Biography

I received my PhD in Neuropsychology (summa cum laude, direct track) on the mental operations and neuropsychological mechanisms of numerical and magnitude processing under the supervision of Avishai Henik from the Ben-Gurion University in 2007. During this time I also had the opportunity to gain experience with neuroimaging techniques, such as fMRI and ERP under the supervision of David Linden at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research (Frankfurt, Germany), and I practiced for one year as clinical neuropsychologist at the Traumatic Brain Injuries Unit, Beit Lowenstein Rehabilitation Center in Israel. During my PhD period I also completed the European Diploma in Cognitive and Brain Sciences (EDCBS, 2003-4). I received funding from several sources including the International Brain Research Organization, and the European Union (Marie Curie Intra European Fellowship) to investigate the neural substrate of numerical representations using brain stimulation and neuroimaging during my postdoctoral training at University College London. I joined EP as a Wellcome RCD Fellow in 2009 where I established the Cohen Kadosh Lab.

Research Summary

My main research focuses on the psychological and biological factors that shape learning and cognitive achievements. Understanding and enhancing learning and cognition have significant implications to different fields including psychology, neuroscience, education, and medicine, and have a translational impact for cognitive enhancement for clinical and non-clinical populations.

As a model I use mathematical cognition, one of the most sophisticated human abilities, to investigate skill learning and performance at different levels (e.g. from the symbolic understanding of numbers to complex calculations) in a range of populations (children and adults, participants with developmental dyscalculia, mathematicians and individuals with synaesthesia). I am currently extending my work to other cognitive domains, including problem solving and reasoning, attention, working memory, and maths anxiety.

Depending on the research question, the techniques I use can vary from cognitive assessment, mental chronometry, and diffusion models to neuroimaging methods that allow me to examine neurochemicals, brain structures and functions (e.g., EEG, fMRI, MRI, MRS, NIRS, and TMS). Importantly, I have been pioneering the use of tES to manipulate neuronal activity and to modulate neuroplasticity during cognitive training to improve learning and mathematical achievement.

Such integrative and multidisciplinary work has a real impact by inspiring new methods to improve cognition and learning, thus affecting especially the life of many who suffer from developmental or acquired cognitive difficulties. As such a work raises important ethical concerns, I am contributing to the public engagement with science and I am collaborating with neuroethicists. I am also involved in advising policy makers in order to encourage a wider dialogue on these issues and to influence current policy making.

Based on the promising results so far, this innovative line of research has the potential to revolutionise the way we learn during the entire life-span.

Awards and Honours

2016 Early Career Award, The International Mind, Brain and Education Society

2015 Professorial Distinction Award, University of Oxford

2015 Senior Research Fellow in Psychology, Jesus College, University of Oxford

2014 Scholar Award, The James S McDonnell Foundation

2014 Hugh Price Fellow in Psychology, Jesus College, University of Oxford

2014 Spearman Medal, The British Psychological Society

2013 Paul Bertelson Award, The European Society for Cognitive Psychology.

2012 University Research Lecturer, University of Oxford

2011 JRF in Experimental Psychology, Jesus College, University of Oxford

2010 Career Development Award, The Society for Neuroscience

2009 Wellcome Trust Research Career Development Fellowship, The Wellcome Trust

2009 The Sieratzki-Korczyn Prize for Advances in the Neuroscience

Current Research Grants

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory
European Commission
The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA)