Results of the research

Mental Space in Memory through Adversarial Collaboration: Exploring the Origins and the Developmental Course – SPACEODC

Human beings tend to spontaneously use space to think, represent externally (e.g. calendars) and even talk about a variety of non-spatial domains (e.g. time). This ability is functional from birth, how it is modulated throughout the first years of life, what are its behavioral signatures and underlying biases. Finally, we will examine whether, and how, this capacity has an impact on learning in different information domains, from birth to adulthood.

Project team lead

Maria Dolores (Lola) de Hevia

The origins and development of the mental timeline

The ability to represent abstract concepts sets humans apart from all other animals. For example, although we cannot see or touch time, we possess rich temporal representations. What enables this cognitive feat?

How Domain-general Functions Contribute to the Development of Numerical Competencies – DFCDNC

The project aims at disentangling the differential contribution of domain-general (i.e. inhibition and attention) and domain-specific factors to the development numerical competencies such as mental arithmetic in infancy and childhood.

Geometries Return

Building on a previous ANR project (“Geometries”), this new project aims at characterizing the geometric content of form representations across a variety of formats (2D, 3D), presentation modalities (vision, touch), ages (infants, children, adults), and visual experience (sighted and blind participants).

Project team lead

Véronique Izard

Linking early phonolexical acquisition and later vocabulary development

In this project, we test the proposal that a crucial milestone in language acquisition is reached when infants discover which sounds (consonants versus vowels) are more important at the lexical level in their native language, leading to an acceleration of subsequent vocabulary development.

Project team lead

Thierry Nazzi

Study of Visual Fixation in Neurodevelopmental Disorders

This project will measure visual fixation capabilities in 3 participant populations (Typical Development, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Cerebral Visual Impairment) to evaluate the prevalence of CVI in the ASD population.

Projet team lead

Sylvie Chokron

Projet team lead

Marie PIeron

Early development of cerebral representations of the body in infants: explorations in neuroimaging and behaviour

The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of how a baby’s brain perceives and represents different parts of its body in the first few months after birth, using functional magnetic resonance imaging and behavioural assessments.

Project collaborator

Marianne Barbu-Roth

Effect of early training in crawling using a mini skateboard on the locomotor and motor development of very premature cerebral palsy patients

The project consists of evaluating the feasibility and effectiveness of 8 weeks of early stimulation training in quadruped walking on a mini skateboard, the Crawli skate, in 50 very premature babies at high risk of neurodevelopmental disorders and followed longitudinally.