Subjectivity, Brain and Viscera

The brain is receiving and processing inputs from the environment through external senses such as vision and audition, but it is also bombarded with internal information from the body, in particular from  the life-sustaining cardiac, respiratory and gastro-intestinal systems. We determine whether, where, and how, brain-viscera coupling occurs in humans. We find coupling notably in regions classically associated with perception (of the external world) and action, suggesting that interoception plays a role that goes well beyond feeding or emotions. We refine and test the hypothesis that the neuronal integration of internal bodily signals with sensory or cognitive information yields conscious experiences.

 

We use brain imaging – most often electrophysiology (MEG & EEG, intracranial EEG in epileptic patients), but also fMRI and TMS – and physiological measures (gastric, respiratory and cardiac rhythms, electrodermal activity, pupil diameter) combined with statistical modeling in a large variety of behavioral paradigms or during resting state.

 

The group hosts international students, PhD candidates and post-doctoral fellows with various backgrounds, from physics and engineering to cognitive neuroscience, from medicine to experimental psychology to philosophy. We take advantage of this large range of skills and expertise to try to combine interdisciplinary creativity with scientific rigor. We have an active policy to maintain gender balance and foster a supportive work environment.

 

The group is part of the Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience Lab, supported by Inserm and the Department of Cognitive Science at Ecole Normale Supérieure – Université PSL. We are additionally funded by the European Research Council, the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), as well as the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) and Fondation pour la Recherche sur le Cerveau.