Ronny Geva

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Verified

Ronny verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

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• PhD
• Professor (Full) at Bar Ilan University

Common ground (CG), the shared contextual knowledge serving everyday situations like conversations, is crucial for effective communication. This study delved into CG generation between peers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD, N = 84) compared to Controls ( N = 56) children and adolescents (ages 6–16 years) paired into peer dyads. We aimed to deepe...

Infancy is a formative period in which high-quality parental care plays a vital role in setting solid foundations that guide a child’s development. Mindfulness has been recognized for enhancing parental awareness and sensitivity to both self and child and can be utilized in clinical practice to facilitate healthy development. To adapt mindful paren...

Common ground (CG)—a pragmatic capability that reflects the construction of shared meaning by two interlocutors during conversation—is widely accepted as crucial for effective communication, but its exploration has been limited in the context of children’s peer-to-peer interaction. Specifically, this study aimed to explore CG differences between ty...

Major amendments in neonatal care have been introduced in recent decades. It is important to understand whether these amendments improved the cognitive sequelae of preterm children. Through a large-scale meta-analysis, we explored the association between prematurity-related complications, neonatal care quality, and cognitive development from birth...

This comprehensive longitudinal study explored for the first time the interrelations between neonatal brainstem abnormalities, focused attention (FA), and learning—following a preterm cohort (N = 175; 46.3% female; predominantly White) from birth (2003–2006) to 17 years. The findings indicated that FA during early childhood was associated with lang...

Communication is commonly viewed as connecting people through conscious symbolic processes. Infants have an immature communication toolbox, raising the question of how they form a sense of connectedness. In this article, we propose a framework for infants' communication, emphasizing the subtle unconscious behaviors and autonomic contingent signals...

Social interactions involve both cooperation to achieve a shared goal and competition over shared resources and rewards. The ability to engage in inter-personal coordination is an important measure of socio-emotional and cognitive well-being. Both cooperation and competition require interpersonal coordination, however with different motivational ba...

Introduction Parents provide their children with their first exposures to reciprocal shared experiences, and parental modeling of socio-emotional behaviors and regulatory responses largely influences their child’s behavioral and neurological development. Some parental reactions are conscious, while others are non-volitional. This project aimed to e...

Background The notion that pediatric type 1 diabetes impacts brain function and structure early in life is of great concern. Neurological manifestations, including neurocognitive and behavioral symptoms, may be present from childhood, initially mild and undetectable in daily life. Despite intensive management and technological therapeutic intervent...

Organizations performing in stressful life-risking environments have unique features that directly influence human lives and communities’ well-being. Such organizations allocate vast resources to identify potential leaders as early as possible to direct and train them for leadership positions. Combat military contexts represent such organizations....

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience a range of social and non-social attention deficits. To date, most studies assessed the neurological framework or discrete behavioral traits related to one attention network, leaving a gap in the understanding of the developmental cascade affecting the inter-relations among attention networks...

In this Editorial we discuss the neurobiological processes underlying early emergence of awareness that we term the “when” and “how” the mind comes to live inside the body. We describe an accumulative developmental process starting during embryonic life and continuing to fetal and postnatal development, of coupling of heart rate, body movements and...

To date, there is no overarching proposition for the ontogenetic-neurobiological basis of self-regulation. This paper suggests that the balanced self-regulatory reaction of the fetus, newborn and infant is based on a complex mechanism starting from early brainstem development and continuing to progressive control of the cortex over the brainstem. I...

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have long-term implications on functioning at multiple levels. In this perspective, we offer a brainstem-informed autism framework (BIAF) that traces the protracted neurobehavioral manifestations of ASD to early life brainstem dysfunctions. Early life brainstem-mediated markers involving functions of autonomic/arousa...

Environment-leader congruency yields better adaptability manifested in better decision-making. The military combat environment offers advantages for leaders with ADHD; though they are expected to encounter difficulties due to executive dysfunction. This research aspired to increase the congruency effect for leaders with ADHD in a stressful military...

Cheating and immorality are highly researched phenomena, likely due to their great impact. However, little research has examined the real-time cognitive mechanisms that are involved in cheating and conflict management. Much of the cheating research to date concentrates on binary cheating; however, in more prevalent real-world scenarios, people ofte...

Cheating and immorality are highly researched phenomena, likely due to their great impact. However, little research has examined the real-time cognitive mechanisms that are involved in cheating and conflict management. Much of the cheating research to date concentrates on binary cheating; however, in more prevalent real-world scenarios, people ofte...

The ability to engage attention with selected stimuli is essential for infants to explore the world and process information relating to their surroundings. There are two main populations with a higher risk to develop attentional and social deficits whose deficits may arise from difficulties in regulating attention to salient cues: (1) siblings of c...

