His topics of study include functional integration and binding in the cerebral cortex, neural models of perception and action, network structure and dynamics, applications of information theory to the brain and embodied cognitive science using robotics.

Sporns is also interested in understanding the relationship between statistical properties of neuronal populations and perceptual data.

To this end, he has run statistical analysis on movement patterns and input within simulations, videos and robotic devices.

[citation needed] Sporns also has a research interest in reward models of the brain utilizing robots.

Though not directly related to his core research, in early 2000 Sporns was interested indeveloping robots with human-like qualities in their ability to learn.