Members

Contact info:

10, place Cardinal Mercier
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
room C350

+32 (0)10 47 88 22

mauro.pesenti@uclouvain.be

Research Interests

My research projects aim at defining the functional components of calculation and number processing and at finding their neuroanatomical correlates. My work is carried out in three directions using different but complementary methodologies: the study of cerebral activations with functional imaging techniques, the study of brain-damaged patients performance, and mental chronometric studies in healthy adults. Integrating the functional and neuroanatomical levels of analysis in the same theoretical questioning seems to me essential to further our understanding of cognitive processes and to improve the validity of current models of numerical cognition.

In the last years, I have been funded by grants from the National Fund for Scientific Research (Belgium), the Fonds de Developpement Scientifique (UCLouvain), and the PAI/IUAP Program from the Belgian Government.
 

Some representative publications

For a complete list: click here.

ARTICLES:

Pesenti, M., Seron, X., & Van der Linden, M. (1994). Selective impairment as evidence for mental organisation of arithmetical facts: BB, a case of preserved subtraction? Cortex, 30, 661-671.

Pesenti, M., Thioux, M., Seron, X., & De Volder, A. (2000). Neuroanatomical substrate of Arabic number processing, numerical comparison and simple addition: A PET study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 12 (3), 461-479.

Pesenti, M., Zago, L. Crivello, F., Mellet, E., Samson, D., Duroux, B., Seron, X., Mazoyer, B., & Tzourio-Mazoyer, N. (2001). Mental calculation in a prodigy is sustained by right prefrontal and medial-temporal areas. Nature Neuroscience, 4 (1), 103-107.

Andres, M., Di Luca, S., & Pesenti, M. (2008). Finger counting: The missing tool? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31, 642-643.

Di Luca, S., & Pesenti, M. (2008). Masked priming effect with canonical finger numeral configurations. Experimental Brain Research, 185(1), 27–39.

Dormal, V., & Pesenti, M. (2009). Common and specific contributions of the intraparietal sulci to numerosity and length processing. Human Brain Mapping, 30(8), 2466-2476.

Pesenti, M., & Andres, M. (2009). Common mistakes about numerical representations. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32 (3-4), 346-347.

Badets, A., & Pesenti, M. (2010). Creating number semantics through finger movement perception. Cognition, 115, 46-53.

Andres, M., Michaux, N., & Pesenti, M. (2012). Common substrate for mental arithmetic and finger representation in the parietal cortex. NeuroImage, 62, 1520-1528.

Di Luca, S., Pesenti, M., Vallar, G., & Girelli, L. (2013). Numbers reorient visuo-spatial attention during cancellation tasks. Experimental Brain Research, 225, 549-557.

Dormal, V., Javadi, A.H., Andres, M., Pesenti, M., Walsh, V., & Cappelletti, M. (2016). Enhancing duration discrimination with parietal transcranial Random Noise Stimulation (tRNS), Neuropsychologia, 85, 272-277.

Masson, N., Letesson, C., & Pesenti, M. (2018). Time course of overt attentional shifts in mental arithmetic: evidence from gaze metrics. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71(4), 1009-1019.

Masson, N., & Pesenti M. (2023). A functional role for oculomotor preparation in mental arithmetic evidenced by the abducted-eye paradigm. Psychological Research, 87, 919-928.

BOOKS and CHAPTERS:

Pesenti, M., & Seron, X. (Eds.), (2000). Neuropsychologie des troubles du calcul et du traitement des nombres. Marseille: Editions Solal, p. 273.

Pesenti, M., & Seron, X. (Eds.), (2004). La cognition numérique. Paris: Lavoisier-Hermès Science Editions, p. 287.

Pesenti, M. (2005). Calculation abilities in expert calculators. In J.I.D. Campbell (Ed.) Handbook of Mathematical Cognition. Psychology Press, pp. 413-430.

Andres, M., & Pesenti, M. (2014). Finger-based representation of mental arithmetic. In R. Cohen Kadosh & A. Dowkers (Eds.) Oxford Handbook of Mathematical Cognition.

Pesenti, M., & Van Calster, L. (2024). Les acalculies. In M. Villain & A. Lafay (Eds.) Troubles de la cognition mathématique – De la compréhension aux interventions.  Paris : De Boeck Supérieur. 

Teaching charges

For a complete list: click here.

