cognition - olfaction - cognitive & neural development
Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology
Prof. Dr. Brigitte Röder
University of Hamburg, Germany
LV Prasad Eye Institute, Dr Kekunnaya, Dr Satgunam
Face Categorization Lab, Bruno Rossion
LuLABy, Adelaïde de Heering
DOCC's Babylab, Benoist Schaal & Arnaud Leleu
CPP Lab, Olivier Collignon
ECC Copenhagen, Dora Kampis, Katarina Begus
StarrLab, Randi Starrfelt
Cornell University, Inbal Ravreby
2017-2023
Development of Olfactory Communication
& Cognition Lab
Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation
Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
Bachelor 2012: in English culture and Linguistics: Université Lumière Lyon 2
Bachelor 2015: in Psychology: Université Paris 8
Master's Degree 2017: Ethology (Université Rennes 1), Behavioral Sciences and Neuroscience (Institute of fundamental and applied Sciences of Caen University).
PhD 2020: When your nose knows what you see. Multisensory development of visual categorization: Evidence from odor-driven face categorization in the human brain.
Photo: vegeldaniel.com
2025 Early career Schilling Research Award, German Society for Neuroscience
2024 Paper Price for Rekow et al., 2024, Child Dev, 5 Senses for Kids, French Society for Neuroscience
2024 Early career research funds: Ideas and Venture Fund, University of Excellence Program
2023 Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship
2022 Outstanding dissertation award, International Congress of Infant Studies
17. Bourgaux, L., Rekow, D., Leleu, A., de Heering, A. (2025) Context matters: Human faces hinder with face pareidolia. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 1-13. doi: 10.1162/jocn.a.94 Preregistration: https://osf.io/dnpy7
16. Cerrahoglu, B., Jacques, C., Rekow, D., Jonas, J., Maillard, L., Colnat-Coulbois, S., Caharel, S., Leleu, A., Rossion, B. (2025) The neural basis of face pareidolia with human intracerebral recordings. Imaging Neuroscience, 2025; doi: 10.1162/imag_a_00518
Preregistered report: Context-dependent categorization of facelike stimuli: A behavioral study https://osf.io/dnpy7
15. Cecchetto, C.*, Leleu, A.*, Calce, R. P., Arnhardt, S., Parma, V., de Groot, J. H. B., Freiherr, J., Gentili, C., Zou, L., Thunell, E., Fischmeister, F., Rekow, D.*, Dal Bò, E.*. (2024) Consistent social odor representation across seven languages: the Social Odor Scale translation and validation. Chemical Senses, 49, bjae035. doi: 10.1093/chemse/bjae035 *equal contributions PDF Preprint: 10.31219/osf.io/xwgrf Preregistration: https://osf.io/p82uc
14. Kiseleva, A., Rekow, D., Schaal, B., Leleu, A. (2024) Olfactory facilitation of visual categorization in the 4-month-old brain depends on visual demand. Developmental Science, 27, 6, e13562. doi: 10.1111/desc.13562 Preprint: 10.1101/2024.06.09.598135
13. Rekow, D., Baudouin, J.-Y., Kiseleva, A., Rossion, B., Durand, K., Schaal, B. & Leleu, A. Olfactory-to-visual facilitation in the infant brain declines gradually from 4 to 12 months. (2024) Child Development, 95, 6, 1967-1981. doi: 10.1111/cdev.14124 Preprint: 10.1101/2023.09.08.556823 Press: SRCD Blog, Sci Am, (FR) Sciences et Avenir
12. Calce, R. P., Rekow, D., Barbero, F. M., Kiseleva, A., Talwar, S., Leleu, A., & Collignon, O. (2024) Voice Categorization in the 4-month-old human brain. Current Biology, 34, 46–55. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.11.042 PDF
Book: B. Schaal, D. Rekow, M. Keller & F. Damon (Eds.), Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 15. Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-35159-4
Book chapter: Rekow, D., & Leleu, A. (2023). Tips from the Nose : Odor-Driven Visual Categorization in the Developing Human Brain. In B. Schaal, D. Rekow, M. Keller & F. Damon (Eds.), Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 15 (p. 361‑395). Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-35159-4_18 PDF
11. Baudouin, J.-Y., Poncet, F., Polinori, A., Rekow, D., Damon, F., Leleu, A., Faivre, L., & Baltenneck, N. (2023) Task-related modulations of facial expression processing: an FPVS-EEG study. Emotion, doi: 10.1037/emo0001223 PDF
