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.

My main interest is to characterize the anatomo-functional architecture of individual brains using neuroimaging data, and in particular using resting-state fMRI. I am also interested in examining how brain connectivity can be used as a biomarker of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. These questions raise considerable methodological challenges, which feed the technical aspects of my work. To explore the resting-state networks in fMRI, I use some unsupervised pattern recognition techniques, i.e. various types of clustering and component analysis. To deal with the statistics associated with a stochastic clustering process, I have been working on non-parametric statistical methods, in particular based on the bootstrap. Besides the exploration of real data, my research also includes the development of fully synthetic neuroimaging databases which cover many aspects of the data-generating process, from neural activity and physiological noise to the physics of image acquisition, to provide a test bed for the evaluation and validation of neuroimaging analysis methods.

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.

My current research mainly concerns the cognitive and cerebral effects of different pediatric diseases and syndromes, such as epilepsy, infantile spasms, tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), prematurity and congenital cardiac anomalies. In the laboratory, I use neuropsychological assessment and neuroimaging (optical imaging (NIRS), electroencephalography) and magnetoencephalography (MEG)) to better understand these pathologies and their impact on brain development, identify predictive markers for certain related disorders or developmental prognostics and develop pre-surgical assessment techniques suitable for use with these populations.

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

My research program is aimed at better understanding the nature of cognitive decline in different neurodegenerative diseases of the brain, as well as the brain changes that are associated with this decline. I have a specific expertise in Alzheimer's disease and atypical forms of dementia (primary progressive aphasias, posterior cortical atrophy, frontotemporal dementia). I am also interested in cognitive decline in individuals with Mild cognitive impairment (MCI). I also have a particular interest in cognitive changes in normal aging and how they are modulated beta-amyloid burden, vascular burden, and cognitive reserve.

More specifically, here are some of my research topics :

• Lexical and semantic disorders in Alzheimer's disease and semantic dementia (sv-PPA)
• Face recognition disorders in dementias and in acquired neurological disorders
• Brain changes associated with normal and pathological aging and how they are related to cognitive decline using different neuroimaging methods (PIB-PET, MRI, MEG)
• Cognitive intervention in older persons presenting with memory deficits

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).

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.