cognition - olfaction - cognitive & neural development
Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology
Prof. Dr. Brigitte Röder
University of Hamburg, Germany
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
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 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
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)