[PAF team] [CerCo] [-----> Version Française]

Jean-Michel Hupé

contact: jean-michel.hupe at cnrs . fr

phone: +33 (0)5 6274 6124
postal address: CNRS CERCO UMR 5549, Pavillon Baudot, CHU Purpan, BP 25202, 31052 Toulouse Cedex 3

3-4 November 2016: The annual forum of the French GDR Vision was in Toulouse!

My research is focused on visual perception, with more and more emphasis on its subjective aspects.
For the full list of my publications and downloadable pdf files, please click here (when there is no pdf link, the article is freely available at the site of the publisher - use the doi) .

I did my Ph.D. thesis (1995-1999) in Lyon (France) with Jean Bullier on the role of feedback connections in motion perception. Then I spent three years at New York University working with Nava Rubin on motion perception using psychophysics methods and learning fMRI. I started to work on the bistable perception of ambiguous stimuli. I came back to France in 2002, in Toulouse's CerCo lab, where I was recruited in 2004 as a CNRS research scientist.

I have been working on three research projets, while trying to improve on methodological issues.

(1) Multistable perception, mostly in vision using plaid stimuli (demo), but also in audition thanks to the collaboration with Daniel Pressnitzer.

These are my four most representative publications in this field:
Hupé JM and Rubin N, 2003. The dynamics of bi-stable alternation in ambiguous motion displays: a fresh look at plaids. Vision Research 43, 531 - 548
Pressnitzer D and Hupé JM, 2006. Temporal dynamics of auditory and visual bistability reveal common principles of perceptual organization. Current Biology 16, 1351-1357
Hupé JM and Pressnitzer, D, 2012. The initial phase of auditory and visual scene analysis. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. 367(1591): 942-53.
Huguet G, Rinzel J and Hupé JM, 2014. Noise and adaptation in multistable perception: noise drives when to switch, adaptation determines percept choice. Journal of Vision 14 (3), 1-24
Hupé JM, Signorelli CM and Alais D, 2019. Two paradigms of bistable plaid motion reveal independent mutual inhibition processes. Journal of Vision 19 (5), 1–16

(2) Synesthesia (since 2006)

In collaboration with Michel Dojat, we studied grapheme color synesthesia extensively using phenomenological reports, psychophysics, functional and structural MRI.
Hupé JM, Bordier C and Dojat M, 2012. The neural bases of grapheme-color synesthesia are not localized in real color sensitive areas: Cerebral Cortex 22: 1622-1633.
See also the related technical report.
Ruiz MJ and Hupé JM, 2015. Assessment of the hemispheric lateralization of grapheme-color synesthesia with Stroop-type tests. PLoS One 10, e0119377. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0119377.
Hupé JM and Dojat M, 2015. A critical review of the neuroimaging literature on synesthesia. Front. Hum. Neurosci 9, 103. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00103.
Dojat M, Pizzagalli F and Hupé JM, 2018. Magnetic resonance imaging does not reveal structural alterations in the brain of synesthetes. PLoS ONE 13(4): e0194422. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0194422
Ruiz MJ, Dojat M and Hupé JM, 2017. Multivariate pattern analysis of fMRI data for imaginary and real colours in grapheme-colour synaesthesia. Preprint Version, under review

Mathieu Ruiz obtained his PhD in 2014

With Charlotte Chun, then a master student and Fulbright fellow, we studied the prevalence of synesthesia in France and its possible relationship with creativity.
Chun CA and Hupé JM, 2013. Mirror-touch and ticker tape experiences in synesthesia. Front Psychol 4:776
Chun CA and Hupé JM, 2016. Are synesthetes exceptional beyond their synesthetic associations? A systematic comparison of creativity, personality, cognition, and mental imagery in synesthetes and controls. British Journal of Psychology 107: 397–418.

Marie Garnier obtained her PhD on the development of synesthesia in 2016.

Here are two vulgarisation papers on synesthesia:
Hupé JM, 2012. Synesthésie, expression subjective d’un palimpseste neuronal ? médecine/sciences 28(8-9): 765-771.
Hupé JM, 2012. Synesthésies, illusions et subjectivité. Cerveau et Psycho "L'essentiel", Les illusions (Novembre 2012).

(3) Mental images

This is my latest research interest, triggered by the diversity of subjective reports gathered when working on synesthesia. The observation is simple: we do not think the same way, especially when dealing with so-called "mental images". The challenge is: how can we get an objective measure of this diversity of subjective experiences?

(4) Methodological developments.

In my papers, I tried to promote a rigorous usage of statistical tests, and to propose alternatives when validity conditions were not met.

-  In single-unit electrophysiology, I proposed to use bootstrap and randomization tests (Hupé et al 1998, 2001a,b).
-  For the analysis of response times, in particular in multistable perception, the Log transformation of the data is in most cases mandatory. cf Hupé & Rubin 2003, as well as http://cerco.cnrs.fr/pagesp/jmh/plaid_demo/suppl.htm.
-  Too weak effects or correlations mean nothing. see Hupé JM, Lamirel C, Lorenceau J. Pupil dynamics during bistable motion perception. J Vis 2009; 9: 1-19.

I'm also interested in oculomotor signals, in particular as a potential source of artefacts. In 2009, we showed pupil responses to button presses and blinks. We also measured the consequences of blinking on the BOLD signal measures with fMRI. We suggest that fMRI researchers should no longer ignore the existence of blinks:
Hupé JM, Bordier C and Dojat M, 2012. A BOLD signature of eyeblinks in the visual cortex. Neuroimage 61: 149–61

But my major achievement was to understand, at last, the logic of statistics (well, at least I hope so), as explained here
As a result, I understood that there were serious problems with MRI analysis:
Hupé JM, 2015. Statistical inferences under the Null hypothesis: common mistakes and pitfalls in neuroimaging studies. Front Neurosci 9, 18. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2015

Following the guidelines by Geoff Cumming, I have started to publish and interpret Confidence Intervals instead of p-values (cf Ruiz and Hupé 2015, Chun and Hupé 2016, Dojat et. 2018, Ruiz et al. 2017).
Here is a an example of different interpretations based on p-values and Confidence Intervals:
Hupé JM, 2017. Comment on “ Ducklings imprint on the relational concept of ‘same or different.'” Science 355, 806b. doi: 10.1126/science.aah6047
 Another example of the misleading use of p-values:
Hupé JM, 2018. Shortcomings of experimental economics to study human behavior: a reanalysis of Cohn et al. 2014, Nature 516, 86–89, ‘‘Business culture and dishonesty in the banking industry’’ Open archive manuscript


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