Nir Shalev

@haifa.ac.il

Department of Gerontology, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences
University of Haifa

Nir Shalev


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https://researchid.co/nirshalev

RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS

Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Aging, Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience
23

Scopus Publications

648

Scholar Citations

16

Scholar h-index

18

Scholar i10-index

Scopus Publications

  • Assessing functional cognition in adult students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder using the Daily Living Questionnaire
    Talia Maeir, Noam Tzionit, Nir Shalev, Ayelet N. Landau
    Disability and Rehabilitation, 2026
  • Age-invariant benefits of spatiotemporal predictions amidst distraction during dynamic visual search
    Nir Shalev, Sage Boettcher, Anna C. Nobre
    Scientific Reports, 2025
    Visual search tasks are widely used to study attention amidst distraction, often revealing age-related differences. Research shows older adults typically exhibit poorer performance and greater sensitivity to distraction, reflecting declines in goal-driven attention. However, traditional search tasks are static and fail to capture the challenges and opportunities in natural environments, which include predictive structures within extended contexts. We designed a search variation where targets and distractors compete over time and embedded spatiotemporal regularities afford prediction-led guidance of attention. Critically, we manipulated the number of distractors to chart how benefits of expectations and deficits from distraction varied with age. Younger and older adults searched for multiple targets as they faded in and out of the display while varying the number of distracting elements between trials. Half the targets appeared at the same time and approximate locations and could be predicted. While we found evidence for decrement and elevated sensitivity to distraction with increasing age, benefits from predictions occurred in all groups. Interestingly, regardless of age, effects of predictions were only significant during periods of high distraction. This work extends our understanding of attention control through ageing to dynamic settings and indicates a dissociation between goal-directed and learning-driven attentional guidance.
  • Spatiotemporal predictions guide attention throughout the adult lifespan
    Nir Shalev, Sage Boettcher, Anna C. Nobre
    Npj Science of Learning, 2024
    Older adults struggle with tasks requiring selective attention amidst distractions. Experimental observations about age-related decline have relied on visual search designs using static displays. However, natural environments often embed dynamic structures that afford proactive anticipation of task-relevant information. We investigate the capacity to benefit from spatiotemporal predictions across the adult lifespan. Participants (N = 300, aged 20–80) searched for multiple targets that faded in and out of displays among distractors. Half of the targets appeared at a fixed time and approximate location, whereas others appeared unpredictably. Overall search performance was reduced with age. Nevertheless, prediction-led behaviour, reflected in a higher detection of predictable targets, remained resistant to aging. Predictions were most pronounced when targets appeared in quick succession. When evaluating response speed, predictions were also significant but reduced with progressing age. While our findings confirm an age-related decline, we identified clear indications for proactive attentional guidance throughout adulthood.
  • Rhythmic modulation of visual discrimination is linked to individuals' spontaneous motor tempo
    Leah Snapiri, Yael Kaplan, Nir Shalev, Ayelet N. Landau
    European Journal of Neuroscience, 2023
