My research activities focus on the cognitive aspects of visual processing, in both normal individuals and those who have suffered brain injuries. My main objectives are to identify the normal mechanisms involved in visual processing and to characterize the functional deficits resulting from brain damage. I use behavioural and electrophysiological methods. My current projects concern a number of themes:

1. Reading: visual mechanisms (i.e. shape perception and visuospatial attention) involved in accessing orthographic-lexical knowledge when recognizing written words, and organization of the lexical representation system
2. Visual recognition of objects: properties of the system for encoding visual shapes and representation of structural knowledge

My research program is aimed at achieving a better understanding of childhood development and the consequences of early brain injury. We use several methodological and technological approaches in four main spheres of investigation:

• Studies of normal childhood development and predictive factors of brain and cognitive maturation
• Investigation of the effects of perinatal brain injury (e.g. prematurity) and postnatal brain injury (e.g. cranial trauma) on cognition, social competence, quality of life and brain development
• Development and validation of new cognitive tasks and social skills (e.g. moral reasoning, theory of mind, executive functions)
• Development of intervention programs for parents and children/teens with traumatic brain injuries

Target populations: healthy populations, traumatic brain injury, prematurity, behavioural problems, child psychiatric disorders, metabolic/genetic diseases, other neuropsychological disorders, etc.

Techniques used: MRI, fMRI, PET, DTI, eye tracking, neuropsychological assessment, longitudinal studies, etc.

Dr Belleville contributes to the developement and understandin of cognitive training for older adults and persons at risk of dementia and on the prevention of age-related cognitive decline. She identifies processes of compensation and plasticity in mild cognitive impairment using brain imaging techniques. She also developed an important research program on the neuropsychology of memory in aging and dementia and has contributed to a better understanding of the neuropsychological deficits found in persons with very early signs of Alzheimer’s disease or mild cognitive impairment. She created and leads the CIMAQ, a cohort of well-characterized older adults with suspected prodromal Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Brambati has a PhD in Molecular Medicine (cognitive neuropsychology profile) from the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milan, Italy (2006). She then completed post-doctoral studies at the Memory and Aging Center (University of California, San Francisco) (2006-2007), and the IUGM research centre. Today she is a researcher at the IUGM research centre (FRQ-S Junior 1) and a professor on loan to the Department of Psychology at the Université de Montréal.

Study of the behavioural conditions that determine the learning of motor skills and neurofunctional plasticity characterizing this type of procedural memory in adult humans, using experimental approaches involving psychophysical and psychopharmacological methods on young or elderly subjects, studies of clinical populations (e.g. Parkinson's disease or brain damage) and some imaging techniques (e.g.: positron-emission tomography [PET] and functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI]) in healthy subjects and neurological patients.

Exploration of the role of the simple passage of time and of sleep (nighttime and daytime) in consolidating two types of motor learning, and identification of the neuroanatomical substrates underlying the consolidation of these types of memory.

Differentiation, using neuroimaging and methods of analyzing connectivity between networks in co-activated regions, of the contribution of cerebral structures forming cortico-striatal (CS) and cortico-cerebellar (CC) circuits, and the dynamics of the neurofunctional changes involving these two cortico-subcortical systems in the different stages of learning and recalling a motor sequence or motor adaptation.

Comparative study of the neurofunctional plasticity observed during the physical and mental practice of a sequence of movements, and identification of the neuronal networks characteristic of subjects with good abilities to use IM and those revealed when visual images are activated versus kinesthetic sensations of movements.

Experimental cognitive science, computer models and simulations of cognitive processes and neuroimaging to determine why and how attention functions or fails.

As adults we are often amazed by how quickly and easily children learn. There are many factors influencing child development. My research program is aimed at better understanding the cerebral mechanisms involved in learning processes in children and infants.

• Study of cerebral mechanisms for learning in healthy children.
• Links with normal brain development, sleep/wake cycles, nutrition, family environment, self-regulation by children, etc.

Second, I am interested in the pathologies that sometimes occur at key moments in child development and can be harmful to cerebral, cognitive and emotional development. For instance, I am studying the effects of epilepsy caused by a developmental lesion and epilepsy with no apparent cause.

Investigation methods: neuroimaging (structural and functional), electrophysiology (EEG/MEG), behaviour (eye tracking, neuropsychological tests).

A few objectives of our research at our electrophysiology and traumatic brain injury impact study laboratory (CRLB-CRIR and CERNEC):

• The use of visual and cognitive electrophysiology and neuropsychological tests to objectify alterations in brain function and means of recovery after a traumatic brain injury (TBI)
• The study of the effectiveness of cognitive and rehabilitation interventions and the links between brain function, symptomatology and some indicators of post-TBI development, such as ability to work and quality of life

My field of research is cognitive neuropsychology. The approach is characterized by the study of the effects of brain lesions on cognitive functions. I am interested in musical perception and recognition; emotions; language; prosody; and memory. These functions all have a link with musical cognition, which remains my main field of interest. Aside from brain lesions, we also work with neurologically healthy adults or those with a specific congenital disorder (autism, congenital amusia). Lastly, we use various exploration techniques including, currently, event-related potential (ERP) responses, neuroimaging by magnetic resonance and electrodermal responses. Our team has access to two laboratories: one in the psychology department, in the GRENE research centre, and the other at the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal. I receive financial support for my research work from the NSERC and the CIHR (MRC) and from the FCAR and FRSQ.

My research work focuses mainly on the neurophysiology of the motor system. Among other things I study the effects of traumatic brain injury on the integrity of the inhibitory and excitatory intracortical circuits of the primary motor cortex. In addition, I am aiming to better understand the motor mechanisms associated with observing others. The techniques used in my laboratory include transcranial magnetic stimulation, electroencephalography and magnetic-resonance imaging.