YAEL SHAVIT

Sagol School of Neuroscience

Project description

Language acquisition, much like the acquisition of other skills and practices, induces various alterations in the adult human brain. Previous research regarding language-learning has pointed at functional changes as well as structural ones, often detected in language-related brain areas.

How do these functional and structural learning-induced changes relate to each other? What is the microstructural basis of the observed changes in brain function and, as a result, behavior?

Our research aims to address these questions by using advanced imaging tools to investigate the connection between functional and microstructural changes that take place in the brain during the process of language-learning.

For this purpose, we will teach participants a new vocabulary, grammar and syntax in a language in which they have no prior knowledge and test the neural modifications driven by the process. We will acquire Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data before and after learning the new language, which will allow us to analyze the differences in brain structure and function between the two states. Participants will be taught either Israeli Sign Language (ISL) or a foreign spoken language in order to explore multiple language modalities and how they influence the learning brain. The participants will additionally take a proficiency test in the newly-learned language, which will be used to investigate the association between the neural data and the learning’s success. Specifically, we will test the predictability of successful learning from pre-existing neural characteristics and attempt to identify a biomarker that indicates a successful language-learning process.

About me

Yael received her BSc in Biology and Psychology with an emphasis on Neuroscience in 2017 from the Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University. During her bachelor’s degree, Yael had the opportunity to work in three different laboratories in the School of Psychological Sciences in Tel Aviv University and in Sourasky Medical Center. This allowed her to experiment in different methods of research and to gain experience in brain imaging as well as in the collection and analysis of clinical data. Outside the academy, Yael has worked in several positions in the hi-tech industry, working with customers worldwide and gaining technical skills and experience. In October 2019 Yael started the direct PhD program in the Sagol School of Neuroscience. She dedicated her first year in the program to using advanced diffusion MRI analysis methods to investigate microstructural properties of the human cerebral cortex. Her PhD work focuses on the microstructural and functional mechanisms in the brain that drive changes in brain activity after learning a new skill. For this purpose, Yael teaches the participants a new language as the new skill and investigates the modifications that take place in the cerebral cortex.