Vardan received a Ph.D. degree in Linguistics from the Center for Language and Brain (HSE University, Moscow, Russia) with the focus on language and communication impairments in children with autism. He also completed a postdoctoral training in clinical electroencephalography at Seattle Children’s Research Institute (Seattle, WA, USA) in Sara Jane Webb’s lab, where he continued his research on language and cognitive development in children with autism. In his research, Vardan uses multiple approaches and methods, such as behavioral assessment, genetic approaches (polymorphism, genome-wide copy number variation), and neurobiological methods (magnetoencephalography, electroencephalography, brain morphometry) to investigate a variability of language skills as well as structural and functional brain mechanisms of language impairment in children with autism. Vardan’s current studies combine genetic, neuroimaging, and behavioral approaches to understand the biological basis of language in autistic individuals and their first-degree relatives. His studies also address the biomarkers of language impairments in autism and the presence of these biomarkers in clinical trials. Furthermore, his research aims to identify the early neural markers of language impairments in infants at risk for developing autism and to reveal the validity of these neural markers to predict long-term language outcome in children who will later be diagnosed with autism.
Throughout his career, Vardan received a number of research and teaching awards from several organizations in Russia, European Union, and the United States. He presented the main results of his studies in Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Singapore, Canada, United Arab Emirates, and the United States of America.
Arutiunian, V., Buyanova, I., Minnigulova, A., Davydova, E., Pereverzeva, D., Sorokin, A., Tyushkevich, S., Mamokhina, U., Danilina, K., & Dragoy, O. (2025). Left-hemispheric atypicalities in the primary auditory cortex are associated with language comprehension and social skills in school-aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Cerebral Cortex, 35(3), bhaf055.
https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhaf055
Arutiunian, V., Santhosh, M., Neuhaus, E., Sullivan, C.A.W., Bernier, R.A., Bookheimer, S.Y., Dapretto, M., Geschwind, D.H., Jack, A., McPartland, J.C., van Horn, J.D., Pelphrey, K.A., Gupta, A.R., Webb, S.J., & the ACE GENDAAR Network (2025). A common genetic variant in the Neurexin family member
CNTNAP2 is related to language but not communication skills in youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Autism Research, 18,898–908.
https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.3193
Minnigulova, A., Protopova, M., Dragoy, O., &
Arutiunian, V. (2025). Atypical Social Behavior is Predicted by Overconnectivity Between Salience and Default Mode Networks in Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1–9.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-025-06840-w
Minnigulova, A., Dragoy, O., &
Arutiunian, V. (2025). Atypical segregation of frontoparietal and sensorimotor networks is related to social and executive function impairments in children with ASD.
Brain Imaging and Behavior, 1–10.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-025-01016-7
Minnigulova, A., Karpychev, V., Davydova, E., Pereverzeva, D., Sorokin, A., Tyushkevich, S., Mamokhina, U., Danilina, K., Dragoy, O., &
Arutiunian, V. (2025). Altered thalamotemporal structural connectivity is associated with autistic traits in children with ASD.
Behavioural Brain Research, 481, 115414.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2024.115414
Arutiunian, V., Arcara, G., Buyanova, I., Fedorov, M., Davydova, E., Pereverzeva, D., Sorokin, A., Tyushkevich, S., Mamokhina, U., Danilina, K., & Dragoy, O. (2024). Abnormalities in both stimulus-induced and baseline MEG alpha oscillations in the auditory cortex of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Brain Structure and Function, 229, 1225–1242.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-024-02802-7
Arutiunian, V., Santhosh, M., Neuhaus, E., Borland, H., Tompkins, C., Bernier, R.A., Bookheimer, S.Y., Dapretto, M., Gupta, A.R., Jack, A., Jeste, S., McPartland, J.C., Naples, A., van Horn, J.D., Pelphrey, K.A., & Webb, S.J. (2024). The relationship between gamma-band neural oscillations and language skills in youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their first-degree relatives.
