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How do we make sense of the world? How do we build internal models to represent the environment through experience, and how do these models differ by individual experience? Our brain continuously perceives information which is encoded into unified internal representations of the world, often referred to as ‘cognitive maps’. 

 

In my research I ask:

1) How does the brain represent sensory information in multiple coexisting cognitive maps to support behavior flexibly?

2) How does the brain integrate cross-modality information during the encoding of complex life-like events into memory and subsequent retrieval?

3) How are individual differences and top-down processes reflected in organization of cognitive maps and transformation of narratives into episodic memory?

4) What shared neural substrates support recall of personal memories and how are they altered in psychiatric disorders?

 

Currently I am a postdoctoral fellow at the Human memory lab at ELSC, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I study hippocampal signals associated with segmentation and encoding of real-life events using fMRI. My particular interest is in how top-down processes such as intention to rehearse modulates these signals in the hippocampus and across brain regions supporting memorization of episodic memory.

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Prior to that I complete a 3-year postdoctoral position in the Center for Computational Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine in Mount Sinai, New York (2019-2022). During that time, I held a joint position in the labs of Prof. Daniela Schiller in the Department of Neuroscience and Prof. Xiaosi Gu, at the Center for Computational Psychiatry. 

 

I use computational tools to study autobiographical memory via narrative-based naturalistic stimuli to investigate traumatic memories. In tandem, I use computational psychiatry tools study effects of belief and decision making, both with neuroimaging and methods of invasive brain recordings. 

[Visit the 'Projects' page for more info]

I received my MSc and PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, where I studied human olfaction under the supervision of Prof. Noam Sobel. My main project involved psychophysical, physiological and EEG paradigms to investigate the effects of respiration on human cognition.

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Reach out at oferikoo < a t > gmail  .  com

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