La psychologie cognitive expérimentale, les modèles et simulations informatiques des processus cognitifs, et l'imagerie du cerveau pour déterminer pourquoi et comment l'attention fonctionne ou fait défaut.

Dr. Simon Rigoulot is a Professor of Neurosciences and Psychology at the University of Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR, Dept. of Psychology) and an Associate Professor at Université de Montréal. He studied Cognitive Sciences at Université de Lille (France), and defended his thesis in 2008. His work has been focused on Affective Neurosciences and deals with the neural correlates of the processing of emotional information, in visual and auditory modalities. He is now interested in multimodal emotional information and how individual factors such as cultural background or emotional skills influence this processing. His research methods involve a multi-dimensional approach, combining peripheral (Eye-Tracking, Skin Conductance Response, Heart Rate, Electro-myography…), central (Electro- and Magneto-Encephalography, functional near infrared spectroscopy) and behavioral measures. His projects also aim to shed light on the links between a set of emotional competences (identification, detection, regulation, and utilization) and the development of psychopathologies such as anxiety, depression. In parallel, his interests extended to the study of speech and music, through two specific avenues. The first concerns the role of prosody (tone of voice) in conveying meaningful information, be it emotion or real intention of speakers, such as in irony, lies, innuendos. The second one is about the processing of rhythmic information and the ability of lay participants to synchronize to this type of information, and how attentional and emotional processes can affect this ability.

La recherche du professeur West inclut les sujets reliés à l’attention visuelle, la mémoire spatiale, le contrôle moteur et la neuroplasticité. Elle est basée sur diverses techniques qui intègrent l'IRM, l'EEG et l’Eyetracking.