Ori Ossmy

Professor

Head of the Physical Cognition Lab

Contact Details

Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development
School of Psychology, Birkbeck College
Mail: Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX
Office: Henry Wellcome Building, Room 105
Email: ori.ossmy@bbk.ac.uk
Website: https://www.physicalcoglab.co.uk/

Phone: +44 (0)20 3926 1132

Research Interests

Physical cognition is ubiquitous across every age and culture—how to navigate a cluttered environment, use a tool, and so on. As our bodies, skills, and environments change, new physical problems emerge and require new means to solve them. With learning and development, children respond more adaptively and efficiently to environmental challenges and opportunities. With injury and ageing, responses become less adaptive and efficient. My overarching goal is to understand (and intervene on) the processes that underlie changes in physical cognition and behavioural problem solving.

My research is based on the working assumption that macro behavioural changes occurring over relatively long time periods—changes due to learning, development, injury, and rehabilitation—emerge from micro, real-time experiences. These real-time experiences, in turn, play out in an interactive system of perceptual, neural, cognitive, and motor processes. The efficiency of these processes and their interactions differs widely among individuals.

The work in my Physical Cognition Lab reflects a unique integration of theory and methods drawn from developmental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and motor control where I use state-of-the-art concepts and technologies to address critical questions about behavioural problem solving. Bridging the theoretical with the technical, I combine interdisciplinary perspectives (development, behaviour, neuroscience, motor control, computer science), recording methods (fMRI, EEG, EMG, tACS, ECoG, single-unit recordings, eye tracking, motion tracking, virtual reality, and video), analytic techniques (real-time, machine learning, and robotics), populations (infants to elderly adults and patients), and behavioural tasks (manual and locomotor).

Research Grants

2023-2027	Research Grant, Leverhulme Trust, UK
2023-2026	Bloomsbury College Fellowship supervision, UK
2023-2025	Human Cognitive and Behavioral Science Grant, Simons Foundation, US
2023-2024	Research Grant, The Waterloo Foundation, UK
2022-2025	New Investigator grant, UKRI Economic and Social Research Council, UK
2021-2023	Birkbeck-Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund, UK
2021-2023	Talent grant, British Academy, UK
2018-2019	Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center grant, Israel
2017-2019	NSF/SBE-BSF grant, NSF, US
2017-2018	Joy Ventures grant, Israel

Scholarships and Awards

2023	Best Supervisor Award, Birkbeck Student Union
2022	Innovative Methods Award, British Psychology Society (BPS) – Developmental Section
2022	Distinguished Early Career Award, International Congress of Infants Studies (ICIS)
2022	Investigator Award, International Society for Developmental Psychobiology (ISDP)
2021	Elsevier/Vision Research Virtual Award, Vision Sciences Society
2020	Postdoc Abstract Award, International Society for Developmental Psychology
2019	Postdoctoral Award, NYU Faculty of Arts & Sciences
2019	Early Career Travel Award, Society for Research in Child Development
2017	Trainee Professional Development Award, Society for Neuroscience
2013	Honor Scholarship of Scientific Research, President of the State of Israel
2013	Yosef Sagol Scholarship of Brain Research, Tel Aviv University
2016	Science Award, Ministry of Science, Technology & Space, Israel
2016	Alfa Excellency Program Scholarship to Mentor High-school Students
2015	Science Award, Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University
2014	Sieratzki Prize for Students in Neuroscience
2014	Trotzky Scholarship for Research
2010	Project Excellence Award in Engineering