Research

We are exploring the hypothesis that our episodic memory, i.e. the ability to relive a moment in our lives, is underpinned by a low-level spatial process. This process, egocentric updating, is complex but automated and enables us to situate even non-visible objects in relation to ourselves. We are studying body cues related to posture to see if they are modified by the intervention of this spatial process during recollection.

 

Financement : Bourse de thèse Ecole Doctorale EDISCE

Chercheurs : Stéphane Rousset, Maelle Tixier

• Read more about Episodic memory and spatial processing

The construction of neuropsychological clinical tests is an activity that combines fundamental research and extensive validation on very large populations. In recent years, for example, we have been involved in creating the child and adult versions of the Behavioural Evaluation of Executive Function (BRIEF) inventory.
 
Chercheurs : Nathalie Fournet-Jean-Luc Roulin-Annik Charnallet

• Read more about Clinical neuropsychological tests

The computer implementation of our working memory model is a fundamental aspect of our research. Firstly, it allows us to rigorously test the characteristics of the proposed cognitive processes. But also, by using the model as a virtual subject, we can carry out a large number of computer experiments in order to uncover previously unobserved behaviour. We can then experimentally verify whether these observations are actually found in humans.
 
Financement : ANR Chunked
Chercheurs : Sophie Portrat-Benoit Lemaire-Benjamin Kowialiewski

• Read more about Computational modelling of working memory

Déjà vu is a subjectively significant event. Beyond its study as such, it could provide crucial elements for understanding the relationships between the different components that make up our memory. We develop the hypothesis that it is the result of a metacognitive conflict. Our studies focus on the ecological occurrences of this phenomenon, pathological cases and experimental paradigms that can provoke a feeling of déjà vu.

Chercheur : Chris Moulin

• Read more about The déjà vu phenomenon

The best-known memory disorders are those affecting episodic memory. They consist of forgetting events as they happen. There is another, rarer pathology, in which patients progressively lose their knowledge of the world. We have helped to demonstrate that there are two distinct clinical entities (loss of verbal labels, or 'deep' semantics). This has repercussions not only on treatment, but also on the support provided by family and friends.
 
Financement : Bourse doctorale EDISCE
Chercheurs : Olivier Moreaud, Mathilde Sauvée, Annik Charnallet, Céline Souchay, Méline Devaluez, Stéphane Rousset

• Read more about Pathology of Semantic Memory

Metacognition, or the ability to evaluate our performance, has been studied extensively in the fields of memory (see above) and visual perception, but much less in other areas such as motor skills. This interdisciplinary thesis project (co-supervised by Céline Souchay, Aïna Chalabaev and Estelle Palluel) therefore aims to explore our self-evaluation capacities in motor tasks. The aim will be to conduct studies that are both 'systematic', i.e. carried out under controlled laboratory conditions, and 'representative', i.e. more ecological.
We will also explore motor metacognition in children and in the context of developmental coordination disorders (dyspraxia).

Financements : CBH Graduate School
Chercheurs : Céline Souchay, Lise Brun

• Read more about Metacognition and motor skills

We seek to identify the electrophysiological mechanisms that give rise to the phenomenal experience associated with the processing of perceptual information, in other words what it feels like to consciously perceive an object. We also study the brain's ability to observe itself, which gives us the so-called metacognitive ability to evaluate and control our own mental states. Our hypothesis is that consciousness and metacognition depend on a mechanism of accumulation of evidence.

• Read more about Axis 4. Perceptual awareness and metacognition

We are developing a neurobiological model of visual recognition. This model is predictive, that is to say it is based on the hypothesis that our brain interprets the external world according to a pre-existing model that it continually updates according to the information, particularly visual and emotional, that it receives. We draw inspiration from this model to produce more efficient artificial intelligence (neural networks).

• Read more about Axis 3. Proactive vision and emotional experience

We study the role of eye movements in perceptual, motor, or cognitive processes using experimental psychology paradigms with controlled but nevertheless ecological stimuli (such as faces and visual scenes). We also use these eye-tracking measurements as biomarkers of cognitive disorders in various ophthalmological pathologies (AMD, glaucoma), neurodegenerative (Parkinson's, Alzheimer's) and psychiatric (bipolar disorders)

• Read more about Axis 2. Active vision and eye movements

We are developing models of visual perception inspired by the biology of retinal neurons. For example, we propose a model of color perception inspired by the mosaic of retinal cones and their non-linear and adaptive processing. Our algorithms significantly improve the color processing of digital images. We therefore apply our models to digital cameras and machine vision systems.

• Read more about Axis 1. Visual sensory inputs