Professor Ole Jensen MSc, PhD

Professor Ole Jensen

School of Psychology
Professor in Translational Neuroscience
Co-Director of the Centre for Human Brain Health

Contact details

Telephone
0121 414 8509
Email
o.jensen@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
School of Psychology
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Prof.  Ole Jensen is a word leading expert on applying magnetoencephalograpghy to study the human brain. In particular his work has focused on uncovering the mechanism role of neuronal oscillations for cognition. 

Biography

Prof. Ole Jensen received his MSc degree in electrical engineering in 1993 from the Technical University of Denmark. He then pursued his PhD at Brandeis University in the United states under the supervision of professor John E. Lisman. In 1998 he obtained his PhD degree in neuroscience specializing in computational modeling of oscillatory networks. The modeling approach was used to account for electrophysiological and behavioral findings on memory in rats and humans. As a postdoctoral fellow he applied magnetoencephalography (MEG) to address questions on brain dynamics and human cognition at the Brain Research Unit, Low Temperature Laboratory. Helsinki University of Technology. He primarily worked with Dr. Claudia Tesche and professor Riitta Hari.

In 2002 he was employed as head of the MEG laboratory at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior and promoted to principal investigator in 2003. In 2013 he was appointed professor at the Faculty of Science, Radboud University Nijmegen. In 2016 he started a new position as professor in translational neuroscience at University of Birmingham where he is co-director of the new established Centre for Human Brain Health (CHBH). In 2016 he received the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award and in 2018 The Joseph Chamberlain Award for Academic Advancement at University of Birmingham.

Ole Jensen has authored or co-authored ~200 research papers; some in high impact journals including Nature, PNAS, Journal of Neuroscience, Current biology, Trends in Cognitive Sciences and Trends in Neurosciences. His work has received more than 32000 citations and his H-index is 80 (google scholar). He is in the top 1% for citations in Neuroscience &  Behavioural Science (Clarivate Analytics, 2018, 2019)"

Teaching

Module leader of Application of Electrophysiological Approaches in Cognitive Neuroscience.

Postgraduate supervision

The Neuronal Oscillations group will supervise students interested in using MEG applied in cognitive and clinical neuroscience.

Research

Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8193-8348

Ole Jensen’s work focuses on linking oscillatory brain activity to cognition: how does oscillatory brain activity shapes the functional architecture of the working brain in the context of memory and attention. To this end he is using magnetoenceohalography (MEG) in combination with other techniques. Recently he established a facility for the application and development of optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs).

Specifically, the core hypothesis states that neuronal communication is gated by inhibitory alpha oscillations in task-irrelevant regions, thus routing information to task-relevant regions. According to this framework the brain can be studied as a network by investigating cross-frequency interactions between gamma and alpha activity.

The research tools applied by Jensen’s group include computational modeling, MEG, EEG combined with fMRI, EEG combined with TMS and intracranial recordings. These tools are applied to investigate and interpret data from humans and animals performing attention and memory tasks. Furthermore the group investigates these mechanism to understand the basis of attention problems in ADHD patients and the aging population.

Recently he established a Optically Pumped Magnetometers laboratory at the Centre for Brain Health to developed new types of MEG sensors. 

See Ole Jensen's Neuronal Oscillations website

Other activities

  • Member of the INS (International Neuropsychological Symposium)
  • Chair of the International Conference on Biomagnetism to be held at University Birmingham 2022 (BIOMAG2020)
  • Member of the organizing committee of the Internal Conference of Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON), 2017,2022
  • Member of the Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health Expert Review Group, The Wellcome Trust, 2017-2018
  • Editorial board member. PLOS Biology, 2015-2018
  • Editorial board member. Brain Connectivity
  • Reviewing editor of eLife

Publications

Highlight publications

Pan, Y, Popov, T, Frisson, S & Jensen, O 2023, 'Saccades are locked to the phase of alpha oscillations during natural reading', PLoS Biology, vol. 21, no. 1, e3001968. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.04.10.487681, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001968

Gutteling, TP, Sillekens, L, Lavie, N & Jensen, O 2022, 'Alpha oscillations reflect suppression of distractors with increased perceptual load', Progress in neurobiology, vol. 214, 102285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pneurobio.2022.102285

Zhao, C, Li, D, Kong, Y, Liu, H, Hu, Y, Niu, H, Jensen, O, Li, X, Liu, H & Song, Y 2022, 'Transcranial photobiomodulation enhances visual working memory capacity in humans.', Science Advances, vol. 8, no. 48. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abq3211

