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I am a lecturer in Cognitive Psychology at Université Paris 8 (France), and a member of the Institut Universitaire de France.

After completing a PhD in Cognitive Psychology at Goldsmiths University of London (UK) in 2009, I worked on a postdoctoral research project, studying crosscultural perceptual differences between Westerners and the Himba of Northern Namibia. I then completed a second postdoctoral research project about the links between emotion and reasoning, at Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (Canada). I was appointed lecturer at Université de Nîmes in September 2014, and then at Université Paris 8 in January 2019.

Research interests

My research addresses perceptual bias (“seeing the forest or the tree”), reasoning (heuristic-based vs. analytical reasoning) and general cognitive functioning (cognitive health indicators, such as working memory). Specifically, I am interested in (1) the origins of cross-cultural differences in perception and attention (by contrasting Western and African populations), and (2) the links between trauma exposure, cognitive health and attitudes (impact of exposure to the Rwandan genocide on reasoning and general cognitive functioning, psychological health, and openness to reconciliation, 25 years after the genocide). I am currently co-supervising three PhD students: (1) Marie-Chantal Ingabire, who studies the inter-generational transmission of trauma-related psychological symptoms and attitudes in Rwanda, (2) Esther Boissin, who studies the development of intuitive reasoning, and (3) Clément Laverdet, who studies the usage of new technologies of information and communication (NTIC) in contexts of major crises.

Important publications  (click here for full list of publications)

Eccher, E.‡ & Josserand, M.‡, Caparos, S., Boissin, E., Buiatti, M., Piazza, M., & Vallortigara, G. (2025). A universal left-to-right bias in number-space mapping across ages and cultures. Nature Communication. ‡co-first authors.

Caparos, S., & Boissin, E. (2024). Education, literacy, and cognitive ability do not mediate the effect of urbanicity on the sensitivity to the Ebbinghaus illusion. Psychological Research.

Blumenthal, A., Caparos, S., & Blanchette, I. (2024). Understanding the Structure of Autobiographical Memories: A Study of Trauma Memories from the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Memory & Cognition.

Boissin, E., Josserand, M., De Neys, W., & Caparos, S. (2023). Debiasing thinking among non-WEIRD reasoners. Cognition.

Gosling, C. J., Caparos, S., Pinabiaux, C., […] & Cortese., S. (2023). Association between relative age at school and persistence of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in prospective studies: an individual participant data meta-analysis. Lancet Psychiatry.

Ingabire, M.-C., Caparos, S., Rutembesa, E., Habimana, E.,& Blanchette, I. (2022). Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma and its association with Attitudes towards Reconciliation. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy.

Sablé-Meyer, M., Fagot, J., Caparos, S., van Kerkoerle, T., Amalric M., & Dehaene S. (2021). A signature of human uniqueness in the perception of geometric shapes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 

Trémolière, B., Davidoff, J., Caparos, S. (2021). A 21st century cognitive portrait of the Himba, a remote people of Namibia. British Journal of Psychology.

Caparos, S., Linnell, K. J., & Blanchette, I. (2019). The local perceptual bias of a non-remote and educated population. Psychological Research. 

Caparos, S., Giroux, S.-V., Rutembesa, E., Habimana, E., & Blanchette, I. (2018). Twenty years later, the cognitive portrait of openness to reconciliation in Rwanda. British Journal of Psychology.

Caparos, S., Fortier-St-Pierre, S., Gosselin, J., Blanchette, I., & Brisson, B. (2015). The tree to the left, the forest to the right: Political opinions and perceptual bias. Cognition.

Caparos, S., Linnell, K. J., Bremner, A., De Fockert, J., & Davidoff, J. (2013). Do local and global perceptual biases tell us anything about local and global selective attention? Psychological Science.

Caparos, S., Ahmed, L., Bremner, A., De Fockert, J., Linnell, K. J., & Davidoff, J. (2012). Exposure to an urban environment alters the local bias of a remote culture. Cognition.

Caparos, S., & Linnell, K. J. (2012). Trait anxiety focuses spatial attention. Emotion.

Caparos, S., & Linnell, K., J. (2010). The spatial focus of attention is controlled at perceptual and cognitive levels. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance.