Mikko Sams

Mikko Sams is a Senior Advisor and Researcher at the Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University. His work bridges cognitive neuroscience, psychology, and multisensory processing, with a focus on emotion, empathy, and audiovisual integration.

• Research Themes: Emotion mapping, social cognition, brain synchronization during naturalistic stimuli, empathy mechanisms, and cultural influences on perception.
• Methodologies: fMRI, MEG, ERP, and behavioral studies using films, narratives, and music as stimuli.

Recent publications highlight his exploration of emotional valence across cultures, political polarization in neural responses, and body maps of emotions. Sams investigates how audiovisual speech perception and social interaction modulate brain activity, often collaborating with interdisciplinary teams. His work extends to design science, examining empathy in human-technology interaction, and cognitive disorders, analyzing neural patterns in autism and psychosis. Despite extensive collaborations, no formal student list or awards are explicitly mentioned in the data. The research emphasizes functional connectivity, intersubject synchronization, and neuroplasticity in both healthy and clinical populations.