Stanislas Dehaene is an alumnus of the École normale supérieure and holds a doctorate in cognitive psychology. In September 2005, he was appointed Professor at the Collège de France, in the newly-created chair of Experimental Cognitive Psychology, after nearly ten years as Director of Research at Inserm. His research aims to elucidate the cerebral bases of the most fundamental operations of the human brain: reading, calculation, reasoning, awareness. His work has been rewarded by several prizes and grants, including the Louis D. prize from the Fondation de France (with D. Le Bihan), the Jean-Louis Signoret prize from the Fondation Ipsen and the centennial fellowship from the American McDonnell Foundation.
Biography
Career
- 2005 : Professor at the Collège de France, Chair of Experimental Cognitive Psychology
- Director of the Inserm-CEA joint Cognitive Neuroimaging unit, Orsay, 2002-2007 ; Saclay, since 2008
- 1997-2005 : Research Director at Inserm
- 1992-1994 : Post-doctoral fellowship, Institute of Cognitive and Decision Sciences, University of Oregon (USA), Director Michael Posner
- 1989-1999 : Inserm research fellow at the Laboratory of Cognitive and Psycholinguistic Sciences, Paris (director J. Mehler)
- 1984-1989 : École normale supérieure, mathematics section
- 1982-1984 : École préparatoire Sainte-Geneviève, Versailles (mathematics section)
Diplomas
- 1999 : Habilitation to direct research, École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)
- 1989 : Postgraduate thesis in cognitive psychology, École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)
- 1984-1989 : École normale supérieure, Paris, mathematics
- 1986 : Advanced studies diploma in cognitive psychology, École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)
- 1985 : Master's degree in applied mathematics and computer science, University of Paris-VI
Scientific distinctions and awards
- 2014 : Brain Prize
- 2011 : Honorary doctorate, University of Lisbon
- 2011 : Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur
- 2010 : Honorary Professor, East China Normal University (Shanghai)
- 2010 : Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences USA
- 2010 : Correspondent of the British Academy
- 2010 : Fellow of the American Philosophical Society
- 2008 : Dr A. H. Heineken Prize for Cognitive Science
- 2008 : Member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
- 2008 : Chevalier de l'ordre national du Mérite
- 2007 : Grande médaille d'or, Association Arts-Sciences-Lettres
- 2005 : Member of the French Academy of Sciences
- 2003 : Grand prix de la Fondation Louis D. de l'Institut de France (with D. Le Bihan)
- 2002 : Pius XI Medal of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
- 2002 : Boehringer-Ingelheim Prize from the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS)
- 2001 : Jean-Louis Signoret Prize, Fondation Ipsen
- 2000 : Villemot Prize from the French Academy of Sciences
- 1999 : Centennial Fellowship of the McDonnell Foundation
- 1997 : Jean Rostand Prize for the book La Bosse des maths
- 1996 : Fanny Emden Prize from the French Academy of Sciences
Administrative responsibilities
- 2018- : Chairman of the Scientific Council of the French Ministry of Education
- 2010- : Member of the scientific council of the Direction générale de l'enseignement scolaire (DGESCO)
- 2009-2010 : Member of the Council for the Development of the Humanities and Social Sciences (CDHSS)
- 2009- : Member of the Board of Directors of SARAH Network of Rehabilitation Hospitals (Brasil)
- 2009- : Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Institut de la Vision, Paris
- 2008-2012 : Member of the Inserm Scientific Advisory Board
- 2005-2007 : ANR Neurosciences program steering committee
- 2001- : Board of the International Association for the Study of Attention and Performance
- 2001-2005 : Board of Directors of the Société française des neurosciences
- 2001-2005 : Inserm Avenir Commission
- 1999- : Scientific Council of the IFR 49 neuroimaging institute
- 1999-2005 : Scientific advisor, OECD " Brain and Education" program
- 1997-2005 : Scientific Advisory Board, Fyssen Foundation
- 1990-2000 : Founder and coordinator, with L. Cohen, of the Club Parisien de Neuropsychologie at the Salpêtrière Hospital
Editorial responsibilities
- 2011- : Editorial advisor, Trends in Cognitive Science