The ability to engage attention with selected stimuli is essential for infants to explore the world and process information relating to their surroundings. There are two main populations with a higher risk to develop attentional and social deficits whose deficits may arise from difficulties in regulating attention to salient cues: (1) siblings of c...

Importance Preterm birth is associated with an increased risk for long-lasting attention deficits. Early-life markers of attention abnormalities have not been established to date but could provide insights into the pathogenesis of attention abnormalities and could help identify susceptible individuals. Objective To examine whether preterm birth is...

Purpose: Childhood epilepsy is often associated with cognitive impairments and psychosocial problems. However, it is not clear which factors mediate symptom severity and child's resilience. Emotional and behavioral problems have been associated with various home and school environments, suggesting that information collected may vary depending on b...

There is a growing interest in the effects of social engagement on cognition, yet, research on the effects of social engagement with the experimenter in empirical contexts has been sparse. During an experiment, the experimenter and participant form a dyad, establishing a certain level of rapport-a sense of a positive and congruent relationship. Thi...

Background and Objective: Strategies to transition preterm infants from tube to oral feeding vary greatly and the transition may take days to weeks. The study objective was to evaluate the effect of parental guided responsive feeding (PGRF) on this transition. Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial on infants born at <32 weeks gestati...

Children's cheating and factors supporting honesty are not well understood. The current work explored variables involved in chil-dren's cheating through eye-tracking and an implicit manipulation in which extrinsic awareness of the effects of one's behaviors on others was primed. Participants played a computer game with the option for a monetary gai...

Background Numerous studies have assessed the socio‐cognitive profile in Williams syndrome (WS) and, independently, in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS). Yet, a cross‐syndrome comparison of these abilities between individuals with these two syndromes with known social deficits has not been conducted. Methods Eighty‐two children participated in...

Feeding imprinting, considered a survival-enabling process, is not well understood. Infants born very preterm, who first feed passively, are an effective model for studying feeding imprinting. Retrospective analysis of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) records of 255 infants (Mgestational age = 29.98 ± 1.64) enabled exploring the notion that dire...

Background: Evolution preserves social attention due to its key role in supporting survival. Humans are attracted to social cues from infancy, but the neurobiological mechanisms for the development of social attention are unknown. An evolutionary-based, vertical-hierarchical theoretical model of self-regulation suggests that neonatal brainstem inp...

Background Recent studies on pharmacoresponsive epilepsies demonstrate specific memory, executive functions (EF), and psychosocial deficits in this group. These deficits are often undertreated, and little is known about the neuropsychological factors that may support moderation of the deficits through intervention. The aim of this study was to expl...

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is thought to involve an executive inhibitory control (IC) deficit, yet it is not clear if this is a general deficit affecting both cold and hot EC, and if methylphenidate (MPH) affects both systems in treated children. We explored this by using a Stroop-like task in children with ADHD as compared to...

Walking is of interest to psychology, robotics, zoology, neuroscience and medicine. Human's ability to walk on two feet is considered to be one of the defining characteristics of hominoid evolution. Evolutionary science propses that it emerged in response to limited environmental resources; yet the processes supporting its emergence are not fully u...

Knowledge regarding the association between functional connectivity and white-matter (WM) maturation of motor and visual networks in preterm infants at term equivalent age (TEA) and their association with behavioral outcome is currently limited. Thirty-two preterm infants born<34 weeks gestational-age without major brain abnormalities were included...

Objective: Children with sleep disorders tend to experience attention problems, yet little is known about the relationship between sleep and attention in early development. This prospective follow-up study investigated the longitudinal relationships between neonatal sleep, attention, and distraction in infants born preterm. Method: We used actigrap...

Early experiences play a crucial role in programming brain function, affecting selective attention, learning, and memory. Infancy literature suggests an extension of the GANE (glutamate amplifies noradrenergic effects) model to conditions with minimal priority-map inputs, yet suggests qualifications by noting that its efficacy is increased when ton...

Multiple diseases affect memory, but only in a few pathological processes, memory systems are discretely affected, allowing to study short and longterm - resilience and susceptibility of memory systems, in the absence of other background cognitive deficits. Idiopathic epilepsies (IE) are considered to have relatively good prognoses and normal or ne...

Neuroplasticity studies examining children with hemiparesis (CH) have focused predominantly on unilateral interventions. CH also have bimanual coordination impairments with bimanual interventions showing benefits. We explored neuroplasticity following hand-arm bimanual intensive therapy (HABIT) of 60 hours in twelve CH (6 females, mean age 11 ± 3.6...

Numerous studies have attempted to identify early physiological abnormalities in infants and toddlers who later develop autism spectrum disorder (ASD). One potential measure of early neurophysiology is the auditory brainstem response (ABR), which has been reported to exhibit prolonged latencies in children with ASD. We examined whether prolonged AB...

