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Research Interests
- Disorders of Consciousness: Vegetative State, Minimally Conscious State, Coma
- Language & Thought, Human Reasoning, Arithmetic Cognition
- fMRI Methods & Statistical Analysis
Disorders of Consciousness
My main research currently focuses on states of impaired consciousness such as Vegetative State and Minimally Conscious State. Especially, we are using fMRI to:
(i) Assess the amount of cognition available in such patients;
(ii) Develop tools to allow conscious, but immobile, patients to communicate by modulation of brain activity alone;
(iii) Develop strategies to better identify the elusive boundary between states of consciousness and of non-consciousness.
Language & Thought
A second venue of research relates to the intertwining of language and thought: Does language enable other higher cognitive functions? A signal characteristic of human cognition is its ability to construct an indefinite number of ideas by combining a finite set of elements in hierarchically structured sequences according to syntactic principles. This is most clearly displayed in language but not uniquely; for instance, reasoning, mental arithmetic and music are also structure-dependent. So, does the generative power of natural language provide a cognitive template for other types of structure-dependent cognition? What is the contribution of the neural substrate of linguistic competence in other aspects of 'higher cognition'?
fMRI Methods & Statistical Analysis
Finally, I'm also interested in quantitative methods for neuroimaging. In particular whether fMRI time-series do abide by the hypotheses of the general linear model (you can find here a copy of the manuscript on the point).
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