Ferrante, O, Liu, L, Minarik, T, Gorska, U, Ghafari, T, Luo, H & Jensen, O 2022, 'FLUX: a pipeline for MEG analysis', NeuroImage, vol. 253, 119047. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119047

Recent publications

Article

Melloni, L, Mudrik, L, Pitts, M, Bendtz, K, Ferrante, O, Górska, U, Hirschhorn, R, Khalaf, A, Kozma, C, Lepauvre, A, Liu, L, Mazumder, D, Richter, D, Zhou, H, Blumenfeld, H, Boly, M, Chalmers, DJ, Devore, S, Fallon, F, de, LFP, Jensen, O, Kreiman, G, Luo, H, Panagiotaropoulos, TI, Dehaene, S, Koch, C & Tononi, G 2023, 'An adversarial collaboration protocol for testing contrasting predictions of global neuronal workspace and integrated information theory.', PLOS One, vol. 18, no. 2. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268577

Luther, L, Horschig, JM, van, PJM, Roelofs, K, Jensen, O & Hagenaars, MA 2023, 'Oscillatory brain responses to emotional stimuli are effects related to events rather than states.', Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, vol. 16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2022.868549

Zhigalov, A & Jensen, O 2023, 'Perceptual echoes as travelling waves may arise from two discrete neuronal sources', NeuroImage, vol. 272, 120047. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120047

Li, D, Hu, Y, Qi, M, Zhao, C, Jensen, O, Huang, J & Song, Y 2023, 'Prioritizing flexible working memory representations through retrospective attentional strengthening.', NeuroImage. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.119902

Zhao, C, Kong, Y, Li, D, Huang, J, Kong, L, Li, X, Jensen, O & Song, Y 2023, 'Suppression of distracting inputs by visual-spatial cues is driven by anticipatory alpha activity', PLoS Biology, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. e3002014. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002014

Guo, J, Luo, X, Kong, Y, Li, B, Si, B, Jensen, O, Sun, L & Song, Y 2023, 'The effects of first-dose methylphenidate on the neural signatures of visual selective attention in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.', Biological Psychology, vol. 177, 108481. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2022.108481

Brickwedde, M, Bezsudnova, Y, Kowalczyk, A, Jensen, O & Zhigalov, A 2022, 'Application of rapid invisible frequency tagging for brain computer interfaces', Journal of Neuroscience Methods, vol. 382, 109726. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2022.109726

Popov, T, Gips, B, Weisz, N & Jensen, O 2022, 'Brain areas associated with visual spatial attention display topographic organization during auditory spatial attention', Cerebral Cortex. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhac285

Mazzetti, C, Damatac , CG, Sprooten, E, Ter Huurne, N, Buitelaar, JK & Jensen, O 2022, 'Dorsal-to-ventral imbalance in the superior longitudinal fasciculus mediates methylphenidate’s effect on beta oscillations in ADHD', Psychophysiology, vol. 59, no. 5, e14008. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14008

Pesquita, A, Bernardet, U, Richards, BE, Jensen, O & Shapiro, K 2022, 'Isolating Action Prediction from Action Integration in the Perception of Social Interactions', Brain Sciences, vol. 12, no. 4, 432. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12040432

Hardy, SM, Jensen, O, Wheeldon, L, Mazaheri, A & Segaert, K 2022, 'Modulation in alpha band activity reflects syntax composition: an MEG study of minimal syntactic binding', Cerebral Cortex. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhac080

Bezsudnova, Y, Koponen, L, Barontini, G, Jensen, O & Kowalczyk, A 2022, 'Optimising the sensing volume of OPM sensors for MEG source reconstruction', NeuroImage, vol. 264, 119747. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119747

Scheeringa, R, Bonnefond, M, van Mourik, T, Jensen, O, Norris, DG & Koopmans, PJ 2022, 'Relating neural oscillations to laminar fMRI connectivity in visual cortex', Cerebral Cortex. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhac154

Preprint

Griffiths, BJ, Weinert, DE, Jensen, O & Staudigl, T 2023 'Imperceptible gamma-band sensory stimulation enhances episodic memory retrieval' bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.07.21.550057

Review article

Griffiths, BJ & Jensen, O 2023, 'Gamma oscillations and episodic memory', Trends in Neurosciences, vol. 46, no. 10, pp. P832-846. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2023.07.003

View all publications in research portal