Our Projects

Language is a communicative function essential to humans. Brain correlates of language processing are characterized by left cerebral hemispheric dominance. Although recent studies suggest a left hemispheric dominance at birth, as yet little is known about the development of language networks in the early years.

The objective of this project is to investigate the influence of prenatal language environment on the cerebral language networks. We will also characterize its developmental trajectory from birth to three years of age associated with the development of language skills. To do so, we follow healthy children from birth to three years of age. Their mothers will have listened to a short story from their 35th week of pregnancy. A non-invasive NIRS recording and a developmental assessment are carried out at 0, 4, 8, 12, 18, 24 and 36 months of age.

This project will improve knowledge about the establishment of cerebral networks for language in babies and young children and may identify early cerebral markers of language disorders in children.

This project is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

To Participate

Preliminary results presented at the QBIN 2019 Scientific Day (Montreal, Canada) and the 11th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Neurobiology of Language (Helsinki, Finland).

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a neuroimaging technique more tolerant to movement than other techniques. It is particularly useful in clinical and pediatric populations whose collaboration may be limited. Nonetheless, head and facial movements remain a source of data contamination.

This methodological project aims to evaluate the potential benefit of using the Parallel Factor Analysis (PARAFAC) for motion artifact detection and correction in NIRS. To do so, healthy adults have performed a verbal fluency task during NIRS recording. We compared the application of PARAFAC to several other artifact correction methods.

This work could improve NIRS data processing and enhance data quality. This might lead to more accurate and reliable interpretations, especially in pediatric and clinical populations.

Preliminary results presented at 10th QBIN Scientific Day (2018) and 33th Annual Research Congress of Students at CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center (2018).

When we hear the sound of a siren and then see a vehicle approaching, we instantly perceive an ambulance by associating the image with the sound, a process known as multisensory integration (MSI). To date, little is known about development of the neurophysiological mechanisms underpinning MSI.

The objective of this project is to study the neurodevelopmental trajectory of MSI using EEG. We hypothesize that optimal audiovisual integration capabilities occur late in development due to environmental exposure. We study cerebral response to visual, auditory and audiovisual stimuli in adults and children from 3 months to 17 years of age. This study will allow us to better understand the development of MSI mechanisms. Ultimately, we aim to detect markers associated with the sensory deficits associated with different pathologies (e.g. autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia).

Results presented at 21st Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) in June 2015 in Hawaii.

Recruitment finished! Results to come soon.