POUR LES ETUDIANT·E·S DE MASTER - Stages et mémoires sous ma direction

Les étudiant·e·s de masters en Sciences Psychologiques ou en Logopédie de l'UCLouvain intéressé·e·s par la réalisation d'un stage ou d'un mémoire sous ma direction et/ou celle d'un·e membre de mon groupe trouveront:

- des informations sur les thématiques de recherche du groupe en cliquant ici;

- des exemples de stages et mémoires en cours ou récemment terminés en cliquant ici.

Pour plus d'informations, je les invite à prendre contact avec moi ou un·e membre du groupe.

Contact info:

10, place Cardinal Mercier
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
room C337

+32 (0)10 47 38 20

michael.andres@uclouvain.be

Research Interests :

   My master degree was in Neuropsychology at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL, Belgium). I did my last year dissertation with Xavier Seron and Aliette Lochy on the switching between Arabic and verbal notations during the writing of numbers. I started a doctoral degree with Xavier Seron on the study of hemispheric lateralization of number representation and the influence of finger counting on number representation in adults. My method of choice was transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a technique that I learned with Etienne Olivier in the Laboratory of Neurophysiology (UCL) and with Tomas Paus during a stay at the Montreal Neurological Institute (McGill University, Canada). Using TMS, I confirmed the dominant role of the left parietal cortex in exact number comparison and evidenced increased corticospinal excitability (CSE) in hand motor circuits during serial processing of numbers and letters, suggesting a link between the representation of fingers and ordered series.

   I also participated to the investigation of the neural representation of simple motor acts, such as grasping, and complex actions like tool use (with Etienne Olivier and Marco Davare). Using electromyographic recordings and kinematic measurements, I collected evidence that number magnitude can interfere with grip aperture, in line with the idea that the representation of numerical and physical magnitudes share common processes (with Arnaud Badets and Samuel Di Luca). I pursued this idea in a number of collaborative projects using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and TMS to investigate the functional overlap between number, time and space representations in the parietal cortex (with Mauro Pesenti and Valérie Dormal).

   During my post-doc, I used dual tasks, fMRI and CSE measurements to specificy the role of motor representations in mental arithmetic (with Mauro Pesenti and Nicolas Michaux) and action verb understanding (with Manuela Piazza). I looked at motor imagery and action understanding in a person with a congenital absence of upper limbs (with Agnesa Pillon and Gilles Vannuscorps) and worked as a fellow researcher at the CIMeC (University of Trento, Italy) where I tried to combine habituation paradigms with fMRI in order to reveal the tuning properties of parietal and frontal regions in response to number or finger change (with Manuela Piazza).

   More recently, I contributed to the development of a TMS lab at Ghent University (Department of Experimental Psychology, UGent, Belgium) and iniated several projects with Wim Fias and Marcel Brass where we investigate cognitive control processes in stop signal and switching tasks. My goal is to extend current knowledge of control processes to complex cognitive tasks, such as mental arithmetic, with a great interest for the role of the prefrontal cortex as an interface between stimulus-response association in the parietal cortex and response execution in the motor cortex.
 

Some representative publications :

2004

•    Pourtois, G., Sander, D., Andres, M., Grandjean, D., Reveret, L., Olivier, E., & Vuilleumier, P. (2004). Dissociable roles of the human somatosensory and superior temporal cortices for processing social face signals. European Journal of Neuroscience, 20, 3507-3515.

•    Andres, M., Davare, M., Pesenti, M., Olivier, E., & Seron, X. & (2004). Number magnitude and grip aperture interaction. NeuroReport, 15 (18), 2773-2777.  

2005

•    Andres M., Seron X., & Olivier E. (2005). Hemispheric lateralization of number comparison. Cognitive Brain Research, 25, 283-290.

•    Pelgrims, B., Andres, M., & Olivier, E. (2005). Motor imagery while judging object-hand interactions. Neuroreport, 16, 1993-1996. 

2006

•    Davare, M., Andres, M., Cosnard, G., Thonnard, J-L., & Olivier, E. (2006). Dissociating the role of ventral and dorsal premotor cortex in precision grasping. Journal of Neuroscience, 26(8), 2260-2268. 

2007

•    Andres M., Seron X., & Olivier E. (2007). Contribution of hand motor circuits to counting. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19(4), 563-576. 

•    Badets, A., Andres, M., Di Luca, S., & Pesenti, M. (2007). Number magnitude potentiates action judgements. Experimental Brain Research, 180 (3), 525-534. 

•    Davare, M., Andres, M., Clerget, E., Thonnard, J-L., & Olivier, E. (2007). Temporal dissociation between hand shaping and grip force scaling in the anterior intraparietal area. Journal of Neuroscience, 27(15), 3974-3980. 

