This work was carried out under the supervision of:

First and foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my mentor Prof. Amir Amedi for the continuous support, his enthusiasm, patience, motivation, effort, commitment and immense knowledge. He encouraged me not only to grow as an experimentalist and a neuroscientist but also as an instructor and an independent thinker. I was given a rare opportunity to develop my own self-sufficiency by being allowed to work with such independence. Also, and perhaps nearly as importantly, it was a fun ride. In combination with the mentorship of my advisor, I was blessed to work with dynamic and intelligent collaborators, Profs. Laurent Cohen and Stanislas Dehaene. Thank you for helping to shape and guide the direction of the work with your careful and instructive comments. I also thank Profs. Hagai Bergman, Nurit Gronau, Itay Chowers and Israel Nelken for their encouragement, insightful comments, and tough questions. I thank my fellow labmates for the technical help, stimulating discussions, the sleepless nights we spent working together before deadlines, and for all the fun we had in the last few years. I a