Juliette Aychet

Postdoctoral Researcher

My research focuses on gestural and multimodal communication in humans and other animals: How are gestures integrated into communication? How are these signals understood and learned? What are their functions and how have they evolved?

To answer these questions, I study the production and perception of gestures in different species, using methods from developmental psychology and ethology (the science of behavior). During my PhD at the University of Rennes 1, I studied the gestures and facial expressions of African primates, looking for socio-cognitive properties comparable to human language. Subsequently, I worked at the University of Paris Nanterre on the communicative postures of songbirds.

At the same time, I worked on the perception of manual movements in infants, in interaction with the perception of magnitudes, as part of the NumAct project. I’m currently pursuing this research as a post-doctoral researcher at Babylab INCC, where I work with Maria Dolores de Hevia, in collaboration with Bahia Guellaï (Université de Toulouse). We are studying how gestures representing magnitudes can be associated with numbers by young children.

Selected Publications

 – Aychet, J., De Hevia, M. D., Guellaï, B. (2023). Perception of manual actions and magnitude in 6-month-olds: a multi-dimensional investigation. Budapest CEU Conference on Cognitive Development, 5-7 Janvier 2023, Budapest, Hongrie.

– Boulinguez-Ambroise, G.*, Aychet, J.*, Pouydebat, E. (2022). Limb preference in animals: new insights into the evolution of manual laterality in hominids. Symmetry 14(1), 96. http://www.doi.org/10.3390/sym14010096. (*same contribution)

– Aychet, J., Blois-Heulin, C., Palagi, E., Lemasson, A. (2021). Facial displays in red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus): repertoire, social context and potential intentionality. Journal of Comparative Psychology 135(1), 98-113. http://www.doi.org/10.1037/com0000252

– Aychet, J., Blois-Heulin, C., Lemasson, A. (2021). Sequential and network analyses to describe multiple signal use in captive mangabeys. Animal Behaviour 182(3), 203-226. http://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.09.005

– Aychet, J., Pezzino, P., Rossard, A., Bec, P., Blois-Heulin, C., Lemasson, A. (2020). Red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus) adapt their interspecific gestural communication to the recipient’s behaviour. Scientific Reports 10, 12843. http://www.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69847-6