2008

•    Andres, M., Olivier, E., & Badets, A. (2008). Actions, words and numbers:  A motor contribution to semantic processing? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 313-317.

•    Andres, M., Ostry, D., Nicols, F., & Paus, T. (2008). Time course of number magnitude interference during grasping. Cortex, 44, 414-419. 

•    Olivier, E., Davare, M., Andres, M., & Fadiga, L. (2008). Control of precision grasping in humans. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 17, 644-648.

•    Dormal, V., Andres M., & Pesenti, M. (2008). Dissociation of numerosity and duration processing in the left intraparietal sulcus: A transcranial magnetic stimulation study. Cortex, 44 (4), 462-469. 

•    Andres, M., Di Luca, S., & Pesenti, M. (2008). Finger counting: The missing tool? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31, 642-643.

2009

•    Andres, M., & Pesenti, M. (2009). Common mistakes about numerical representations. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32, 346.

•    Pelgrims, B., Andres, M., & Olivier, E. (2009). Double dissociation between motor and visual imagery in the posterior parietal cortex. Cerebral Cortex, 19, 2298-2307.

•    Pesenti, M., & Andres, M. (2009). Common mistakes about numerical representations. Commentary on Cohen-Kadosch R. and Walsh V., Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32, 346-347.

2010

•    Michaux, N., Pesenti, M., Badets, A., Di Luca, S., & Andres, M. (2010). Let us redeploy attention to sensorimotor experience‏. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33(4), 283-284.

•    Dormal, V., Andres, M., Dormal, G., & Pesenti, M. (2010). Mode-dependent and mode-independent representations of numerosity in the right intraparietal sulcus. NeuroImage, 52, 1677-1686.  

2011

•    Pelgrims, B., Michaux, N., Olivier, E., & Andres, M. (2011). Dissociation between manipulation and conceptual knowledge of object use in the supramarginal gyrus. Human Brain Mapping, 32(11), 1802-1810. 

•    Pelgrims, B., Olivier, E., & Andres, M. (2011). Contribution of the primary motor cortex to motor imagery : A sub-threshold TMS study. Human Brain Mapping, 32(9), 1471-1482.

•    Andres, M., Pelgrims, B., Michaux, N., Olivier, E., & Pesenti, M. (2011). Role of distinct parietal areas in arithmetic: An fMRI-guided TMS study. NeuroImage, 54(4), 3048-3056.  

2012

•   Dormal, V., Andres, M., & Pesenti, M. (2012). Contribution of the right intraparietal sulcus to numerosity and length processing: an fMRI-guided TMS study. Cortex, 48(5), 623-629. 

•   Andres, M., Michaux, N., & Pesenti, M. (2012). Common substrate for mental arithmetic and finger representation in the parietal cortex. NeuroImage. in press.

Epub ahead of print retrieved June 28, 2012, from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811912005356

Contact info:

Place Cardinal Mercier, 10
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
room C352

+32 (0)10/47 38 39

nicolas.masson@uclouvain.be

Research Interests:

My research project aims at clarifying the nature of arithmetical processes and their relationship with attention and visuo-spatial attention mechanisms with the contribution of various methodological approaches: 

• Behavioural studies will examine the impact of orienting attention on mental calculation
• Neuropsychological studies of neglect patients will evaluate the possible consequence of an impairment of visuo-spatial attention on arithmetic problems
• Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) will be employed to assess the contribution of attentional cerebral circuits on number processing
   

Some representative publications: 

