Welcome to DysCo

The DysCo lab was born in January 2020. Its main interests are on human cognitive functioning in three cognitive areas: Perception, Language, Emotions and Memory. Our approach adopts a lifespan perspective with strong neuropsychological and differential concerns. In addition to elucidating the cognitive functioning of individuals without disorders (i.e., children, young adults and the elderly), we address the characterization, rehabilitation or preservation of cognitive processes in a wide range of pathologies and brain dysfunctions (i.e., neuro-degenerative diseases, cerebrovascular accidents and associated disorders, neuro-developmental disorders). We develop the fundamental knowledge required to create, use or improve tools that promote cognitive functioning or diagnose dysfunctioning. Our lab also defends values of transparency, collegiality and cooperation between members.

Our researches focus on visual, tactile and temporal perceptions, sometimes in an entangled way. We have a strong expertise in the intercultural approach (i.e. impact of the environment on perceptual mechanisms and related biases), and in normal and pathological aging (e.g. impact of acquired brain damage and/or neurodegenerative diseases on perceptual mechanisms and related biases). We test several theoretical models of perceptual mechanisms and have developed an expertise in the theoretical approach of Embodied Cognition. Part of our research help to refine diagnoses or to improve care in the sphere of neuropsychology. We aim at extending our works to childhood and adolescence in order to adopt a lifespan approach of the mechanisms of interest.

Our researches investigate the processing of language information, from the early development of the perception of speech sounds to the ability to extract meaning from a complex set of linguistic information (e.g., text comprehension activity). Our works address typical and atypical normal development (bilingualism), as well as the impact of cognitive dysfunctions (e.g. dyslexia) or new technologies (e.g. instant messaging) on ​​language activities. We articulate the confrontation of explanatory models and their applications especially in the context of school learning. Our goal is to extend the study of language processes to the population of elderly in order to study, in an embodiment perspective, how the cognitive changes that occur throughout the lifespan affect those processes.

Our researches mainly focus on emotion recognition (whether one’s own or those of others), and on emotion regulation. We also investigate the impact of the socio-emotional context on other cognitive processes (such as decision-making or executive functions). We are attached to adopt a lifespan approach of the mechanisms, studying their development at different periods of life (childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age). Part of our projects contributes to the development of tools aiming at promoting socio-emotional skills, at preventing risky behavior, and more generally, at improving quality of life (especially at school or in the elderly and/or patients with neuropsychological disorders).

Our work mainly focuses on the study of memory from a multi-system perspective. We are particularly interested in studying the links between memory processes (short and long term), executive functions, behavior and language, as well studying specific and shared processes. The members of this axis share a great expertise in studying the influence of pathologies (neurological, psycho-trauma), typical and atypical life trajectories and experiential factors on memory processes (working memory, episodic memory, prospective memory and future thinking). Our fundamental and applied work is part of a translational perspective.