Laboratories
Julie Duque
CoActions Lab
Under the direction of Professor Julie Duque, the Cognition and Actions Lab is part of the Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS) of the Université catholique of Louvain (UCLouvain), which is located in Brussels, Belgium. The lab currently hosts several undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral researchers. Our research broadly explores a range of questions pertaining to the cognitive neuroscience of human behavior. We conduct experiments to explore the interaction between cognition and action. Experiments incorporate a combination of behavioral, perceptual and cognitive tasks with both healthy human participants and clinical populations such as patients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease or suffering from an addiction. We use a variety of techniques to characterize the functional role of different parts of the motor pathways including transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and electroencephalography (EEG). Development of a closed-loop TMS-EEG setup will allow us to explore the role of sensorimotor neural oscillatory activity on motor output. Several researchers are involved in collaborative work with neuroscientists and physicians located at other research centers in Belgium and around the world.
Contact : julie.duque@uclouvain.be
Gilles Vannuscorps
Cognitive Neuropsychology lab
Research in the Cognitive Neuropsychology laboratory (https://cogneurolab.weebly.com/) explores normal and impaired visual and auditory perception, with a particular focus on their relation with the motor system. These issues are addressed through behavioral and functional neuroimaging research conducted with brain-damaged subjects (e.g., apraxia, aphasia), subjects with atypical sensorimotor development (congenital paralysis, developmental visual disorder), and normal subjects. Our aim is twofold: 1) we use the performance of brain-damaged subjects, and of subjects with atypical sensorimotor development, as a window onto the normal mental and neural representations and processes underlying perception and action; 2) we apply the knowledge gained in these studies to improve our understanding of cognitive deficits and develop effective remediations. Some of the specific issues currently being pursued are: 1) the role of the motor system in body movement perception and interpretation; 2) the transformation of mental representations in the visual system; 3) role of somatosensory information in the control of speech and in stuttering; and 4) how sensorimotor experience shapes brain organization.
Contact: gilles.vannuscorps@uclouvain.be
Michael Andres
NumCog Lab
The lab focusses on the study of mental processes and their body correlates. It has a long-standing tradition of research in cognitive and developmental neuropsychology with a special interest for calculation and number processing. Michael Andres has contributed to broaden the scope of research in this area by developing a novel line of research on the interplay between sensorimotor experience and cognition. Current research in the lab is structured around the following thematics : (1) does finger counting experience shape number concepts? (2) how do we transform retinal information into size or numerosity estimates? (3) why don’t we experience blurred vision once we move the eyes? (4) what do eye movements tell us about mental representations? Several techniques are used to study these issues at the functional and neural level: psychophysics, eye-tracking, neuropsychology (patients with oculomotor disorders) and neuroscience methods (functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI; transcranial magnetic stimulation, TMS). A recent concern is how experimental paradigms designed in the lab can be used to shed light on the mechanisms underlying cognitive disorders, such as developmental dyscalculia. Our research benefits from the close interactions between the Psychological Sciences Research Institute (IPSY), where we are located, and the Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS) of the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain).
Contact: michael.andres@uclouvain.be
Frédéric Crevecoeur
Sensorimotor control
The lab is part of ICTEAM (Institute of Information and Communication Technologies, Electronics and Applied Mathematics, division Applied Mathematics) and IoNS (Institute of Neurosciences, division Cognition and Systems) of UCLouvain. The lab hosts four PhD projets and one postdoctoral researcher. We perform experimental and modelling studies to understand the computational mechanisms that underlies sensorimotor control across a wide range of tasks and contexts. Models and simulations are used to challenge or validate current theories in light of data collected with healthy and clinical populations. Current research projects focus on the mechanisms of multisensory integration, state-estimation and adaptation in upper limb postural control and reaching, as well as questions related to the control of eye movements and locomotion. We are currently developing translational research with clinical populations towards better understanding the root cause of sensorimotor deficits in selected syndromes or pathologies such as Essential Tremor and Parkinson’s disease.
Contact: frederic.crevecoeur@uclouvain.be