Mother-child interactions in 22q11.2 Deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) and Williams syndrome (WS) were coded for maternal sensitivity/intrusiveness, child's expression of affect, levels of engagement, and dyadic reciprocity. WS children were found to express more positive emotions towards their mothers compared to 22q11.2DS children and those with deve...

Mother-child interactions in 22q11.2 Deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) and Williams syndrome (WS) were coded for maternal sensitivity/intrusiveness, child's expression of affect, levels of engagement, and dyadic reciprocity. WS children were found to express more positive emotions towards their mothers compared to 22q11.2DS children and those with deve...

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions affecting individuals under the age of 18 years, with increasing incidence worldwide, especially among very young age groups, younger than 5. There is still no cure for the disease, and therapeutic goals and guidelines are a challenge. Currently, despite T1DM intensive...

Given the primary role of memory in children's learning and well-being, the aim of this review was to examine the outcomes of memory remediation interventions in children with neurological deficits as a function of the affected memory system and intervention method. Fifty-seven studies that evaluated the outcome of memory interventions in children...

Symbolic play and language are known to be highly interrelated, but the developmental process involved in this relationship is not clear. Three hypothetical paths were postulated to explore how play and language drive each other: (1) direct paths, whereby initiation of basic forms in symbolic action or babbling, will be directly related to all late...

The neonatal period is considered to be essential for neurodevelopment and wellbeing throughout the life span, yet little is known about brain-behavior relationships in the neonatal period. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between neonatal sensory-motor regulation and white-matter (WM) integrity of major fiber tracts in the neo...

The outcome of premature infants with only diffuse excessive high signal intensity (DEHSI) is not clear. We explored the relationship between DEHSI, white matter (WM) diffusion characteristics, perinatal characteristics, and neurobehavioral outcome at 1 year in a homogenous group of preterm infants without major brain abnormalities. Fifty-eight pre...

Objective: To compare echogenicity detected using cranial ultrasound (cUS) and diffuse excessive high signal intensity (DEHSI) detected using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) by identical region-based scoring criteria in preterm infants. To explore the association between these white matter (WM) signal changes with early neurobehavior. Study desi...

Visuospatial attention-networks are represented in both hemispheres, with right-hemisphere dominance in adults. Little is known about the lateralization of the attentional-networks in children. To assess the lateralization of attentional-networks in children aged 5 years, performance on a Lateralized-Attention-Network-Test specifically designed for...

Objective: Characterization of risk factors for ADHD in infancy may enable early intervention to diminish the symptoms that ensue. Method: In a retrospective study, the well-baby-care clinic records from birth to 18 months of age of 58 children diagnosed at school age for ADHD were compared with those of 58 control children, and the differences bet...

Behavioral inhibition (BI), the tendency to withdraw or exhibit negative affect when experiencing stressful situations, is a major risk factor for the development of social anxiety. However, neonatal biologic origins of this progression are still unknown. Click here to enter text.This study aimed to extend frameworks of behavioral inhibition by exp...

Attention capacities, alerting responses, orienting to sensory stimulation, and executive monitoring of performance are considered independent yet interrelated systems. These operations play integral roles in regulating the behavior of diverse species along the evolutionary ladder. Each of the primary attention constructs-alerting, orienting, and e...

This study investigated patterns of motor brain activation, white matter (WM) integrity of inter- and intrahemispheric connectivity and their associations with hand function in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (CP-U). Fourteen CP-U (mean age 10.6 ± 2.7 years) and 14 typically developing children (TDC) underwent magnetic resonance imaging. CP...

Exchanging gazes with a social partner in response to an event in the environment is considered an effective means to direct attention, share affective experiences, and highlight a target in the environment. This behavior appears during infancy and plays an important role in children's learning and in shaping their socio-emotional development. It h...

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is a pathological prenatal process that is characterized by a decrease in fetal growth velocity, resulting in a fetus that did not attain its full growth potential. It has heterogeneous parental, placental, and fetal triggering mechanisms. IUGR rates are increased in multiple rearing conditions where fetal und...

Objective: To examine long-term behavioral and neurodevelopmental outcome of children born growth restricted and exposed to hypertension in utero at 9 years of age. Methods: Somatic growth and neurocognitive outcomes were evaluated at age 9-10 years of age in 42 children born with intra uterine growth restriction (IUGR) after pregnancies complicate...

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is a pathological prenatally occurring process that is characterized by a decrease in fetal growth velocity. It is associated with a higher incidence of fetal and parental stress, perinatal complications, and lifelong neurodevelopmental and neuropsychological consequences evident both at short term and at long...

The role of the brainstem in mediating social signaling in phylogenetic ancestral organisms has been demonstrated. Evidence for its involvement in social engagement in human infants may deepen the understanding of the evolutionary pathway of humans as social beings. In this longitudinal study, neonatal brainstem functioning was measured by auditory...

Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy is an important cause of neuropsychological deficits. Little is known about brain diffusivity in these infants following cooling and its potential in predicting outcome. Diffusion tensor imaging was applied to three groups:

a b s t r a c t Following the framework that controlled performance is dependent upon cognitive and emotional pro-cesses which are inherently inter-linked, effects of trait and state negative affect (NA) on inhibitory control (IC) were studied in two experiments using an emotional day-night task (EDNT) – an inhibition based decision-making task emb...

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy is an important cause of neuropsychological deficits. Little is known about brain diffusivity in these infants following cooling and its potential in predicting outcome. Diffusion tensor imaging was applied to 3 groups: (1) three infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy: cooled; (2) three infants with hypoxic-isc...

Late onset intrauterine growth restriction is a common form of growth restriction, mainly caused by placenta-vascular insufficiency. Whether the intrauterine or extrauterine environment offers a better long-term outcome for the growth-restricted fetus remains unclear. We compared the risk factors and long-term outcomes of late onset growth-restrict...

Although research has demonstrated poor visual skills in premature infants, few studies assessed infants’ gaze behaviors across several domains of functioning in a single study. Thirty premature and 30 full-term 3-month-old infants were tested in three social and nonsocial tasks of increasing complexity and their gaze behavior was micro-coded. In a...

The rapid automatized naming task (RAN) is a well-established tool to evaluate risk of developmental disorders. Its potential use with 3-year-olds who are at risk for learning difficulties and factors affecting its dependent measures are not yet understood. This study investigated the effects of neonatal central nervous system compromise grouping (...

This book provides a detailed account of intellectual, other neuropsychological and behavioral manifestations of general pediatric diseases. The conditions discussed include the whole range of pediatric diseases - genetic syndromes, other congenital conditions, metabolic, endocrine, gastrointestinal, infectious, immunologic, toxic, trauma, and neop...

This book provides a detailed account of intellectual, other neuropsychological and behavioral manifestations of general pediatric diseases. The conditions discussed include the whole range of pediatric diseases - genetic syndromes, other congenital conditions, metabolic, endocrine, gastrointestinal, infectious, immunologic, toxic, trauma, and neop...

Knowledge is recently building regarding the factors that affect the development of an optimal sleep-wake cycle. Fetuses near term experience arousal fluctuations and sleep episodes already in the darkness of the womb. Yet, the factors that allow for a smooth emergence of an optimal sleep wake cycle are the conditions that place newborn at higher r...

C hildren with specific biologi-cal and developmental risk factors, such as those born with intrauterine growth re-striction (IUGR), are likely to experience adjustment difficulties. To date few re-search studies have been able to determine mech-anisms affecting school adjustment in these populations. Basic questions regarding school ad-justment of...

Although feeding problems are common during infancy and are typically accompanied by relational difficulties, little research observed the mother–infant feeding relationship across the first year as an antecedent to the development of feeding difficulties. We followed 76 low-risk premature infants and their mothers from the transition to oral feedi...

The relationship between somatic growth and neurocognitive outcome was studied in a cohort of 136 children with intrauterine growth retardation. The children were followed up from birth to 9 to 10 years of age by annual measurements of growth parameters, neurodevelopmental evaluations, and IQ. The rate of catch-up for height between 1 and 2 years o...

Recent reports showed that children born with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) are at greater risk of experiencing verbal short-term memory span (STM) deficits that may impede their learning capacities at school. It is still unknown whether these deficits are modality dependent. This long-term, prospective design study examined modality-depen...

Neurobiological models propose an evolutionary, vertical-integrative perspective on emotion and behavior regulation, which postulates that regulatory functions are processed along three core brain systems: the brainstem, limbic, and cortical systems. To date, few developmental studies applied these models to research on prenatal and perinatal risk....

The achievement of oral feeding is a critical task for the premature infant-mother dyad, yet neurobehavioral and relational factors associated with feeding difficulties of low-risk premature infants during hospitalization are not well understood. To examine the relations between infant neurobehavioral functioning, the transition to oral feeding, an...

One hundred twenty-three children with intrauterine growth retardation were prospectively followed from birth to 9 to 10 years of age in order to characterize their specific neurodevelopmental and cognitive difficulties and to identify clinical predictors of such difficulties. Perinatal biometric data and risk factors were collected. Outcome was ev...

Learning difficulties are frequently diagnosed in children born with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Models of various animal species with IUGR were studied and demonstrated specific susceptibility and alterations of the hippocampal formation and its related neural structures. The main purpose was to study memory functions of children born...

The aim was to evaluate the effect of late-onset intrauterine growth restriction on the neuropsychological profile and on academic achievements at 9 years of age using a large-scale prospective paradigm. We followed up 123 infants diagnosed with late-onset intrauterine growth restriction yearly for 9 years. They were matched with 63 children for ge...