    The impact of external rhythmic structure on perception has been demonstrated across different modalities and experimental paradigms. However, recent findings emphasize substantial individual differences in rhythm‐based perceptual modulation. Here, we examine the link between spontaneous rhythmic preferences, as measured through the motor system, and individual differences in rhythmic modulation of visual discrimination. As a first step, we measure individual rhythmic preferences using the spontaneous tapping task. Then we assess perceptual rhythmic modulation using a visual discrimination task in which targets can appear either in‐phase or out‐of‐phase with a preceding rhythmic stream of visual stimuli. The tempo of the preceding stream was manipulated over different experimental blocks (0.77 Hz, 1.4 Hz, 2 Hz). We find that visual rhythmic stimulation modulates discrimination performance. The modulation is dependent on the tempo of stimulation, with maximal perceptual benefits for the slowest tempo of stimulation (0.77 Hz). Most importantly, the strength of modulation is also linked to individuals' spontaneous motor tempo. Individuals with slower spontaneous tempi show greater rhythmic modulation compared to individuals with faster spontaneous tempi. This finding suggests that different tempi affect the cognitive system with varying levels of efficiency and that self‐generated rhythms impact our ability to utilize rhythmic structure in the environment for guiding perception and performance.
  • Be there on time: Spatial-temporal regularities guide young children’s attention in dynamic environments
    Nir Shalev, Sage Boettcher, Hannah Wilkinson, Gaia Scerif, Anna C. Nobre
    Child Development, 2022
    Children's ability to benefit from spatiotemporal regularities to detect goal‐relevant targets was tested in a dynamic, extended context. Young adults and children (from a low‐deprivation area school in the United Kingdom; N = 80; 5–6 years; 39 female; ethics approval did not permit individual‐level race/ethnicity surveying) completed a dynamic visual‐search task. Targets and distractors faded in and out of a display over seconds. Half of the targets appeared at predictable times and locations. Search performance in children was poorer overall. Nevertheless, they benefitted equivalently from spatiotemporal regularities, detecting more predictable than unpredictable targets. Children's benefits from predictions correlated positively with their attention. The study brings ecological validity to the study of attentional guidance in children, revealing striking behavioral benefits of dynamic experience‐based predictions.
  • Eyes wide open: Regulation of arousal by temporal expectations
    Nir Shalev, Anna C. Nobre
    Cognition, 2022
  • Mackworth’s clock is still ticking
    Nir Shalev
    Nature Reviews Psychology, 2022
  • Right fronto-parietal networks mediate the neurocognitive benefits of enriched environments
    Méadhbh B. Brosnan, Nir Shalev, Jivesh Ramduny, Stamatios N. Sotiropoulos, Magdalena Chechlacz
    Brain Communications, 2022
    Exposure to enriched environments throughout a lifetime, providing so-called reserve, protects against cognitive decline in later years. It has been hypothesized that high levels of alertness necessitated by enriched environments might strengthen the right fronto-parietal networks to facilitate this neurocognitive resilience. We have previously shown that enriched environments offset age-related deficits in selective attention by preserving grey matter within right fronto-parietal regions. Here, using neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging, we examined the relationship between enriched environments, microstructural properties of fronto-parietal white matter association pathways (three branches of the superior longitudinal fasciculus), structural brain health (atrophy), and attention (alertness, orienting and executive control) in a group of older adults. We show that exposure to enriched environments is associated with a lower orientation dispersion index within the right superior longitudinal fasciculus 1 which in turn mediates the relationship between enriched environments and alertness, as well as grey and white matter atrophy. This suggests that enriched environments may induce white matter plasticity (and prevent age-related dispersion of axons) within the right fronto-parietal networks to facilitate the preservation of neurocognitive health in later years.
  • Right Place, Right Time: Spatiotemporal Predictions Guide Attention in Dynamic Visual Search
    Sage E. P. Boettcher, Nir Shalev, Jeremy M. Wolfe, Anna C. Nobre
    Journal of Experimental Psychology General, 2021
