- Université Libre de Bruxelles
Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, 50, CP175
1050 Bruxelles
Belgique - +32 2 650 66 33
- I completed my PhD thesis at the Neuropsychology and Functional Neuroimaging Research Unit (UR2NF, dir. P. Peigneux),... moreI completed my PhD thesis at the Neuropsychology and Functional Neuroimaging Research Unit (UR2NF, dir. P. Peigneux), for which I investigated the contributions of sleep stages in post-learning memory consolidation and in protection against lexical and emotional retroactive interference processes. In addition, I studied the impact of total and partial sleep deprivation on mood-dependent memory as well as the effectiveness of luminotherapy (vs. nap) to overcome the post-lunch dip.
In 2013, I joined the Consciousness, Cognition and Computation Group (CO3, dir. A. Cleeremans) for a post-doctoral research project focusing on a novel assessment tool for cognitive deficits using virtual reality (R.O.G.E.R. project).
Since November 2015, I joined the project Autism in Context: Theory and Experiment (ACTE, dir. M. Kissine) for a post-doctoral research project focusing on pragmatic deficits in Autism. Within the ACTE project, I will investigate the extent to which pragmatic deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorder are best explained by Theory of Mind, executive functions or hypersensitivity to social cues.edit - Mikhail Kissineedit
Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use upon admission and at discharge in a geriatric oncology unit after involving a clinical pharmacist. Although the few studies... more
Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use upon admission and at discharge in a geriatric oncology unit after involving a clinical pharmacist. Although the few studies conducted in geriatric oncology units used the 2003 Beers criteria, this study used START and STOPP criteria, a more appropriate tool for European formularies. Materials and methods: Prospective study in older (≥70 years) patients consecutively admitted to a geriatric oncology unit in a cancer center from July 2011 to April 2012. Clinical pharmacist conducted a complete comprehensive medication review including non-prescription and complementary (herbals) medications. This information coupled with the patient's medical history allows identifying PIMs using the STOPP and START criteria. The number of PIMs at admission and at discharge from the hospital was compared after clinical pharmacist intervention. Results: Ninety-one older cancer patients (mean age ± SD = 79 ± 6 years) were included in the study. START criteria identified 41 PIMs for 31 persons (34%) at admission compared to 7 PIMs for 6 persons (7%) at discharge. STOPP criteria identified 50 PIMs at admission for 29 persons (32%) compared to 16 PIMs at discharge for 14 persons (16%). Results showed significantly lower START scores at discharge than at admission (p < 0.001); similarly, STOPP criteria demonstrated fewer PIMs at discharge than at admission (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The use of START and STOPP criteria by a clinical pharmacist allows identifying PIMs and changing prescriptions for older cancer patients in agreement with the oncologist and geriatrician of the team.
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Objective: Declarative memory is consolidated during sleep in healthy children. We tested the hypothesis that consolidation processes are impaired in idiopathic focal epilepsies (IFE) of childhood in association with frequent interictal... more
Objective: Declarative memory is consolidated during sleep in healthy children. We tested the hypothesis that consolidation processes are impaired in idiopathic focal epilepsies (IFE) of childhood in association with frequent interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) during sleep. Methods: A verbal (word-pair association) and a nonverbal (2D object location) declarative memory task were administrated to 15 children with IFEs and 8 control children 6–12 years of age. Patients had either centrotemporal (11 patients) or occipital (4 patients) IEDs. All but 3 patients had a history of unprovoked seizures, and 6 of them were treated with valproate (VPA). The learning procedure (location of object pairs presented on a grid; association of word pairs) was executed in the evening. Retrieval was tested immediately after learning and on the next morning after a night of sleep. Participants were tested twice, once in natural home conditions and one month later in the unfamiliar conditions of the sleep unit under EEG monitoring. Results: Overnight recall performance was lower in children with IFE than in control children on both tasks (ps b 0.05). Performance in home conditions was similar to that in hospital conditions. Higher spike–wave index (SWI) during nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep was associated with poorer performance in the non-verbal task (p b 0.05). Valproate treatment was not associated with overnight recall performance for both tasks (ps N 0.05). Conclusion: Memory consolidation is impaired in IFE of childhood. The association between higher SWI during NREM sleep and poorer nonverbal declarative memory consolidation supports the hypothesis that interictal epileptic activity could disrupt sleep memory consolidation.
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SUMMARY Sleep deprivation is known to exert detrimental effects on various cognitive domains, including attention, vigilance and working memory. Seemingly at odds with these findings, prior studies repeatedly failed to evidence an impact... more
SUMMARY Sleep deprivation is known to exert detrimental effects on various cognitive domains, including attention, vigilance and working memory. Seemingly at odds with these findings, prior studies repeatedly failed to evidence an impact of prior sleep deprivation on cognitive interference in the Stroop test, a hallmark paradigm in the study of cognitive control abilities. The present study investigated further the effect of sleep deprivation on cognitive control using an adapted version of the Stroop test that allows to segregate top–down (attentional reconfiguration on incongruent items) and bottom–up (facilitated processing after repetitions in responses and/or features of stimuli) components of performance. Participants underwent a regular night of sleep or a night of total sleep deprivation before cognitive testing. Results disclosed that sleep deprivation selectively impairs top–down adaptation mechanisms: cognitive control no longer increased upon detection of response conflict at the preceding trial. In parallel, bottom–up abilities were found unaffected by sleep deprivation: beneficial effects of stimulus and response repetitions persisted. Changes in vigilance states due to sleep deprivation selectively impact on cognitive control in the Stroop test by affecting top–down, but not bottom–up, mechanisms that guide adaptive behaviours.
