Dr Carmel Mevorach BA, PhD

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)121 41 44910
Email: c.mevorach@bham.ac.uk

Address: University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Carmel Mevorach is a cognitive neuroscientist focusing on mechanisms of top-down attention control, which lie at the heart of various cognitive functions. His research also aims to unravel how individual factors (such as autistic traits or normal aging) mediate mechanisms of attention, including on the neural level.

Qualifications

BA (Tel Aviv)
PhD (Birmingham)

Biography

Dr Mevorach completed his undergraduate degree in psychology and computer sciences at Tel Aviv University, Israel. He later moved on to develop a new computerised assessment and training batteries for children and adults with ADHD (together with Professor Tsal and Professor Shalev) following which he arrived at Birmingham to study for a Ph.D. with Professor Glyn Humphreys looking at mechanisms of salience-based selection. He then took a couple of post-doc positions (ESRC, MRC) before taking up a lectureship position in 2010.

Teaching

Dr Mevorach is the module leader for a third-year module focusing on understanding the neurocognitive effects on attention of both normal aging and brain damage and the attempts to ameliorate them.

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Mevorach is interested in supervising graduate students in topics related to the cognitive neuroscience of attention. Students should be knowledgeable about neuroscience, and ideally have some experience with brain imaging or stimulation. Students interested in attention training projects are also welcome to apply.

Current PhD students:

Mayra Muller Spaniol (PhD candidate) – Characterising attention control in ASD and the potential benefit of attention training in such individuals.
Brandon Ashinoff (PhD candidate) – Parietal contribution to proactive and reactive control in aging.
Orly Azulai (PhD candidate, Tel Aviv university) – Parietal involvement in perceptual learning.

Research

Dr Mevorach uses a variety of methodologies including brain stimulation (TMS/ tDCS) and brain imaging (fMRI) to better understand brain mechanisms of attention control.

One aspect of his research focuses on the interaction between attention control and implementation in the brain (e.g., Mevorach et al., 2010 JoN) in order to provide a neurocognitive marker of attention performance. Consequently, these markers are used in investigating atypical attention: in patients with brain lesion, neurodevelopmental disorders (such as ADHD or Autism) and normal ageing. By better understanding the circuitry of top-down attentional selection in health he aims to elucidate attentional functioning in these atypical scenarios so that the difficulties and also the way they might be ameliorated can be unveiled.

Other lines of his research focus on how visual attention processes are intertwined with motor control (e.g., Mevorach et al., 2016, JoV) and how they interact with perceptual learning (Chang et al., 2014, Curr Biol). Taken together the work in his lab also paves the way for a more translational approach to how computerised attention training (CPAT, Sampanis et al., 2015) as well as perceptual learning can be beneficially utilised in a variety of contexts (e.g., after stroke, in ADHD, in Autism and in aging).

Publications

Mevorach, C., Spaniol M. M., Soden, M., & Galea, M. G. (2016). Age-dependent distractor suppression across the vision and motor domain. Journal of Vision, 16(11):27, 1-14, doi:10.1167/16.11.27.

Abu-Akel, A., Apperly, I., Wood, S.J., Hansen, P., & Mevorach, C. (2016). Autism tendencies and psychosis proneness interactively modulate saliency cost. Schizophrenia Bulletin, DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbw066.

Sampanis, D.S., Mevorach, C., Shalev, L., Mohammed, S. & Humphreys, G.W. (2015). Reducing Cognitive Deficits after Stroke through Computerized Progressive Attentional Training (CPAT): A Pilot Study. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation – International 2 (7): 1058.

Braithwaite, J., Mevorach, C., & Takahashi, C. (2015). Stimulating the aberrant brain: Evidence for increased cortical hyperexcitability from a transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) study of individuals predisposed to anomalous perceptions. Cortex, 69, 1-13.

Shalev, L., Kolodny, T., Shalev, N., & Mevorach, C. (2015). Attention Functioning Among Adolescents With Multiple Learning, Attentional, Behavioral, and Emotional Difficulties. Journal of learning disabilities. DOI: 10.1177/0022219415579125.

