. Third Generation Wireless and Beyond (3Gwireless '01)
   San Francisco, USA, 6-8 June 2001 (444-449)
2. E. Simony, K. Bagdasarian, L. Herfst, M. Brecht, E. Ahissar, D. Golomb
   The whisking motor unit: Temporal and spatial summation of motoneurons spikes
   J. of Molecular Neuroscience, 39 (Suppl 1), 2009 (S111-S112)
   18th Annual Meeting of the Israel Society for Neuroscience
   Eilat, Israel, 22-24 November 2009 [abstract]
3. E. Simony, K. Bagdasarian, E. Ahissar
   A mathematical model that predicts rat whisker trajectories during electrical stimuli of the
   facial motor nerve: A reverse engineering approach
   15th Annual Meeting of the Israel Society for Neuroscience
   Eilat, Israel, 3-5 December 2006 (page 85)
4. E. Simony, E. Ahissar, D. Golomb
   Role of sensory feedback in determining the firing patterns of vibrissa motoneurons
   Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting (SFN 2007)
   San Diego, USA, 3-7 November 2007 [poster]
5. E. Simony, D. Golomb, M. Pietr, E. Ahissar, B. Mitchinson, T. Prescott
   BIOTACT: Rethinking motor control – Insights from the nested-loop architecture of the rat whisker system
   The European Future Technologies Conf. (FET09)
   Prague, 21-23 April 2009
6. E. Simony, K. Bagdasarian, L. Herfst, M. Brecht, E. Ahissar, D. Golomb
   Temporal and spatial characteristic of vibrissa responses to motor commands
   The Sixth Computational Motor Control Workshop
   Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel,15-17 June 2010
7. E. Simony, E. Ahissar, D. Golomb
   Role of sensory feedback in controlling whisker movements in free-air and upon touch
   7th FENS Forum of European Neuroscience
   Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 3-7 July 2010
   FENS Abstract, 5, 2010 [poster]
8. E. Simony, E. Ahissar, D. Golomb 
   Simulation of the vibrissal brainstem loop reveals effects of sensory feedback on whisking and active touch
   Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting (SFN 2010)
   San Diego, CA, USA, 13-17 November 2010 [poster]
9. E. Simony, C.J. Honey, D. Ames, Y. Lerner, U. Hasson
   Inter-subject functional connectivity reveals context-dependent alignment of brain networks
   Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting (SFN 2012)
   New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 13-17 October 2012 [poster]
10. E. Simony, C. Honey, J. Chen, U. Hasson
    Uncovering stimulus-induced network dynamics during narrative comprehension
    The Annual Meeting of Computational and Systems Neuroscience (COSYNE 2014)
    Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, 27 February-2 March 2014 (page 75) [poster]
11. K. L. Stachenfeld, J. R. Manning, X. Xhu, J. M. Cohen, R. Rangananth, E. Simony, J. Chen
    U.Hasson, T. L. Willke, D. Blei, K. A. Norman
    A probabilistic approach for exploring functional brain networks in fMRI during story-telling and at rest
    Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting (SFN 2015)
    Chicago, IL, USA, 17-21 October 2015 [poster]
12. K. Tan, J. Lu, J. Chen, E. Simony, H. Liu, U. Hasson
    Dynamic network reconfiguration during a continuous natural stimulus
    Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting (SFN 2016)
    San Diego, CA, USA, 12-16 November 2016 [poster]
13. M. Regev, E. Simony, C. Baldassano, U. Hasson
    Attention selectively modulates dynamical functional connectivity in processing of simultaneously presented spoken and written narratives
    Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting (SFN 2016)
    San Diego, CA, USA, 12-16 November 2016 [poster]

14. T. Brandman, R. Malach, E. Simony
    Default mode network dynamics predict sequences of cognitive function during naturalistic audiovisual stimulation The 6th Conf. on Cognition Research of the Israeli Society for Cognitive Psychology.
    Akko, Israel, 12-14 February 2019 [oral]

15. T. Brandman, R. Malach, E. Simony

    Default mode network dynamics predict sequences cognitive states during naturalistic stimulation
    25th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM 2019)
    Rome, Italy, 9-13 June 2019 [poster]
     

• ISF 1458/17: Erez Simony "Hippocampal-based connectivity and the default mode network states underlying memory encoding during naturalistic stimuli" Israel Science Foundation (ISF), 2017-2021. (total:1090000 NIS)

Current teaching

• Signals and Systems
• Random Signals
• Machine learning methods for fMRI signal analysis

Previous teaching

• Basics of semiconductor devices
• Electronic switching circuits
• Digital Communication
• Optical Communication