Ari Kahn

Assistant Professor, Cognition & Neural Systems
Assistant Professor, Cognitive Science
Headshot for faculty member Ari Kahn
arikahn@arizona.edu

NOTE: Dr. Kahn is an incoming Faculty member, with an official start date in Spring 2026.

Research Interests:

  • Planning and decision making, and how complex behavior depends on learning and utilizing predictive models of the world
  • Understanding neural mechanisms of these models, their developmental trajectory, and their role in healthy and adaptive behavior
  • Computational approaches to understanding complex human and animal behavior including Reinforcement Learning and Network Science

Updated: 08/26/25

Selected Publications:

  • Ari E. Kahn and Nathaniel D. Daw (2025). Humans Rationally Balance Mental Simulation and Temporally Abstract World Models. Communications Psychology 3.1, pp. 1-11
  • Ari E. Kahn, Karol Szymula, Sophie E. Loman, Edda B. Haggerty, Nathaniel Nyema, Geoffrey K. Aguirre, and Dani S. Bassett (2025). Network Structure Influences the Strength of Learned Neural Representations. Nature Communications 16.1, p. 994
  • Xiaohuan Xia, Andrei A. Klishin, Jennifer Stiso, Christopher W. Lynn, Ari E. Kahn, Lorenzo Caciagli, and Dani S. Bassett (2024). Human Learning of Hierarchical Graphs. Physical Review E, 109.4, p. 044305
  • Timothy A. Krausz, Alison E. Comrie, Ari E. Kahn, Loren M. Frank, Nathaniel D. Daw, and Joshua D. Berke (2023). Dual Credit Assignment Processes Underlie Dopamine Signals in a Complex Spatial Environment. Neuron 111.21, 3465–3478.e7
  • Christopher W. Lynn, Ari E. Kahn, Nathaniel Nyema, and Danielle S. Bassett (2020). Abstract Representations of Events Arise from Mental Errors in Learning and Memory. Nature Communications 11.1 (1), p. 2313
  • Christopher W. Lynn, Lia Papadopoulos, Ari E. Kahn, and Danielle S. Bassett (2020). Human Information Processing in Complex Networks. Nature Physics, pp. 1-9
  • Ari E. Kahn, Elisabeth A. Karuza, Jean M. Vettel, and Danielle S. Bassett. (2018). Network constraints on learnability of probabilistic motor sequences. Nature Human Behavior 2, pp. 936–947
  • Ari E. Kahn, Marcelo G. Mattar, Jean M. Vettel, Nicholas F. Wymbs, Scott T. Grafton, and Danielle S. Bassett. (2017). Structural Pathways Supporting Swift Acquisition of New Visuomotor Skills. Cerebral Cortex 27.1, pp. 173–184

Updated: 08/26/25

Degrees

  • B.S. Computer Science, Washington University in St. Louis
  • Ph.D. Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania