Rafael Malach

The Movie After-Effect: widespread adaptation of human cortex following naturalistic sensory experience

The paper shows that watching movies causes widespread adaptation in human cortex, with neurons adjusting their activity levels during rest periods after viewing.

A cortical gradient of distance to criticality governs large-scale resting-state fMRI dynamics

The paper shows that cortical resting-state fMRI dynamics are organized along a gradient of distance to criticality, with consistent patterns across subjects.

Adaptive proximity to criticality underlies amplification of ultra-slow fluctuations during free recall

The paper shows that recurrent neuronal networks near a phase transition amplify slow fluctuations during free recall, supported by simulations and human EEG data.

Text-related functionality of visual human pre-frontal activations revealed through neural network convergence

The paper investigates the functional role of visual prefrontal cortex activations by comparing their relational structure to text and visual DNNs, finding text DNNs better predict these activations.

Axonal distribution of Layers IV-VI Connections in Human Visual Cortex Revealed by in-vitro extracellular injections of Biocytin.

This study maps axonal connections in human visual cortex using biocytin injections, revealing layer-specific projection patterns and columnar organization.

High-level visual cortex representations are organized along visual rather than abstract principles.

The paper tests whether high-level visual cortex aligns with visual or abstract text by comparing neural responses to images and their textual descriptions.

Hippocampal ripples linked to recognition memory judgments in children

This study shows that hippocampal ripples in children increase during successful recognition of familiar events and decrease before recognition errors, indicating their role in declarative memory.

Perceptual stability reflected in neuronal pattern similarities in human visual cortex

The paper shows that neuronal pattern similarities in human visual cortex remain stable during prolonged stimulation despite reduced activation magnitudes, suggesting perceptual content is linked to pattern profiles rather than activation levels.

Retrospective behavioral sampling (RBS): a method to effectively track the cognitive fluctuations driven by naturalistic stimulation

This paper introduces RBS to track cognitive fluctuations during naturalistic stimulation and finds consistent, replicable patterns across individuals.

The Surprising Role of the Default Mode Network

The paper identifies the cognitive state of surprise as selectively correlated with DMN fMRI coactivation during movie viewing, suggesting the DMN's role in prediction-error representations.

Face-selective units in human ventral temporal cortex reactivate during free recall

The paper identifies face-selective neurons in human ventral temporal cortex that reactivate during free recall of faces, suggesting a role in memory retrieval.

Studying the precuneus reveals structure-function-affect correlation in long-term meditators

This paper examines the relationship between brain structure, function, and self-reports in long-term meditators, finding negative correlations between precuneus gray matter density and meditation experience and positive affect.

Resting state fluctuations underlie free and creative verbal behaviors in the human brain

The paper shows that resting state fluctuations in the brain precede and correlate with voluntary verbal tasks, suggesting they underlie free and creative verbal behaviors.

Where does time go when you blink?

The paper investigates how spontaneous eye blinks affect the perception of time for visual stimuli, finding that blinks lead to underestimation of visual duration but not auditory duration.

Inter-thinker consistency of language activations during abstract thoughts

The paper shows that abstract thinking activates consistent and precise brain networks across individuals, overlapping with language networks but avoiding visual and motor networks.

Widespread suppression of high-order visual cortex during blinks and external predictable visual interruptions

The paper investigates how predictability affects neural responses in visual cortex during blinks and visual interruptions, finding suppression in mid- and high-level visual regions for predictable events.

Deep Convolutional modeling of human face selective columns reveals their role in pictorial face representation

The paper shows that face-selective brain columns match deep convolutional networks in intermediate layers, suggesting a role in pictorial face representation rather than person identification.

Neuronal components of evaluating the human origin of abstract shapes

This study uses fMRI to show that the lateral occipital complex (LOC) distinguishes human-made from random abstract shapes, correlating with beauty and familiarity ratings.

Repeated performance in problem-solving tasks attenuates human cortical responses

This study shows that repeated performance in complex visual problem-solving tasks leads to reduced cortical responses in specific brain regions, but not changes in response time.

Increasing suppression of saccade-related transients along the human visual hierarchy

The paper shows that saccade-related transients are suppressed in higher-level visual cortex but not early visual cortex in humans.