# Roi Cohen Kadosh

Roi Cohen Kadosh (Hebrew: רועי כהן קדוש, born 1976) is an Israeli-British cognitive neuroscientist notable for his work on numerical and mathematical cognition and learning and cognitive enhancement. He is a professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and the head of the School of Psychology at the University of Surrey.

## Biography

Cohen Kadosh was born in Israel in 1976. He became interested in psychology at age 14, following his mother's illness and early death. After his mandatory service in the Israel Defence Forces, he started his studies at Achva College, and received his undergraduate degree in Behavioral Science from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in 2002.
Based on his achievements in his undergraduate studies, he received the prestigious Kreitman Foundation Doctoral Fellowship and was accepted to the direct track in PhD in neuropsychology with Prof. Avishai Henik. During his PhD degree (summa cum laude), he completed the European Diploma in Cognitive and Brain Sciences (EDCBS), and training in neuroimaging at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research with Prof. David Linden. He received training as an intern in clinical neuropsychology, at Beit Loewenstein Rehabilitation Center. He then decided to follow a research career and received a Rothschild post-doctoral fellowship and funding from European Commission and the International Brain Research Organization to join the Institute Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London for his postdoctoral training.
In 2009 he received a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship to move to the University of Oxford where he established his lab. In 2015 he received the Professorial Distinction Award by the University of Oxford and became a full professor. In 2021, he moved to the University of Surrey to take headship of the School of Psychology. In 2021 he also founded Cognite Neurotechnology Ltd, a start-up company that uses the findings from his studies to combine AI and neuromodulation to provide personalised, safe, and painless technology to improve cognition and learning for therapeutic or augmentation purposes.

## Research
### Numerical cognition

Cohen Kadosh started to work on numerical cognition under the supervision of Avishai Henik. His work has focused on how humans represent numbers and the psychological and biological mechanisms that support superior, typical, and impaired numerical understanding, a research with implications for a wide range of fields including Psychology, Education, and Neuroscience. His work in this field has led to significant changes in several dominant theories of numerical cognition.

### Synesthesia

Cohen Kadosh has revealed some of the cognitive and perceptual principles of synesthesia and its neurobiological mechanisms, which has implications for the field of neuroplasticity and learning. He has also suggested that the origins of synesthesia might be due to a failure in cortical specialization during infancy and childhood.

### Excitation/Inhibition balance

Cohen Kadosh's research on excitation/inhibition (E/I) balance focuses on the brain's regulation of these processes. In a healthy brain, excitation and inhibition are balanced to ensure proper functioning of neural circuits. Disruptions in this balance are linked to a variety of cognitive and neurological conditions, including ADHD, schizophrenia, and autism.
Cohen Kadosh has explored how E/I balance may impact learning and cognitive functions. Using non-invasive methods, his research revealed that excitation and inhibition levels change throughout development, influencing brain plasticity, learning, and cognition. Cohen Kadosh has also pioneered the use of neurostimulation to modulate E/I activity. His work has provided the foundation for developing interventions for atypical development, neuropsychiatric disorders, and cognitive enhancement.

### Cognitive enhancement

Cohen Kadosh has been one of the pioneers in combining cognitive training with non-invasive brain stimulation to show its impact on cognition, learning, and brain functions. He has examined the role of individual differences at the psychological and biological level on the impact of brain stimulation on behaviour, those allowing a better mechanistic understanding of brain stimulation and learning. In the last years he has extended his research to the field of attention by showing the ability to modulate sustained attention using non-invasive brain stimulation and working together with Tech Innosphere Ltd, to find a non-pharmacological, safe, and long-lasting solution for children with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and with Cognite Neurotechnology Ltd to find effective and personalised solutions to improve attentional abilities in healthy adults.

### Neuroethics

Cohen Kadosh has collaborated with neuroethicists to highlight the implications of brain stimulation for cognitive enhancement and shape the current regulation.

## Select awards and honours

He has received more than 60 awards, grants, and honours which include:
* In 2009 he received The Sieratzki-Korczyn Prize for Advances in the Neurosciences.
* In 2010 he received the Career Development Award from the Society for Neuroscience.
* In 2013 he received the Paul Bertelson Award from the European Society for Cognitive Psychology.
* In 2014, the British Psychological Society announced that he would be the recipient of the Spearman Medal.
* In 2015, his book, The Stimulated Brain, was given an Honorable Mention for Biomedicine & Neuroscience at the 2015 PROSE Awards from the Association of American Publishers.
* In 2015 he received the Professorial Distinction Award from the University of Oxford.
* In 2016 he received The International Mind, Brain and Education Society (IMBES) Early Career Award.
* In 2019 he was awarded the Professorial Merit Award by the University of Oxford
* In 2023 he received the Blackham Lecture Medal from Humanists UK.
In addition, he has contributed to the wider national and international academic community's general life through various roles and activities including advising policymakers, non-governmental agencies, and commercial companies, co-founding international scientific societies, and chairing international panels, including the ERC and FCT.

## Selected works
### Papers

* 2023 - Human Neuronal Excitation/Inhibition Balance Explains and Predicts Neurostimulation Induced Learning Benefits.
* 2023 - Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation combined with Cognitive Training for Treating ADHD: A Randomized, Sham-Controlled Clinical Trial.
* 2021 - Predicting learning and achievement using GABA and glutamate concentrations in human development.
* 2021 - The impact of a lack of mathematical education on brain development and future attainment.
* 2021- Scaffolding the Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Brain Using Transcranial Direct Current and Random Noise Stimulation: a Randomized Controlled Trial.
* 2021 - Personalized Closed-Loop Brain Stimulation for Effective Neurointervention
* 2019 - Suboptimal Engagement of High-Level Cortical Regions Predicts Random-Noise-Related Gains in Sustained Attention
* 2018 - Learning while multitasking: short and long-term benefits of brain stimulation
* 2015 - Enhancing cognition using transcranial electrical stimulation
* 2015 – Linking GABA and glutamate levels to cognitive skill acquisition during development; Human Brain Mapping.
* 2014 - Cognitive enhancement or cognitive cost: Trait-specific outcomes of brain stimulation in the case of mathematics anxiety; The Journal of Neuroscience.
* 2013 - The mental cost of cognitive enhancement; The Journal of Neuroscience.
* 2013 - Long-term enhancement of brain function and cognition using cognitive training and brain stimulation; Current Biology.
* 2012 – The Neuroethics of Non-invasive Brain Stimulation; Current Biology.
* 2011 – Enhanced cortical excitability in grapheme-colour synaesthesia and its modulation; Current Biology.
* 2010 – Modulating Neuronal Activity Produces Specific and Long Lasting Changes in Numerical Competence; Current Biology.
* 2009 – Numerical Representation in the Parietal Lobes: Abstract or not Abstract?; Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
* 2007 – Notation-Dependent and -Independent Representations of Numbers in the Parietal Lobes; Neuron.
* 2007 – Virtual Dyscalculia Induced by Parietal Lobe TMS Impairs Automatic Magnitude Processing; Current Biology.

### Miscellaneous

* 2014 – The Neuroscience of Mathematical Cognition and Learning. An Expert Paper produced on the request of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris.
* 2014 – The regulation of cognitive enhancement devices (Policy Paper).

### Books

* 2021 - Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) in neurodevelopmental disorders
* 2015 – The Oxford Handbook of Numerical Cognition
* 2014 - The Stimulated Brain: Cognitive Enhancement Using Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation