Artin Arshamian

I am the principal Investigator of the Embodied Perception and Cognition group. Our interdisciplinary team aims to unravel the neural and behavioral underpinnings of the olfactory system at the nexus of psychology, neuroscience, culture, and medicine. To achieve this interdisciplinary goal, we collaborate with many different research groups from various disciplines. This allows us to integrate, develop, and utilize state-of-the art methodologies from a diverse array of fields, including psychology, neuroscience, material science, anthropology, and linguistics. These tools enable us to tackle emerging questions concerning the sense of smell in health and disease, such as anosmia and Parkinson's disease. Moreover, we employ our research approach to examine both diverse human populations across the globe, encompassing urban dwellers to small-scale societies (e.g. hunter-gatherer groups), and compare our findings to animal models like rodents.

Below are our current research projects:

• Bottom-up and top-down modulation of olfactory perception: We investigate how sensory inputs from olfactory receptor neurons and olfactory bulb interact with higher-order brain regions to shape perception, and how these areas in-turn shape early sensory activity.

• The cultural shaping of olfactory perception and cognition: We explore how cultural factors (e.g., subsistence style) influence the way individuals perceive and remember odors. Our studies span urban societies to hunter-gatherer groups.

• The impact of breathing on pupil dynamics, perception, and memory function in humans and mice.