Israel Nelken

Prof. Israel Nelken is a Full Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, affiliated with the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences. His research focuses on auditory neurophysiology, specifically the neural mechanisms underlying sound processing, perception-action loops, and statistical learning in audition. He has contributed significantly to understanding how the brain detects deviant sounds and encodes complex auditory information across multiple temporal and spectral scales.

• Affiliations: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences
• Roles: Full Professor, Principal Investigator of the Israel Nelken Lab

Research Interests

Prof. Nelken’s work explores the transformation of sensory signals into meaningful representations in the auditory system. Key areas include:

• Neuronal responses to complex sounds and their behavioral relevance
• Stimulus-specific adaptation (SSA) and prediction error detection
• Integration of auditory information across cortical and subcortical regions
• Role of auditory cortex in rhythmic motor synchronization and statistical learning

Key Contributions

His studies on deviance detection in auditory cortex have advanced our understanding of mismatch negativity (MMN) and predictive coding. Recent work highlights rats’ ability to synchronize movements with auditory rhythms, challenging assumptions about species-specific musicality. He has also developed innovative tools like the Rat Interactive Foraging Facility (RIFF) to study neural-behavioral interactions in real-time.

Awards & Honors

• Rector’s Prize for Excellence in Research and Teaching (2015)
• Landau Prize for Sciences and Research (2015)
• Michael Bruno Memorial Award (2008)
• ERC Advanced Grant (2013)

Grants & Collaborations

Recipient of prestigious grants including the ERC Advanced Grant for studying auditory processing in natural environments. Active collaborations include work on cortical dynamics in Alzheimer’s models and computational frameworks for attentional blink phenomena.

Labs & Teams

Leads the Israel Nelken Lab, which integrates electrophysiology, computational modeling, and behavioral experiments to dissect auditory processing. The lab collaborates widely, contributing to projects like the dense cortical microcircuit simulations for understanding surprise responses.