My Ph.D. work explored the psychophysical correlates of reading disorders, looking at both auditory and visual processing in adults with dyslexia. This has led to an interest in the possible applications of perceptual learning to ameliorate language-based disorders. I am interested in understanding the rules and mechanisms underlying perceptual learning for these applications, and investigating the relationships between hearing, listening and language and cognitive skills, how they are modulated by attention and memory, and how they underlie normal and abnormal language development. Moreover, I am interested in how auditory training can be applied to a variety of auditory processing difficulties, such as auditory processing disorder, cochlear implants, mild-to-moderate hearing impairment in children and adults and in the elderly. I am keen to expand my experience with human psychophysics to imaging methods such as fMRI (for exploring the brain structures involved in learning), EEG and MEG (for exploring the changes occurring in relevant brain structures on the finer timescale).
Publications
Banai K, Amitay S (2012) Stimulus uncertainty in auditory perceptual learning. Vision research 61, 83-8 [PubMed] [DOI]
Halliday LF, Moore DR, Taylor JL, Amitay S (2011) Dimension-specific attention directs learning and listening on auditory training tasks. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics 73(5), 1329-35 [Open Access Article (UKPMC)] [PubMed]
Amitay S, Halliday L, Taylor J, Sohoglu E, Moore DR (2010) Motivation and intelligence drive auditory perceptual learning. PloS One 5(3), e9816 [Open Access Article] [PubMed]
Mattock K, Amitay S, Moore DR (2010) Auditory development and learning. From Plack C (Ed.), Oxford Handbook of Auditory Science, Vol. III. Hearing [Link to Website*]
Moore DR, Halliday LF, Amitay S (2009) Use of auditory learning to manage listening problems in children. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences 364(1515), 409-20 [Open Access Article (UKPMC)] [PubMed]
Amitay S (2009) Forward and reverse hierarchies in auditory perceptual learning. Learning & Perception 1, 59-68 [DOI] [Abstract]
Moore DR, Amitay S (2007) Auditory training: rules and applications. Seminars in Hearing 28(2), 99-109 [Abstract]
Amitay S, Irwin A, Moore DR (2006) Discrimination learning induced by training with identical stimuli. Nature Neuroscience 9, 1446-8 [PubMed] [DOI]
Amitay S, Nelson A, Hawkey DJC, Cowan JA, Moore DR (2006) A comparison of adaptive procedures for rapid and reliable threshold assessment and training in naive listeners. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 119, 1616-1625 [PubMed] [Abstract]
Amitay S, Hawkey DJC, Moore DR (2005) Auditory frequency discrimination learning is affected by stimulus variability. Perception and Psychophysics 67 (4), 691-698 [Abstract]
Hawkey DJC, Amitay S, Moore DR (2004) Early and Rapid Perceptual Learning. Nature Neuroscience 7 (10), 1055-1056 [DOI] [Abstract]
Moore DR, Amitay S, Hawkey DJC (2003) Auditory perceptual learning. Learning & Memory 10, 83-85 [Abstract]