Reflecting my dual role as researcher and clinical neuropsychologist, I am interested in the brain bases of psychological processes, which I investigate both in healthy individuals and in patients with disorders arising out of the dysfunction of the central nervous system.

I am particularly interested in discovering the psychological processes that are subtended by the bidirectional pathways connecting the basal ganglia to important parts of the cerebral cortex as well as to the cerebellum.

As these dramatically complex loops are involved in various processes such as action, cognition and emotion, and probably also meta-cognition, we have to make choice in our experiments. Therefore, in the last few years (2008-2013), I chose to use emotional material to address my questions. Based on this work, we developed in 2013 a theoretical and speculative model on the functional specialization and integration of the basal ganglia in human behaviour, postulating that the BG would iteratively assess contexts, select actions in order to form (or control the expression of) coordinated emotional sequences. When these emotional sequences are recurrent or repetitive, the BG would create units of these sequence representations (also called «chunks»). In other words, the BG would code for the neuronal co-activation of the different cortical and sub-cortical structures needed for specific emotion component, in order to chunk information into manageable quanta. This information chunking could provide a mechanism for the acquisition and expression of emotional repertoires which, without such information compression, would be biologically unwieldy or difficult to implement. This role would be the same for action and cognition (Péron et al., 2013, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews).

Since, I am testing this model. To do so, I use behavioural methods, but also lesion studies, brain imaging techniques (EEG, iEEG, PET and fMRI), pharmacology, and deep brain stimulation. I focus on how these processes malfunction (e.g., pathological repetitive behaviour in Parkinson's disease and obsessive-compulsive disorder) so that tailored interventions can be developed to target maladaptive automatic behaviour.

PROJECTS CURRENTLY IN PROGRESS ^#

• Cerebellar contribution to human emotion: insights from stroke and neuroimaging (FNS 2018-2022: 105314_182221)
• Functional specialization and integration of the basal ganglia in human emotion (FNS 2016-2019: 105314_140622)
• Habits in healthy and pathological aging
• Clinical neuropsychology of emotion
• Applied neuropsychology

TEACHING ACTIVITY ^#

1.     Master’s degree level

• "Action and behaviour" (3 ECTS): Master in Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Geneva (since 2013)
• "Neuropsychology of habit" (3 ECTS): Master in Psychology, University of Geneva (since 2017)
• "Affective Neurosciences" (3 ECTS): Master in Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Geneva (since 2017)
• Lectures in the Master in Neuropsychology, Lyons 2 University, France
• Lectures in the Master in Clinical Neuroscience, University of Upper Brittany

2.     Postgraduate level

• Lectures in the University Diploma in Stereotaxy and Psychiatry, Assistance Publique des Hôpitaux de Paris

3.     Continuing Education

• Organization of and participation in the Annual Continuing Education Conference of the Swiss Association of Neuropsychologists

CLINICAL ACTIVITY ^#

1.     Licences to practice

• 2016    Accreditation from the Swiss Association of Neuropsychologists (titre de psychologue spécialisée en neuropsychologie FSP)
• 2015    Accreditation from the Federation of Swiss Psychologists (titre de Psychologue-FSP)
• 2014    Licence to practice in Geneva (droits de pratiques à titre indépendant, Canton de Genève)
• 2002    Licence to practice in Europe (ADELI registration no.: 359303815)

2.     Clinical employment

• Since 2016   Clinical neuropsychologist (40%), Neurology Dpt, University Hospitals of Geneva
• 2002-2009    Clinical neuropsychologist (100%), Neurology Dpt, University Hospital of Rennes
• 2001-2002    Internship in Neuropsychology (100%), Neurology Dpt, University Hospital of Rennes

AFFILIATIONS/RESPONSIBILITIES (ACTIVE) ^#

• Member of the board of the Swiss Association of Neuropsychologists (since 2015)
• Member of the Continuing Education Training Commission of the Swiss Association of Neuropsychologists (since 2015)
• Member of the Federation of Swiss Psychologists (since 2015)

^# of note, extended maternity leave from aug. 2017 to feb. 2019