• Masson, N., Pesenti, M., & Dormal, V. (2013). Symbolic and nonsymbolic numerical processing in neglect patients. Neuropsychologia, 51 (10), 1925-1932. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.06.004.
• Michaux, N., Masson, N., Pesenti, M., & Andres, M. (2013). Selective finger interference with basic arithmetic problem solving. Experimental Psychology, 60(3), 197-205.
• Masson, N., & Pesenti, M. (in press). Attentional bias induced by solving simple and complex additions and subtractions problems. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.
• Masson, N., & Pesenti M. (2023). A functional role for oculomotor preparation in mental arithmetic evidenced by the abducted-eye paradigm. Psychological Research, 87, 919-928.
• Masson, N., & Pesenti, M. (2016). Interference of lateralized distractors on arithmetic problem solving: A functional role for attention shifts in mental calculation. Psychological Research, 80, 640-651.
• Masson, N., Pesenti, M., & Dormal, V. (2016). Duration and numerical estimation in right brain-damaged patients with and without neglect: Lack of support for the mental time line. British Journal of Psychology, 107(3), 467-483.
• Masson, N., Pesenti, M., & Dormal, V. (2017; June 2016 on line). Impact of optokinetic stimulation on mental arithmetic. Psychol Research, 80(4), 640-651.
• Masson, N., Pesenti, M., Coyette, F., Andres, M., & Dormal, V. (2017). Shifts of spatial attention underlie numerical comparison and mental arithmetic: evidence from a patient with right unilateral neglect. Neuropsychology, 31 (7), 822-833.
• Masson, N., Letesson, C., & Pesenti, M. (2018). Time course of overt attentional shifts in mental arithmetic: Evidence from gaze metrics. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71(4), 1009-1019.
• Andres, M., Salvaggio, S., Lefèvre, N., Pesenti, M., & Masson, N. (2020). Semantic associations between arithmetic and space: Evidence from temporal order judgements. Memory and Cognition, 48(3), 361-369.
• Masson, N., Andres, M., Alsamour, M., Bollen, Z., & Pesenti, M. (2020). Spatial Biaises in mental arithmetic are independant of reading/writing direction: Evidence from the themporal order judgement in French and Arabic speakers. Cognition, 200, 104262.
• Masson, N., Andres, M. Carneiro Pereira, S., Pesenti, M., & Vannuscorps, G. (2020). Exogenous covert shift of attention without the ability to plan eye movements. Current Biology, 30, R1032-R1033.
• Masson, N., Andres, M. Carneiro Pereira, S., Vandenberghe, A., Pesenti, M., & Vannuscorps, G. (2021). Shifting attention in visuospatial short-term memory does not require oculomotor planning: insight from congenital gaze paralysis. Neuropsychologia, 161, 107998.

Contact info:

10, place Cardinal Mercier
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
room C342

benjamin.brise@uclouvain.be

Contact info:

10, place Cardinal Mercier
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
room C320

sylvain.gerin@uclouvain.be

Research interests:

I study tactile cognition, with a special focus on fingers. Although it is not my primary interest, some of my projects investigate the link between fingers and numerical cognition.

Contact info:

10, place Cardinal Mercier
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
room C320

samuel.lepoittevin@uclouvain.be

Contact info:

 valerie.dormal@uclouvain.be

Research Interests :

     My main interest of research consists in the investigation of magnitude estimation processing (quantity, numerosity, duration, length, etc.).

     By using behavioral and neuroimaging techniques (fMRI, TMS, ERPs,...), the main aim of our work is to lead to a better understanding of the representational and cerebral organisation of the magnitude system.

PhD abstract:

     Adults, infants and animals process and represent numerosity, time and length and they use these quantitative dimensions to guide learning and behaviour. From a broad range of behavioural, physiological, developmental, lesional and neuroanatomical data on magnitude processing, Walsh (2003) recently proposed the existence of a generalised magnitude system located in the parietal cortex.

     In a series of behavioural, neurophysiological and neuroimaging studies with healthy adult participants, we assessed the functional interactions between these magnitudes, we isolated the common and specific brain areas underlying their processing, and we tested the causal role played by these areas. Our results demonstrate for the first time in within-participant designs the implication of an area along the right intraparietal sulcus (IPS) commonly activated in numerosity, duration and length processing. However, this common area appears causally involved only in numerosity and length judgements, as demonstrated by transcranial magnetic stimulation studies.

     Together, our findings support the idea that the IPS holds both a common and partially distinct and specific representations and/or mechanisms for numerosity, time and length processing.

Current position: Post-doctoral Researcher in Laboratoray for Experimental Psychopathology (LEP), UCL, Belgium under the supervision of Prof. Pierre Maurage

Topic: Emotional and cognitive (attention and executive functions) processes
Populations: Healthy individual; Alcohol-dependence; Binge drinking
Tools: Behavioural, electrophysiological (ERPs) and neuroimaging (fMRI) measures; Transcranial Electrical and Magnetic Stimulation
 

Some representative publications :

Articles

1. Dormal, V., Seron, X., & Pesenti, M. (2006). Numerosity-duration interference: A Stroop experiment. Acta Psychologica, 121, 109-124. ,

2. Dormal, V., & Pesenti, M. (2007). Numerosity-length interference: A Stroop experiment. Experimental Psychology, 54 (4), 289-297.,

3. Dormal, V., Andres M., & Pesenti, M. (2008). Dissociation of numerosity and duration processing in the left intraparietal sulcus: A transcranial magnetic stimulation study. Cortex, 44 (4), 462-469.,

4. Dormal, V., & Pesenti, M. (2009). Common and specific contributions of the intraparietal sulci to numerosity and length processing. Human Brain Mapping, 30(8), 2466-2476.,

