Joshua Sariñana, PhD, explores the intricate connections between the brain, art, and technology within a humanities framework. His work seeks to blend and expand on these disciplines, emphasizing their operations and conceptualizations.

Sariñana earned his neuroscience degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research focused on understanding how dopamine influences brain circuit activity in the hippocampus, affecting reinforcement learning and spatial navigation. 

His projects start with concepts informed by network functions, guiding and shaping his endeavors in art, science, and community engagement. He has served as a Cultural Ambassador for the Somerville Arts Council and has been awarded grants from the Massachusetts Arts Council and the Council for the Arts at MIT. Sariñana’s photography emphasizes internal representations, exhibiting his work across the US and internationally.

In addition to his artistic pursuits, Sariñana is a communications specialist, contributing his insights to WIRED Magazine, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and MIT Technology Review. He has also shared his expertise with youth at the Museum of Science, Boston, as a featured speaker in the Neurohumanities series at Trinity College, Dublin, and at Tufts University’s Latinx Center. He was also a committee member for the National Book Foundation’s 2025 Science + Literature Award.

His current project on Mental Mapping explores the relationships between artificial intelligence (AI), the brain, and social networks, aiming to uncover deeper understandings of how we perceive and interact across physical and virtual environments.