Cognition & Brain Dynamics is an interdisciplinary cognitive neuroscience research lab within the Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit (INSERM), hosted at NeuroSpin (CEA, DRF/Joliot) and affiliated with Université Paris-Saclay. We investigate how neural dynamics and architectures enable cognitive processes with a core focus on temporal cognition and cognitive mapping in humans.
Our research interests bridge cognitive theory with state-of-the-art human neurosciences to understand how the brain represents, predicts, and interprets information over time, in time, and within abstract cognitive spaces.
Research Themes
Temporal Cognition
We study how the brain represents time, including how it perceives durations, predicts future events, and constructs internal representations of temporal sequences. This work integrates behavioural experiments with neural recordings to address how timing shapes cognition, perception and action.
Cognitive Maps
We explore how the brain builds cognitive maps -structured internal representations that organize relational information (e.g., spatial, temporal, conceptual). These maps help explain how the mind navigates complex environments, memories, and abstract concepts.
Multisensory Integration & Abstraction
Understanding how multiple sensory inputs are combined into unified representations is another long-standing interest for building abstraction in the mind. For instance, how does the brain infer that the same sensory events originate from the same cause?
Methods
To answer these questions, we combine state-of-the-art techniques, including:
Behavior
- Psychophysics & Behavioural Experiments to quantify perceptual and cognitive processes.
- Virtual Reality for highly controlled and immersive paradigms.
- Eye-tracking for monitoring active allocation of cognitive resources.
Computational Modelling
for a mechanistic understanding of brain and cognition.
Neuroimaging
- Electroencephalography & Magnetoencephalography (EEG & MEG, respectively) for high-temporal resolution characterization of brain functions.
- Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) for spatial localization of brain functions at high to ultra-high resolution (3T, 7T, and 11.7T).
- Intracranial recordings in human patients (collaboration)
Crédits: Benoit Lordelot, film; ANR; European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme grant agreement No. 101017727, FET Experience. Contributors: Camille Grasso, eXperience Postdoctoral Fellow; Matthew Logie, eXperience Postdoctoral Fellow; Yunyun Shen, PhD student.
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