5. Dormal, V., Andres, M., Dormal, G., & Pesenti, M. (2010). Mode-dependent and mode-independent representations of numerosity in the right intraparietal sulcus. NeuroImage, 52, 1677-1686. ,

6. Dormal, V., Dormal, G., Joassin, F., & Pesenti, M. (2012). A common right fronto-parietal network for numerosity and duration processing: An fMRI study. Human Brain Mapping, 33(6), 1490-1501. ,

7. Dormal, V., Andres, M., & Pesenti, M. (2012). Contribution of the right intraparietal sulcus to numerosity and length processing: an fMRI-guided TMS study. Cortex, 48, 623-629. ,

8. Dormal, V., Grade, S., Mormont, E., & Pesenti, M. (2012). Dissociation between numerosity and duration processing in aging and early Parkinson's disease. Neuropsychologia, 50, 2365-2370. ,  

9. Dormal, V., & Pesenti, M. (2013). Processing numerosity, length and duration in a three-dimensional Stroop-like task: towards a gradient of processing automaticity? Psychological Research,  77, 116-127. DOI: 10.1007/s00426-012-0414-3 , 

10. Masson, N., Pesenti, M., & Dormal, V. (2013). Spatial bias in symbolic and non-symbolic numerical comparison in neglect. Neuropsychologia, 51(10), 1925-1932.   

11. Crollen, V., Grade, S., Pesenti, M., & Dormal, V. (2013). A common metric magnitude system for the perception and production of numerosity, length and duration. Frontiers in Psychology. DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00449 

12. Dormal, V., Schuller, A-M., Nihoul, J., Pesenti, M., & Andres, M. (2014). Causal role of spatial attention in arithmetic problem solving: Evidence from left unilateral neglect. Neuropsychologia, 60, 1-9. ,

13. Masson, N., Pesenti, M., & Dormal, V. (2016). Duration and numerical estimation in right brain-damaged patients with and without neglect: Lack of support for a mental time line. British Journal of Psychology, 107(3), 467-483. doi: 10.111/bjop.12155

14. Dormal, V., Javadi, A., Pesenti, M., Walsh, V., & Cappelletti, M. (2016). Enhancing duration processing with parietal brain stimulation. Neuropsychologia, 85, 272-277. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.03.033

15. Masson, N., Pesenti, M., & Dormal, V. (2016). Impact of optokinetic stimulation on mental arithmetic. Psychological Research. doi: 10.1007/s00426-016-0784-z

16. Dormal, V., Crollen, V., Baumans, C., Lepore, F., & Collignon, O. (2016). Early but not late blindness leads to enhanced arithmetic and working memory abilities. Cortex. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2016.07.016

17. De Visscher, A., Noel, M.P., Pesenti, M., & Dormal, V. (2016). Developmental dyscalculia in adults: beyond numerical magnitude impairment. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 51(6), 600-611 .

Book chapter    

1. Dormal, V., & Pesenti, M. (2012). Processing magnitudes within the parietal cortex. In A. Costa, & E. Villalba (Eds.), Horizons in Neuroscience Research (Vol.8). pp107-140. Nova Science Publishers: New-York.   

See also:

my personal page here and

Centre d'Investigation Clinique en Nutrition - CICN

http://uclep.be/members/valerie-dormal/

Research Interests :

My research interests focus on the links between action, number and space processing. Therefore, I’m interested in grounded cognition (or embodiment) theory and the theory of magnitude (ATOM).

Previously, I worked on estimation processes of time, space and numerosity with Virginie Crollen and Valerie Dormal. I also worked on the implication of the motor system in number production with Mauro Pesenti.

Currently, I’m working on the implications of action and number processing in space perception. The aim is to gain a better understanding of the relative and/or common contributions of action and numerical cognition to space perception. I’m then exploring what role body reach representations and the magnitude apprehension system have on reachability judgement and distance estimation.

 Some representative publications :

• Dormal, V., Grade, S., Mormont, E., & Pesenti, M. (2012). Dissociation between numerosity and duration processing in aging and early Parkinson's disease. Neuropsychologia, 50, 2365-2370.
• Grade, S., Lefevre, N. & Pesenti, M. (2013). Influence of left-right vs. up-down gaze observation on random number generation. Experimental psychology. 60(2), 122-130.
• Crollen, V., Grade, S., Pesenti, M., & Dormal, V. (2013). A common metric magnitude system for the perception and production of numerosity, length and duration. Frontiers in Psychology.

See also :

http://psy-naps.org/index.html

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