OUR TEAM

Principal Investigator

Ori Ossmy, PhD, FHEA

Professor in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. Head of the Physical Cognition Lab and a faculty member of the School of Psychological Sciences, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development (CBCD), and Centre for Educational Neuroscience (CEN) at Birkbeck, University of London​.​​

Postdoctoral Researcher

Tommaso Ghilardi, PhD

Studies the development of perceptual, cognitive, and motor mechanisms involved in human planning. Uses behavioural, neural, and computational approaches. 

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Postdoctoral Researcher

Giulia Serino, PhD

Studies perceptual and cognitive development in lab and natural settings, with a focus on attention. Combines behavioural and neural techniques.

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PhD Student

Hélène Grandchamp Des Raux

Studies the effects of embodied experiences on adaptability and reasoning. Uses altered gravity as a model system to understand the relation between sensorimotor adaptability to cognitive adaptability.

 

PhD Student

Jazmine Hall

Studies early motor markers for Autistic Spectrum Condition in newborns, and its relations with subsequent cognitive skills. Part of the BabyGrow project.  

 

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PhD Student

Maria Paz Cebrecos

Studies the motor and neural origins of collaborative and competitive behaviours. Uses motion tracking, EEG, and video coding techniques. 

 

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PhD Student

Nina Peleg

Interested in using cognitive neuroscience methods to better understand how children learn spatial skills in classrooms and how to improve educational practices using spatial tasks. Leads the BetterTogether project.

 

PhD Student

Marianna Muszynska

Studies embodied cognition in children with ADHD. Uses virtual reality and computerised games for digital phenotypic of ADHD characteristics. Leads the BlockQuest project. 

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PhD Student

Arezoo Alford

Studies the development of human planning with focus on whether planning is probabilistic and biased. Tests how perceptual, neural, and motor planning processes unfold from moment to moment.  Leads the ACT-UP project.

 

PhD Student

Sophie Hascher

Interested in how virtual reality and Neurofeedback can be used to enhance wellbeing and mental health. Her doctoral research focuses on developing behavioural intervention to sugar addiction.

 

PhD Student

Mahnoor Tariq

Studies how sensory inputs affect children's acquisition of planning skills. Conducts intervention studies in the lab using EEG, Eye-tracking, motion-tracking and video to examine how multi-sensory information during physical tasks shapes planning and problem-solving skills.​​​

PhD Student

Linda Cerminara

Linda's research aims to explore neural plasticity during the initial years of parenthood,  particularly how cognitive adaptation shapes parents' interactions with their child and their child development 

 

PhD Student

Virag Lakner

Studies the computational origins of human planning. Works on building computational model of multi-step actions and their underlying processes in children and adults.​​

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PhD Student / Research Assistant

Maryam Haq

Studies the effects of embodied training in a virtual reality environment on high-level cognitive skills. Leads the Adaptable Basketball project in the lab. In her PhD, interested in testing the role of the vestibular system in cognition.
 

Research Assistant

Nina Randisi

Works on a project in collaboration with Dr Silvia Seghezzi on counterfactual thinking and false memories during naturalistic embodied tasks such as climbing. 

Research Assistant

Laura Guthrie

Supports the LEAVES study and collection of data in nurseries as part of the SMARToys project, testing 'Intelligent Toys' in preschoolers.

 

Research Assistant

Ishan Dubey

Works on developing a computational model for physical reasoning that adapts to new physical laws such as altered gravities. 

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Research Assistant

Melissa Dexter

Studies the ageing of adaptability, cognitive control, and physical reasoning using online gaming with young and older adults. ​​



 

Research Assistant

Alexandra Konstantinou

Works on the ACT-UP project, tests neural markers for action planning in children and adults.



 

Research Assistant

Bianca Tutuianu

Supports the BetterTogether project, which tests a collaborative intervention to improve spatial skills in primary school. Focus on the social interactions and how they relate to improvements.