Dollyane Muret
Junior Professor – CNRS
Touch is the first sense to develop, emerging during the very first weeks of gestation. Although often overlooked, this sense plays a fundamental role in our daily life: it allows us to move, to interact with our environment and with others, and to gradually build a representation of our body and sense of self. Despite its crucial importance, however, the development of touch and sensorimotor abilities remains poorly understood, especially in infants and young children.
My research aims to better understand how the brain learns to process tactile information and control movement during the first months and years of life. I am particularly interested in neural plasticity and in how early experiences shape brain development, sensorimotor abilities, and body representations.
To address these questions, I work with a wide range of populations, from infants to adults, in both typical and atypical developmental contexts (prematurity, neurodevelopmental disorders, congenital limb differences, amputations…). I use complementary approaches that combine behavioural observations, tactile and motor assessments, and neuroimaging techniques to better understand the relationships between the brain, the body, and behaviour.
Ongoing project
Selected Publications
– Dornier, A., Gérard, A., Leprince, Y., Hertz-Pannier, L., Mangin, J. F., Barbu-Roth, M., … & Muret, D. (2025). On the typical development of the central sulcus in infancy: a longitudinal evaluation of its morphology and link to behaviour. Developmental Neuroscience.
– Azaroual-Sentucq, M., Macchione, S., Miller, L., Koun, E., Salemme, R., Longo, M. R., … & Muret, D. (2025). Repetitive somatosensory stimulation shrinks the body image. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 292(2057).
– Muret, D., Root, V., Kieliba, P., Clode, D., & Makin, T. R. (2022). Beyond body maps: Information content of specific body parts is distributed across the somatosensory homunculus. Cell reports, 38(11).
– Root, V.*, Muret, D.*, Arribas, M., Amoruso, E., Thornton, J., Tarall-Jozwiak, A., … & Makin, T. R. (2022). Complex pattern of facial remapping in somatosensory cortex following congenital but not acquired hand loss. Elife, 11, e76158.
– Muret, D., Dinse, H. R., Macchione, S., Urquizar, C., Farnè, A., & Reilly, K. T. (2014). Touch improvement at the hand transfers to the face. Current Biology, 24(16), R736-R737.