Noa Ofen, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate

Office: 46-4033F

Telephone: (617) 324-3544

Email: noa at mit dot edu

Postdoctoral Associate (present), Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences MIT

Postdoctoral Fellow (2004-2005), Psychology Department, Stanford University

Ph.D. (2004), Life Sciences, Brain Research Center, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

M.Sc. (1998), Life Sciences, Brain Research Center, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

B.A. (1996), Psychology and Interdisciplinary Honors Program, University of Haifa, Israel                                                        

In my PhD thesis work: "Cognitive Skill Learning: How Repetition Determines Acquisition" (advisors: Yadin Dudai, and Avi Karni) I studied ways to create effective learning by addressing key elements of the practice experience. For example, I found that spacing the same amount of practice over a few days resulted not only in better learning of the specific task but also in better in general learning of related aspects that were not part of the training.
In the past few years I have been working in the framework of developmental cognitive neuroscience with specific interest in memory processes. My long-range research goal is to understand how learning and memory work in the human mind and brain. This includes memory for experiences and facts (declarative memory) and memory for skills (procedural memory). In particular, I aim to understand, via cognitive neuroscience, how memory mechanisms develop from childhood through adulthood. I use behavioral methods and multiple imaging methods, including fMRI and structural imaging.
Additional projects that I am conducting focus on brain mechanism for cognitive control (such as those involved in deception) and the integration of cognitive control and memory. I focus on individual differences which I believe are crucial to be implemented in any model of the brain function that may have practical implication to education or atypical development.

Ofen, N., Kao Y-C., Sokol-Hessner, P., Kim, H., Whitfield-Gabrieli, S. & Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2007). Development of the declarative memory system in the human brain. Nature Neuroscience 10, 1198-1205.

Ofen, N., Moran, A. & Sagi, D., (2007). Effects of trial repetition in texture discrimination. Vision Research 47, 1094-1102.

Ofen-Noy, N., Dudai, Y. & Karni, A. (2003). Skill learning in mirror reading: How repetition determines acquisition. Brain Res.: Cog. Brain Res. 17, 507-521.

Neural correlates of deception and its preparation as measured by fMRI

The development of memory retrieval in the human brain

Parietal lobes contribution to memory retrieval – developmental evidence

Developmental changes in the encoding of indoor versus outdoor scenes

Memory strengths effects on encoding and retrieval processes

Ofen, N., Chai, X.J & Gabrieli, J.D.E. The development of brain systems for episodic memory retrieval: Frontal-parietal and medial temporal lobes, to be presented at 2009 Cognitive Neuroscience Society Meeting, San Francisco, CA.

Ofen, N. The development of brain systems for declarative memory, accepted paper symposium, 2009 Biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, CO.  

Chai, X.J., Ofen, N. & Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2008) Developmental changes in the encoding of indoor versus outdoor scenes. Society for Neuroscience Meeting, Washington, DC.

*Yoo, J.J., Ofen, N., Hinds, O., Gabrieli S. & Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2008). Predicting Successful Memory Formation using fMRI and Discriminant Analyses. OHBM Meeting, Australia.

Hinds, O., Ofen, N., Gabrieli, S., Triantafyllou, C., Yoo, J.J., Ghosh, S., Lala, N., Willingham, D. & Gabrieli J.D.E. (2008). Transitions of task-related brain activation during acquisition of a novel perceptual-motor mapping. OHBM Meeting, Australia.

Ofen, N., Chai, X.J., Schuil, K.D.I., Hameed A. & Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2008). The development of brain systems for episodic memory retrieval, Cognitive Neuroscience Society Meeting, San Francisco, CA.

*Ofen, N. & Gabrieli J.D.E. (2007). Development memory systems in the brain. Israeli Society for Neuroscience Meeting, Eilat, Israel.

*Ofen, N., Whitfield-Gabrieli, S. & Gabrieli J.D.E. (2007). Development of parietal contributions to successful memory encoding. Society for Neuroscience Meeting, San Diego, CA.

*Ofen, N., Kim, H., Kao, Y-C., Sokol-Hessner, P. & J.D.E. Gabrieli (2006). Maturation of brain structures supporting successful memory encoding. Society for Neuroscience Meeting, Atlanta, GA.

Ofen, N., Kao, Y-C., Sokol-Hessner, P. & Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2006). Developmental relationship between memory systems underlying successful memory encoding, working memory, source memory and speed of processing. OHBM Meeting, Florence, Italy.

*Ofen, N., Kao, Y-C. Sokol-Hessner, P. Motsinger, J. & Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2005). Development of memory systems underlying successful memory encoding. ICON9 Meeting, Havana, Cuba.

Ofen, N., Gray, M.E., Mazaika, P., Hutchinson, J.B., Whitfield-Gabrieli, S. & Gabrieli, J.E.D. (2005). Get ready to lie: Neural correlates of deception and its preparation as measured by fMRI. Soc. Neurosci. Abstr., No. 877.29.

*Ofen, N., Dudai, Y. & Karni, A. (2004). Cognitive skill learning: repetition per-se does not determine specificity. Society for Neuroscience Meeting, San Diego, CA.

Ofen, N., Moran, A. & Sagi, D. (2004). Within-session deterioration in texture discrimination. J Cogn. Neurosci., D149, Suppl.

Ofen-Noy, N., Dudai, Y. & Karni, A. (2003). Time in learning: spacing practice sessions across days improve acquisition and transfer performance. J Cogn. Neurosci., B208, Suppl.

*Ofen-Noy, N., Dudai, Y. & Karni, A. (2002). Time and the learning of a cognitive skill: The spacing of practice sessions across days improves performance. Neuronal Plasticity, 9(2), 103.

Ofen-Noy, N., Dudai, Y. & Karni, A. (2001). More practice makes less transfer but no difference to the time course of skill acquisition. Soc. Neurosci. Abstr., 27, 76.8.