SLAM – Social, learning, audition and multimodality

Head: Céline Cappe

One of the remarkable properties of the brain is its ability to modify the functioning of its networks. This property of plasticity is at the basis of the cognitive development of children and the normal aging of the elderly. On another time scale, these modifications also allow us to adapt daily to a constantly changing environment, both in terms of its sensory complexity and its changes in relation to the goal to be achieved.
Our team studies plasticity and associated cognitive and behavioral changes throughout life (from development to aging) and with different models, in humans, animals and patients. These changes are studied using a multi-scale approach, from the neuron (electrophysiology) to the brain network (fMRI, PET, fNIRS) and behaviour, and concern different perceptive and cognitive systems.
One aspect of our research focuses on the plasticity of the executive and perceptive systems induced by sensory loss (in the case of deafness) and the impact of rehabilitation on this plasticity. This research is done in close collaboration with the ENT department of the Purpan hospital.
In children, we study the developmental plasticity of the executive system and social cognition and the influence of learning on this development.
The effect of aging on the plasticity of working memory and episodic memory is studied in the non-human primate in a behavioral approach.
We are also interested in the role of oscillations of neuronal activity in auditory and multisensory brain processing and the role of thalamo-cortical networks in these processes, in humans and non-human primates.
Finally, our team is strongly committed to the valorization of research on the rehabilitation of the deaf patient and the education of children through partnerships with hearing device manufacturers on the one hand and educational organizations on the other.

Researchers

Céline Cappe CR, CNRS
Mariam Alzaher, MCU
Pascal Barone, DR CNRS
Olivier Deguine, PU-PH
Pascal Girard, CR INSERM
Mathieu Marx, PU-PH
Benedikt Zoefel, CR CNRS

Post-docs
Jules Erkens

Florian Kasten

Troby Ka-Yan Lui

PhD Students
Vanessa Houze Cerfon

Anne Lafargues

Solène Leblond

Yann Lemaire

Ram Kumar Pari

Sabrina Stiti