Sui, J., Liu, M., Mevorach, C., & Humphreys, G.W., (2015). The salient self: The left intra-parietal sulcus responds to social as well as perceptual-salience after self-association. Cerebral Cortex, 25(4), 1060-1068.

Chang, H.F.D., Mevorach, C., Kourtzi, Z., & Welchman, D. E. (2014). Training transfers the limits on perception from parietal to temporal cortex. Current Biology 24 (20), 2445-2450.

Mevorach C., Shalev L., Green R. J., Riddoch M.J., & Humphreys, G. W. (2014). Hierarchical processing in Balint syndrome: a failure of flexible top-down attention. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00113.

Mevorach, C., Tsal, Y., & Humphreys, G. W. (2013). Low level perceptual, not attentional, processes modulate distractor interference in high perceptual Load displays: evidence from neglect/extinction. Frontiers in Cognition, 4, 966.

Tsvetanov, K., Mevorach, C., Allen, H., & Humphreys, G.W., (2013) Age-related differences in Selection by Visual Saliency. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 75 (7), 1382-1394.

Soto, D., Rotshtein, P., Hodsoll, J., Mevorach, C., and Humphreys, G. W., (2012). Common and distinct neural regions for the guidance of selection by visuoverbal information held in memory: Converging evidence from fMRI and rTMS. Human Brain Mapping, 33:1, 105–120

Shalev, L., Ben-Simon, A., Mevorach, C., Cohen, Y., and Tsal, Y. (2011). Conjunctive Continuous Performance Task (CCPT)-A pure measure of sustained attention. Neuropsychologia, 49:9, 2584-2591.

Mevorach, C., Hodsoll, J., Allen H. A., Shalev, L., Humphreys, G. W. (2010). Ignoring the Elephant in the Room: A Neural Circuit to Down-regulate Salience. Journal of Neuroscience, 30, 6072-6079.

Riddoch, M.J., Chechlacz, M., Mevorach, C., Mavritsaki, R., Allen, H., and Humphreys, G.W. (2010). The neural mechanisms of visual selection: the view from neuropsychology. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1191, 156–181.

Mevorach, C., Humphreys, G. W. & Shalev, L. (2009). Reflexive and preparatory selection and suppression of saliency in the right and left posterior parietal cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21:6, 1204-1214.

Mevorach C, Shalev L, Allen HA, Humphreys GW. (2009). The Left Intrapariatel Sulcus Modulates the Selection of Low Salient Stimuli. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 21:2, 303-315.

Hodsoll, J., Mevorach, C., & Humphreys, G. W. (2009). Driven to less distraction: rTMS of the right parietal cortex reduces attentional capture in visual search. Cerebral Cortex, 19, 106-114.

Shalev, L., Mevorach, C. & Humphreys, G.W. (2008). Letter position coding in attentional dyslexia. Neuropsychologia, 46, 2145-2151.

Shalev, L., Mevorach, C., & Humphreys, G. W. (2007) Local capture in Balint’s syndrome: Effects of grouping and item familiarity. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 24, 115-127.

Shalev, L., Tsal Y., & Mevorach C. (2007) Computerized progressive attentional training (CPAT) program: Effective direct intervention for children with ADHD. Child Neuropsychology, 13, 382-388.

Mevorach, C., Humphreys, G. W., & Shalev, L. (2006). Opposite biases in salience-based selection for the left and right posterior parietal cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 9, 740-742.

Mevorach, C., Humphreys, G. W., & Shalev, L. (2006). Effects of saliency, not global dominance, in patients with left parietal damage. Neuropsychologia, 44, 307-319.

Shalev L., Humphreys, G. W., & Mevorach C. (2005). Global processing of compound letters in a patient with Balint's syndrome. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 22, 737-751.

Tsal, Y., Shalev, L., & Mevorach, C. (2005). The diversity of attention deficits in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: The prevalence of four cognitive factors in ADHD vs. Controls. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 38, 142-157.

Mevorach, C., Humphreys, G. W., & Shalev, L. (2005). Attending to local form while ignoring global aspects depends on handedness: Evidence from TMS. Nature Neuroscience, 8, 276-277.

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