- 2008- : Board of Reviewing Editors, Science
- 2006- : Editorial Advisor, Mind Brain and Education
- 2003- : Editorial Advisor, PLOS Biology
- 2001- : Editorial advisor, journal Neuroimage
- 1999-200 : Associate Editor, Cognition magazine
- 1998-2003 : Associate Editor, journal Cognitive Neuropsychology
- 1996- : Editorial consultant, Éditions Odile Jacob
- 1991-1997 : Editorial advisor, Mathematical Cognition magazine
Research
Numbers in the brain
Stanislas Dehaene is the acknowledged expert in the brain basis of mathematical operations, a field he pioneered. He has designed new psychological tests for calculation and number comprehension, and applied them to brain-damaged patients with calculation disorders. His work led to the discovery that number intuition involves particular brain circuits, particularly those in the parietal lobe. Stanislas Dehaene used brain imaging methods to analyze the anatomical organization of these circuits, as well as their temporal course, demonstrating in an article published in Science in 1999 that approximate calculation calls on regions that are partially different from those of exact calculation. In collaboration with neurologist Laurent Cohen, he has observed new pathologies in these regions, leading some "acalculic" patients to lose all intuition of numbers. He has also shown striking homologies between number processing in humans and animals. Thus, the foundations of our arithmetical abilities have their origins in the evolution of the brain.
Stanislas Dehaene's work shows that pathologies of the parietal region, of traumatic or genetic origin, can exist in children. These lead to "dyscalculia" - an early developmental disorder comparable to dyslexia, but affecting the intuition of numbers. The diagnosis, understanding and re-education of dyscalculia, using educational game software, are major objectives of the laboratory. Stanislas Dehaene has summarized his research on the brain and mathematics in a book for the general public: La Bosse des maths (Éditions Odile Jacob; Prix Jean Rostand in 1997), a revised edition of which was published in 2010.
The impact of education on the brain
In the late 1990s, Stanislas Dehaene extended his research on arithmetic to address the more general question of the impact of education in written symbols on the brain. This research led to the discovery and analysis, with Laurent Cohen, of the visual word form area - a region of the left occipitotemporal cortex which, during learning to read, specializes in the invariant recognition of writing. Comparisons of the brains of literate and non-literate people have shown that not only this region, but also certain visual and auditory areas and their connections change radically during the learning process.
Subliminal reading and awareness
Stanislas Dehaene carried out the first brain imaging experiments on the subliminal processing of numbers and words. These experiments demonstrated that words or numbers presented too briefly for awareness nonetheless activate a series of specialized brain regions. Is it possible, then, to identify "brain signatures of consciousness", i.e. brain events specifically present when sensory information or a mental operation reaches consciousness? Research suggests that awareness of a word is associated with the sudden, coordinated activation of multiple additional regions, notably in the prefrontal cortex. With Jean-Pierre Changeux, Stanislas Dehaene is developing mathematical models of this "cortical kindling" that enables conscious information to be memorized and reported. Clinical applications to comas and vegetative states are the subject of close collaboration with Dr. Lionel Naccache at the Salpêtrière hospital.
Towards deciphering the neural codes of language
Stanislas Dehaene's current research aims to push back the limits of brain imaging. The aim is to decipher the code specific to each cortical region and understand its origins during development. Brain imaging of reading, sentence comprehension and bilingualism; visualization of infant brain activity; brain variability from one person to another. In these fields, where brain imaging weaves together psychology and neuroscience, the new research developed by Stanislas Dehaene and Denis Le Bihan at the CEA's NeuroSpin imaging center in Saclay, opens up new perspectives for understanding the human brain.