    Visual search is a fundamental element of human behavior and is predominantly studied in a laboratory setting using static displays. However, real-life search is often an extended process taking place in dynamic environments. We have designed a dynamic-search task in order to incorporate the temporal dimension into visual search. Using this task, we tested how participants learn and utilize spatiotemporal regularities embedded within the environment to guide performance. Participants searched for eight instances of a target that faded in and out of a display containing similarly transient distractors. In each trial, four of the eight targets appeared in a temporally predictable fashion with one target appearing in each of four spatially separated quadrants. The other four targets were spatially and temporally unpredictable. Participants’ performance was significantly better for spatiotemporally predictable compared to unpredictable targets (Experiments 1–4). The effects were reliable over different patterns of spatiotemporal predictability (Experiment 2) and primarily reflected long-term learning over trials (Experiments 3, 4), although single-trial priming effects also contributed (Experiment 4). Eye-movement recordings (Experiment 1) revealed that spatiotemporal regularities guide attention proactively and dynamically. Taken together, our results show that regularities across both space and time can guide visual search and this guidance can primarily be attributed to robust long-term representations of these regularities.
  • About time: modelling dynamic voluntary attention
    Nir Shalev, Freek van Ede
    Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2021
  • Dissociations within neglect-related reading impairments: Egocentric and allocentric neglect dyslexia
    Margaret Jane Moore, Nir Shalev, Celine R. Gillebert, Nele Demeyere
    Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 2020
  • The tempos of performance
    Nir Shalev, Anna-Katharina R Bauer, Anna C Nobre
    Current Opinion in Psychology, 2019
  • When neglect is neglected: NIHSS observational measure lacks sensitivity in identifying post-stroke unilateral neglect
    Margaret Jane Moore, Kathleen Vancleef, Nir Shalev, Masud Husain, Nele Demeyere
    Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 2019
  • Dynamic sustained attention markers differentiate atypical development: The case of Williams syndrome and Down's syndrome
    Nir Shalev, Ann Steele, Anna C. Nobre, Annette Karmiloff-Smith, Kim Cornish, et al.
    Neuropsychologia, 2019
  • Dissociable Catecholaminergic Modulation of Visual Attention: Differential Effects of Catechol-O-Methyltransferase and Dopamine Beta-Hydroxylase Genes on Visual Attention
    Nir Shalev, Signe Vangkilde, Matt J. Neville, Elizabeth M. Tunbridge, Anna C. Nobre, et al.
    Neuroscience, 2019
  • Time for What? Breaking Down Temporal Anticipation
    Nir Shalev, Anna C. Nobre, Freek van Ede
    Trends in Neurosciences, 2019
  • Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search
    Peter Brown, Aik-Choon Tan, Mohamed A El-Esawi, Thomas Liehr, Oliver Blanck, et al.
    Database, 2019
  • Beyond time and space: The effect of a lateralized sustained attention task and brain stimulation on spatial and selective attention
    Nir Shalev, Linde De Wandel, Paul Dockree, Nele Demeyere, Magdalena Chechlacz
    Cortex, 2018
  • Manipulating perceptual parameters in a continuous performance task
    Nir Shalev, Glyn Humphreys, Nele Demeyere
    Behavior Research Methods, 2018
  • Assessing the temporal aspects of attention and its correlates in aging and chronic stroke patients
    Nir Shalev, Glyn Humphreys, Nele Demeyere
    Neuropsychologia, 2016
  • Attention Functioning Among Adolescents With Multiple Learning, Attentional, Behavioral, and Emotional Difficulties
    Lilach Shalev, Tamar Kolodny, Nir Shalev, Carmel Mevorach
    Journal of Learning Disabilities, 2016
  • Dissociations between developmental dyslexias and attention deficits
    Limor Lukov, Naama Friedmann, Lilach Shalev, Lilach Khentov-Kraus, Nir Shalev, et al.
    Frontiers in Psychology, 2015
  • The Role of Conscious Perception in Attentional Capture and Object-File Updating
    Dominique Lamy, Limor Alon, Tomer Carmel, Nir Shalev
    Psychological Science, 2015