10. Poncet, F., Leleu, A., Rekow, D., Damon, F., Dzhelyova, M. P., Schaal, B., Durand, K. Faivre, L., Rossion, B. & Baudouin, J.-Y. (2022) A neural marker of rapid discrimination of facial expression in 3.5- and 7-month-old infants. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 16:901013. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.901013
9. Rekow, D., Baudouin, J.-Y., Durand, K., & Leleu, A. (2022) Smell what you hardly see: Odors assist categorization in the human visual cortex. NeuroImage, 255, 119181; doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119181. [Q1 Cognitive Neuroscience – SJR 2020] PDF Preprint: 10.1101/2021.02.19.431826
8. Rekow, D., Baudouin, J.-Y., Brochard, R., Rossion, B. & Leleu, A. (2022) Rapid neural categorization of facelike objects predicts the perceptual awareness of a face (face pareidolia). Cognition, 222:105016. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105016. [Q1 Cognitive Neuroscience – SJR 2020] PDF Preprint: 10.1101/2021.02.19.431826
7. Leleu A. & Rekow, D. (2022) L’odeur maternelle aide le cerveau du nourrisson à catégoriser des objets ressemblant à des visages. Médecine/Sciences, 38(6-7), 541-544; doi: 10.1051/medsci/2022067 PDF (FR)
6. Rekow, D., Baudouin, J.-Y., Poncet, F., Damon, F., Durand, K., Schaal, B., Rossion, B. & Leleu, A. (2021). Odor-driven face-like categorization in the human infant brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(21) e2014979118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2014979118 [Q1 Multiplidisciplinary – SJR 2019] PDF Press: (FR) CNRS (FR) Le parisien
5. Poncet, F., Leleu, A., Rekow, D., Damon, F., Durand, K., Schaal, B. & Baudouin, J.-Y. (2021) Odor-evoked hedonic contexts influence the discrimination of facial expressions in the human brain. Biological Psychology, 158, 0301-0511. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2020.108005 [Q1 Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology – SJR 2019] PDF
Thesis: Rekow, D. When your nose knows what you see. Multisensory development of visual categorization: Evidence from odor-driven face categorization in the human brain. Psychology and behavior. Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 2020. English. tel-03112997. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.14298.98249 PDF
4. Rekow, D., Leleu, A., Poncet, F., Damon, F., Rossion, B, Durand, K., Schaal, B., & Baudouin, J.-Y. (2020) Categorization of objects and faces in the infant brain and its sensitivity to maternal odor: further evidence for the role of intersensory congruency in perceptual development. Cognitive Development, 55, 100930. doi: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2020.100930 [Q1 Developmental and Educational Psychology – SJR 2018] PDF
3. Rekow, D., Baudouin, J.-Y., Rossion, B. & Leleu., A. (2020) An ecological measure of rapid and automatic face-sex categorization. Cortex, 127, 150-161. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.02.007 [Q1 Cognitive Neuroscience – SJR 2018] PDF
2. Damon, F., Leleu, A., Rekow, D., Poncet, F. & Baudouin, J.-Y. (2020) Expertise for conspecific face individuation in the human brain. NeuroImage, 204, 116218. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116218 [Q1 Cognitive Neuroscience – SJR 2018] PDF
1. Leleu, A.*, Rekow, D.*, Poncet, F.*, Schaal, B., Durand, K., Rossion, B., Baudouin, J.-Y. (2020) Maternal odor shapes rapid face categorization in the infant brain. Developmental Science, 23(2), e12877. doi:10.1111/desc.12877 [Q1 Cognitive Neuroscience – SJR 2018] *equal contributions PDF Press: BPS Blog
I have organized and animated many science events and short workshops/demos for a young audience (10-18 yo) and the general public.
The Experimentarium: science animation in schools (10-18 yo), for students (ex: ITN), and the general public - on multiple occasions since 2020, coordinated by the international network of the Experimentarium
Radio talk-show about EEG: in French (Les RDV Tech)
Brain awareness week (2021, 2022, 2023), Science Festival (2021), European Researchers' Night (2021, 2022), Biology Day (2022)