Artin Arshamian

Artin Arshamian

Principal Researcher | Docent
Visiting address: Nobels väg 9, 17177 Stockholm
Postal address: K8 Klinisk neurovetenskap, K8 Psykologi Lundström Arshamian, 171 77 Stockholm
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About me

  • As the Principal Investigator of the Embodied Perception and Cognition group, my research focuses on two main areas: understanding the mechanisms that shape the olfactory system and exploring how breathing influences perception and cognition. We employ state-of-the-art methodologies from a wide range of disciplines, including psychology, neuroscience, material science, anthropology, and linguistics.

    A key strength of our research lies in our collaborations with diverse groups, allowing us to study previously inaccessible areas. For instance, through partnerships with field researchers, we investigate the commonalities and differences in human olfaction across various populations, from urban dwellers to hunter-gatherer communities around the world. We also conduct direct comparisons between our neural and behavioral findings in humans and animal models such as rodents.

    A significant part of our work involves developing new electrophysiological brain imaging techniques, which enable us to study previously inaccessible areas of the olfactory and respiratory systems. For example, we investigate how breathing, odor perception, and cognition are encoded in the olfactory bulb and piriform cortex, as well as how these processes influence peripheral functions like pupil response.

    Our advanced tools and interdisciplinary approach allow us to address emerging questions about the sense of smell in both health and disease, with a particular focus on conditions such as anosmia and Parkinson's disease.

Articles

All other publications

Grants

  • Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation
    1 January 2025 - 31 December 2027
    One of the primary functions of olfaction is to assess whether a smell is pleasant or unpleasant (i.e., odor valence). This enables us to make crucial decisions about approaching or avoiding the odor (e.g., avoiding rotten food). Due to limitations in non-invasive brain imaging techniques, next to nothing is known about how the core and initial olfactory system —from the peripheral to the primary olfactory cortex — simultaneously encode this fundamental odor precept in humans. In this project, we will use new techniques that enable us to investigate the core olfactory system simultaneously, from the olfactory epithelium (EPT) to the olfactory bulb (OB), and the olfactory cortex (piriform cortex, PC). Specifically, we will determine how each node codes odor valence and how this information is communicated between each node to create the final odor valence percept. Exploring the mechanisms of odor valence is necessary to understand the most fundamental principle of human olfaction. Today, we have far more knowledge about how perception works in vision and hearing. This project aims to establish a similar level of knowledge for olfaction.
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2025 - 31 December 2028
    Intensity coding is at the core of perception, allowing us to discriminate between the candle and the sun, the whisper and the shout. Odors also exist across a vast intensity spectrum, from the barely perceptible fragrance of a light rain to the overwhelming blast of rotten meat. Unlike the well-documented mechanisms in vision and audition, the encoding of odor intensity in the olfactory system remains largely unexplored due to technological limitations. Our project aims to elucidate the most basic principles underlying perceived odor intensity. We will achieve this by studying the bottom-up and top-down mechanisms that shape perceived odor intensity by investigating the encoding and communication of odor signals across the major nodes of the olfactory system: the olfactory epithelium, olfactory bulb, and piriform cortex. Utilizing novel techniques developed in our lab, which enables simultaneous recordings from these critical nodes, we will conduct a series of behavioral experiments. Our objectives are threefold: to determine how odor intensity is coded within each node, how these perceptions are communicated across the system, and how cognitive processes and contextual information influence perceived intensity. Our approach addresses the limitations of traditional human and animal studies and holds promise for advancing our fundamental understanding of olfaction. Critically, the findings can offer insights into the common principles shaping perception across all our senses.
  • Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation
    31 December 2024 - 30 December 2027
    One of the primary functions of olfaction is to assess whether a smell is pleasant or unpleasant (i.e., odor valence). This enables us to make crucial decisions about approaching or avoiding the odor (e.g., avoiding rotten food). Due to limitations in non-invasive brain imaging techniques, next to nothing is known about how the core and initial olfactory system —from the peripheral to the primary olfactory cortex — simultaneously encode this fundamental odor precept in humans. In this project, we will use new techniques that enable us to investigate the core olfactory system simultaneously, from the olfactory epithelium (EPT) to the olfactory bulb (OB), and the olfactory cortex (piriform cortex, PC). Specifically, we will determine how each node codes odor valence and how this information is communicated between each node to create the final odor valence percept. Exploring the mechanisms of odor valence is necessary to understand the most fundamental principle of human olfaction. Today, we have far more knowledge about how perception works in vision and hearing. This project aims to establish a similar level of knowledge for olfaction.
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2022 - 31 December 2024
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 December 2021 - 30 November 2025
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 December 2018 - 31 December 2020
  • Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation
    1 January 2015 - 31 December 2020
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 July 2014 - 30 June 2017

Employments

  • Principal Researcher, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 2022-
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, Centre for Language Studies, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, 2014-2018

Degrees and Education

  • Docent, Karolinska Institutet, 2024

Supervision

  • Supervision to doctoral degree

    • Frans Nordén, 2023-
    • Reza Baboukani, How does breathing shape perception? From pupil dynamics to active sensing, 2023-
    • Behzad Iravani, Novel measure of olfactory bulb function in health and disease, https://www.dissertations.se/dissertation/65d3a5f9b9/, 2021
    • Hannaneh Yazdi, 2020-

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