Molecular Autism, 15, 19.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-024-00598-1
Samoylov, I., Arcara, G., Buyanova, I., Davydova, E., Pereverzeva, D., Sorokin, A., Tyushkevich, S., Mamokhina, U., Danilina, K., Dragoy, O., & Arutiunian, V. (2024). Altered neural synchronization in response to 2 Hz amplitude-modulated tones in the auditory cortex of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An MEG study. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 203, 112405.
Arutiunian, V., Arcara, G., Buyanova, I., Buivolova, O., Davydova, E., Pereverzeva, D., Sorokin, A., Tyushkevich, S., Mamokhina, U., Danilina, K., & Dragoy, O. (2023). Event-Related Desynchronization of MEG Alpha-Band Oscillations during Simultaneous Presentation of Audio and Visual Stimuli in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Brain Sciences, 13, 1313.
Arutiunian, V., Davydova, E., Pereverzeva, D., Sorokin, A., Tyushkevich, S., Mamokhina, U., Danilina, K., & Dragoy, O. (2023). Reduced grey matter volume of amygdala and hippocampus is associated with the severity of autistic symptoms and language abilities in school-aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: an exploratory study.
Brain Structure and Function, 228, 1573–1579.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-023-02660-9
Arutiunian, V., Arcara, G., Buyanova, I., Davydova, E., Pereverzeva, D., Sorokin, A., Tyushkevich, S., Mamokhina, U., Danilina, K., & Dragoy, O. (2023). Neuromagnetic 40 Hz Auditory Steady-State Response in the left auditory cortex is related to language comprehension in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 122, 110690.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2022.110690
Minnigulova, A., Davydova, E., Pereverzeva, D., Sorokin, A., Tyushkevich, S., Mamokhina, U., Danilina, K., Dragoy, O., &
Arutiunian, V. (2023). Corpus callosum organization and its implication to core and co-occurring symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Brain Structure and Function, 228, 775–785.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-023-02617-y
Arutiunian, V., Gomozova, M., Minnigulova, A., Davydova, E., Pereverzeva, D., Sorokin, A., Tyushkevich, S., Mamokhina, U., Danilina, K., & Dragoy, O. (2023). Structural brain abnormalities and their association with language impairment in school-aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Scientific Reports, 13, 1172.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28463-w
Yurchenko, A.,
Arutiunian, V., Shitova, N.M., Bergelson, M., & Dragoy, O. (2023). Registered switching involving lexical-semantic processing in Russian: An ERP study.
Journal of Neurolinguistics, 65, 101111.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2022.101111
Arutiunian, V., Arcara, G., Buyanova, I., Gomozova, M., & Dragoy, O. (2022). The age-related changes in 40 Hz Auditory Steady-State Response and sustained Event-Related Fields to the same amplitude-modulated tones in typically developing children: A magnetoencephalography study.
Human Brain Mapping, 43, 5370–5383.
https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.26013
Arutiunian, V., Lopukhina, A., Minnigulova, A., Shlyakhova, A., Davydova, E., Pereverzeva, D., Sorokin, A., Tyushkevich, S., Mamokhina, U., Danilina, K., & Dragoy, O. (2022). Language Abilities of Russian Primary-School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from Comprehensive Assessment.
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 52, 584–599.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-04967-0
Arutiunian, V., Lopukhina, A., Minnigulova, A., Shlyakhova, A., Davydova, E., Pereverzeva, D., Sorokin, A., Tyushkevich, S., Mamokhina, U., Danilina, K., & Dragoy, O. (2021). Expressive and Receptive Language in Russian Primary-School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Research in Developmental Disabilities, 117, 104042.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2021.104042
Arutiunian, V., & Lopukhina, A. (2020). The effects of phonological neighborhood density in childhood word production and recognition in Russian are opposite to English.
Journal of Child Language, 47(6), 1244–1262.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000920000112
