World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!

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Neuroscience

D-Index
84
Citations
40986
World Ranking
1364
National Ranking
687

Computer Science

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91
Citations
45235
World Ranking
570
National Ranking
304

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2008 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  • 1995 - Neural Networks Pioneer Award, IEEE Computational Intelligence Society
  • 1992 - Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) For his work in schema theory and neural networks to provide a linking methodology between distributed artificial intelligence and brain theory.

Overview

Michael A. Arbib is affiliated with the University of Southern California in the United States. Their research spans multiple fields including psychology, social sciences, and neuroscience, with a particular focus on social psychology, cultural studies, experimental and cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and developmental and educational psychology.

The primary topics of their work include action observation and synchronization, language and cultural evolution, child and animal learning development, language, metaphor, and cognition, design education and practice, multisensory perception and integration, and memory and neural mechanisms.

Recent publications by Michael A. Arbib include:

  • From spatial navigation via visual construction to episodic memory and imagination (2020, Biological Cybernetics)
  • Tooling and Construction: From Nut-Cracking and Stone-Tool Making to Bird Nests and Language (2023, Current Research in Behavioral Sciences)
  • The creativity of architects (2024, Behavioral and Brain Sciences)
  • Artificial intelligence meets brain theory (again) (2025, Biological Cybernetics)
  • Baukultur in a Cybernetic Age: A Conversation (2021, The Plan Journal)

Their frequent co-authors include Dietrich Stout, Dorothy M. Fragaszy, Susan D. Healy, Francisco Aboitiz, and Judith M. Burkart.

Michael A. Arbib has published extensively in several venues, with the most frequent being Biological Cybernetics, Current Research in Behavioral Sciences, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The Plan Journal, and IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine.

They have authored at least one book titled When Brains Meet Buildings, published by Oxford University Press in 2021.

Recognition of Michael A. Arbib's work includes several awards:

  • Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2008
  • Neural Networks Pioneer Award, IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, 1995
  • Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), 1992, for work in schema theory and neural networks linking distributed artificial intelligence and brain theory

Best Publications

  • The Handbook of Brain Theory and Neural Networks

    Michael A. Arbib

  • Language within our grasp

    Giacomo Rizzolatti;Michael A. Arbib

  • Topics in Mathematical System Theory

    R. E. Kalman;P. L Falb;Michael A. Arbib

  • Grasping objects: the cortical mechanisms of visuomotor transformation

    Marc Jeannerod;M. A. Arbib;G. Rizzolatti;H. Sakata

  • From monkey-like action recognition to human language: an evolutionary framework for neurolinguistics.

    Michael A. Arbib

  • Localization of grasp representations in humans by positron emission tomography. 2. Observation compared with imagination.

    Scott T. Grafton;Michael A. Arbib;Luciano Fadiga;Giacomo Rizzolatti

  • Introduction to formal language theory

    Robert N. Moll;Michael A. Arbib;A. J. Kfoury

  • Perceptual Structures and Distributed Motor Control

    Michael A. Arbib

  • Brains, machines, and mathematics

    Michael A. Arbib

  • The metaphorical brain : an introduction to cybernetics as artificial intelligence and brain theory

    Michael A. Arbib

  • Premotor Cortex Activation during Observation and Naming of Familiar Tools

    Scott T. Grafton;Luciano Fadiga;Michael A. Arbib;Giacomo Rizzolatti

  • How the Brain Got Language: The Mirror System Hypothesis

    Michael A. Arbib

  • Conceptual models of neural organization.

    J Szentágothai;M A Arbib

  • Modeling parietal-premotor interactions in primate control of grasping

    Andrew H. Fagg;Michael A. Arbib

  • Coordinated control programs for movements of the hand

    M. A. Arbib

  • Theories of abstract automata

    Michael A. Arbib

  • Arrows, Structures, and Functors: The Categorical Imperative

    Michael A. Arbib;Ernest G. Manes

  • Models of trajectory formation and temporal interaction of reach and grasp

    Bruce Hoff;Michael A. Arbib

  • Primate Vocalization, Gesture, and the Evolution of Human Language

    Michael A. Arbib;Katja Liebal;Simone Pika

  • Schema design and implementation of the grasp-related mirror neuron system.

    Erhan Oztop;Michael A. Arbib

  • Neural Organization: Structure, Function, and Dynamics

    Michael A. Arbib;P. Érdi;János Szentágothai

Frequent Co-Authors

Nicolas Schweighofer
Nicolas Schweighofer University of Southern California
Giacomo Rizzolatti
Giacomo Rizzolatti University of Parma
DeLiang Wang
DeLiang Wang Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen
Scott T. Grafton
Scott T. Grafton University of California, Santa Barbara
Jean-Marc Fellous
Jean-Marc Fellous University of Arizona
Laurent Itti
Laurent Itti University of Southern California
Aude Billard
Aude Billard École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Giorgio Metta
Giorgio Metta Italian Institute of Technology
Auke Jan Ijspeert
Auke Jan Ijspeert École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

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