RECENT SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS

  • Prediction Is Preserved but Long-Timescale Benefits Are Reduced in ADHD
    N Tzionit, DG Filmon, T Maeir, SEP Boettcher, AC Nobre, N Shalev, ...
    bioRxiv, 2026.03. 18.712582 , 2026
    2026
  • Group-Based Cognitive Training in Non-WEIRD Older Adults
    AM Haj, Y Khatib, Y Heled, A Mendelsohn, N Shalev
    2026
  • Measurement Equivalence of the ASRS Across the Adult Lifespan: A Differential Item Functioning Analysis
    N Givon-Schaham, N Shalev
    medRxiv, 2026.04. 06.26350233 , 2026
    2026
  • Feel the Beat: The Impact of Rhythms on Dynamic Visual Search
    T Shlesinger-Arad, F Kusnir, L Snapiri, N Shalev, AN Landau
    bioRxiv, 2025.12. 20.695695 , 2025
    2025
  • Assessing functional cognition in adult students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder using the Daily Living Questionnaire
    T Maeir, N Tzionit, N Shalev, AN Landau
    Disability and Rehabilitation, 1-10 , 2025
    2025
  • Age-Invariant Benefits of Predictions in Dynamic Visual Search with Varying Distraction Loads
    N Shalev, S Boettcher, AC Nobre
    Journal of Vision 25 (9), 1719-1719 , 2025
    2025
  • Age-invariant benefits of spatiotemporal predictions amidst distraction during dynamic visual search
    N Shalev, S Boettcher, AC Nobre
    Scientific Reports 15 (1), 17078 , 2025
    2025
    Citations: 4
  • Task complexity modulates tRNS effects on sustained attention
    MI Karstens, RC Kadosh, N Shalev
    Brain Stimulation: Basic, Translational, and Clinical Research in … , 2025
    2025
  • Spatiotemporal predictions guide attention throughout the adult lifespan
    N Shalev, S Boettcher, AC Nobre
    npj Science of Learning 9 (1), 70 , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 6
  • Spatiotemporal regularities guide motor predictions in a dynamic visual search
    N Shalev, N Tzionit, D Filmon, AC Nobre, AN Landau
    Journal of Vision 24 (10), 432-432 , 2024
    2024
  • Predictions benefit performance in dynamic search across the adult lifespan
    N Shalev, S Boettcher, AC Nobre
    Journal of Vision 23 (9), 5148-5148 , 2023
    2023
  • Rhythmic modulation of visual discrimination is linked to individuals' spontaneous motor tempo
    L Snapiri, Y Kaplan, N Shalev, AN Landau
    European Journal of Neuroscience 57 (4), 646-656 , 2023
    2023
    Citations: 9
  • It never gets old: Spatiotemporal predictions guide attention throughout the adult lifespan
    N Shalev, S Boettcher, A Nobre
    OSF , 2023
    2023
    Citations: 2
  • Implicit spatiotemporal predictions improve short-term memory representation
    N Shalev, S Boettcher, ACK Nobre
    Journal of Vision 22 (14), 3067-3067 , 2022
    2022
  • Feature-temporal predictions can guide attention during visual search in dynamic scenes
    GC Williams, SEP Boettcher, N Shalev, AC Nobre
    Journal of Vision 22 (14), 3414-3414 , 2022
    2022
  • Rhythmic Modulation of Visual Discrimination is Dependent on Individuals’ Spontaneous Motor Tempo
    L Snapiri, Y Kaplan, N Shalev, AN Landau
    bioRxiv, 2022.09. 10.506584 , 2022
    2022
  • Eyes wide open: Regulation of arousal by temporal expectations
    N Shalev, AC Nobre
    Cognition 224, 105062 , 2022
    2022
    Citations: 29
  • Be there on time: Spatial-temporal regularities guide young children’s attention in dynamic environments
    N Shalev, S Boettcher, H Wilkinson, G Scerif, AC Nobre
    Child Development, 1-13 , 2022
    2022
    Citations: 16
  • Mackworth’s clock is still ticking
    N Shalev
    Nature Reviews Psychology 1 (4), 190-190 , 2022
    2022
    Citations: 4
  • Right fronto-parietal networks mediate the neurocognitive benefits of enriched environments
    MB Brosnan, N Shalev, J Ramduny, SN Sotiropoulos, M Chechlacz
    Brain Communications 4 (2), fcac080 , 2022
    2022
    Citations: 10

MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS

  • The role of conscious perception in attentional capture and object-file updating
    D Lamy, L Alon, T Carmel, N Shalev
    Psychological science 26 (1), 48-57 , 2015
    2015
    Citations: 75
  • Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search
    P Brown, Y Zhou
    Database 2019, baz085 , 2019
    2019
    Citations: 54
  • Right place, right time: spatiotemporal predictions guide attention in dynamic visual search
    S Boettcher, N Shalev, J Wolfe, A De Ozorio Nobre
    Journal of Experimental Psychology: General , 2021
    2021
    Citations: 53
  • Dissociations between developmental dyslexias and attention deficits
    L Lukov, N Friedmann, L Shalev, L Khentov-Kraus, N Shalev, R Lorber, ...
    Frontiers in psychology 5, 1501 , 2015
    2015
    Citations: 47
  • When neglect is neglected: NIHSS observational measure lacks sensitivity in identifying post-stroke unilateral neglect
    MJ Moore, K Vancleef, N Shalev, M Husain, N Demeyere
    Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry 90 (9), 1070-1071 , 2019
    2019
    Citations: 41
  • Time for what? Breaking down temporal anticipation
    N Shalev, AC Nobre, F van Ede
    Trends in Neurosciences 42 (6), 373-374 , 2019
    2019
    Citations: 33
  • Attention functioning among adolescents with multiple learning, attentional, behavioral, and emotional difficulties
    L Shalev, T Kolodny, N Shalev, C Mevorach
    Journal of learning disabilities 49 (6), 582-596 , 2016
    2016
    Citations: 32
  • Right lateralized brain reserve offsets age-related deficits in ignoring distraction
    N Shalev, MB Brosnan, M Chechlacz
    Cerebral cortex communications 1 (1), tgaa049 , 2020
    2020
    Citations: 30
  • The tempos of performance
    N Shalev, AKR Bauer, AC Nobre
    Current opinion in psychology 29, 254-260 , 2019
    2019
    Citations: 30
  • Eyes wide open: Regulation of arousal by temporal expectations
    N Shalev, AC Nobre
    Cognition 224, 105062 , 2022
    2022
    Citations: 29
  • Assessing the temporal aspects of attention and its correlates in aging and chronic stroke patients
    N Shalev, G Humphreys, N Demeyere
    Neuropsychologia 92, 59-68 , 2016
    2016
    Citations: 29
  • Manipulating perceptual parameters in a continuous performance task
    N Shalev, G Humphreys, N Demeyere
    Behavior research methods 50 (1), 380-391 , 2018
    2018
    Citations: 28
  • Dissociable catecholaminergic modulation of visual attention: differential effects of catechol-O-methyltransferase and dopamine beta-hydroxylase genes on visual attention
    N Shalev, S Vangkilde, MJ Neville, EM Tunbridge, AC Nobre, ...
    Neuroscience 412, 175-189 , 2019
    2019
    Citations: 25
  • Beyond time and space: The effect of a lateralized sustained attention task and brain stimulation on spatial and selective attention
    N Shalev, L De Wandel, P Dockree, N Demeyere, M Chechlacz
    Cortex 107, 131-147 , 2018
    2018
    Citations: 23
  • Dynamic sustained attention markers differentiate atypical development: The case of Williams syndrome and Down's syndrome
    N Shalev, A Steele, AC Nobre, A Karmiloff-Smith, K Cornish, G Scerif
    Neuropsychologia 132, 107148 , 2019
    2019
    Citations: 20
  • Be there on time: Spatial-temporal regularities guide young children’s attention in dynamic environments
    N Shalev, S Boettcher, H Wilkinson, G Scerif, AC Nobre
    Child Development, 1-13 , 2022
    2022
    Citations: 16
  • Dissociations within neglect-related reading impairments: Egocentric and allocentric neglect dyslexia
    MJ Moore, N Shalev, CR Gillebert, N Demeyere
    Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology 42 (4), 352-362 , 2020
    2020
    Citations: 13
  • Right fronto-parietal networks mediate the neurocognitive benefits of enriched environments
    MB Brosnan, N Shalev, J Ramduny, SN Sotiropoulos, M Chechlacz
    Brain Communications 4 (2), fcac080 , 2022
    2022
    Citations: 10
  • Rhythmic modulation of visual discrimination is linked to individuals' spontaneous motor tempo
    L Snapiri, Y Kaplan, N Shalev, AN Landau
    European Journal of Neuroscience 57 (4), 646-656 , 2023
    2023
    Citations: 9
  • About time: Modelling dynamic voluntary attention
    N Shalev, F van Ede
    Trends in Cognitive Sciences 25 (10), 821-822 , 2021
    2021
    Citations: 8