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Sleep problems have been commonly reported in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This review takes a lifespan perspective in discussing recent findings on sleep disturbances in ASD, including sparse but pivotal studies in... more
Sleep problems have been commonly reported in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This review takes a lifespan perspective in discussing recent findings on sleep disturbances in ASD, including sparse but pivotal studies in toddlers and adults. Current evidence shows that more than a mere comorbidity, sleep disturbances can represent a key factor in ASD. Already present before the age of 2, sleep problems are one of the early warning signs of ASD, which persist through lifespan. Genetic, epigenetic, psychological, and social/environmental factors involved in sleep disturbances in ASD contribute to better understand the core symptoms of autism (restricted and repetitive behaviors, communication , and social deficits). Although often considered as secondary by the therapeutic community, behavioral and pharmacological sleep interventions are efficient to reduce symptoms severity in ASD individuals and improve parents' mental health. This review should convince the scientific and medical community to address sleep complaints and autism symptoms together rather than separate entities.
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There is growing evidence that sleep plays a pivotal role on health, cognition and emotional regulation. However, the interplay between sleep and social cognition remains an uncharted research area. In particular, little is known about... more
There is growing evidence that sleep plays a pivotal role on health, cognition and emotional regulation. However, the interplay between sleep and social cognition remains an uncharted research area. In particular, little is known about the impact of sleep deprivation on sarcasm detection, an ability which, once altered, may hamper everyday social interactions. The aim of this study is to determine whether sleep-deprived participants are as able as sleep-rested participants to adopt another perspective in gauging sarcastic statements. At 9am, after a whole night of sleep (n = 15) or a sleep deprivation night (n = 15), participants had to read the description of an event happening to a group of friends. An ambiguous voi-cemail message left by one of the friends on another's phone was then presented, and participants had to decide whether the recipient would perceive the message as sincere or as sarcastic. Messages were uttered with a neutral intonation and were either: (1) sarcastic from both the participant's and the addressee's perspectives (i.e. both had access to the relevant background knowledge to gauge the message as sarcastic), (2) sarcastic from the participant's but not from the addressee's perspective (i.e. the addressee lacked context knowledge to detect sarcasm) or (3) sincere. A fourth category consisted in messages sarcastic from both the participant's and from the addressee's perspective, uttered with a sarcastic tone. Although sleep-deprived participants were as accurate as sleep-rested participants in interpreting the voice message, they were also slower. Blunted reaction time was not fully explained by generalized cognitive slowing after sleep deprivation; rather, it could reflect a compensatory mechanism supporting normative accuracy level in sarcasm understanding. Introducing prosodic cues compensated for increased processing difficulties in sarcasm detection after sleep deprivation. Our findings support the hypothesis that sleep deprivation might damage the flow of social interactions by slowing perspective-taking processes.
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Emerging evidence suggests that emotion and affect modulate the relation between sleep and cognition. In the present study, we investigated the role of rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep in mood regulation and memory consolidation for sad... more
Emerging evidence suggests that emotion and affect modulate the relation between sleep and cognition. In the present study, we investigated the role of rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep in mood regulation and memory consolidation for sad stories. In a counterbalanced design, participants (n = 24) listened to either a neutral or a sad story during two sessions, spaced one week apart. After listening to the story, half of the participants had a short (45 min) morning nap. The other half had a long (90 min) morning nap, richer in REM and N2 sleep. Story recall, mood evolution and changes in emotional response to the re-exposure to the story were assessed after the nap. Although recall performance was similar for sad and neutral stories irrespective of nap duration, sleep measures were correlated with recall performance in the sad story condition only. After the long nap, REM sleep density positively correlated with retrieval performance, while re-exposure to the sad story led to diminished mood and increased skin conductance levels. Our results suggest that REM sleep may not only be associated with the consolidation of intrinsically sad material, but also enhances mood reactivity, at least on the short term.
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The ability to perform two tasks simultaneously has become increasingly important as attention-demanding technologies have become more common in daily life. This type of allocation of attentional resources is commonly called ‘‘divided... more
The ability to perform two tasks simultaneously has become increasingly important as attention-demanding technologies have become more common in daily life. This type of allocation of attentional resources is commonly called ‘‘divided attention.’’ Because of the importance of divided attention in natural world settings, substantial efforts have been recently made to promote an integrated, realistic assessment of functional abilities in dual task paradigms. In this context, virtual reality methods appear to be a good solution. However, to date, there has been little discussion on the validity of such methods. Here,
we offer a comparative review of conventional tools used to assess divided attention and also of the first virtual reality studies (mostly from the field of road and pedestrian safety).
The ecological character of virtual environments leads to a better understanding of the influence of dual-task settings and makes it possible to clarify issues such as the utility of
hands-free phones. After discussing the theoretical and clinical contributions of these studies, we discuss the limits of virtual reality assessment, focusing in particular: (i) on the challenges associated with the lack of familiarity with new technological devices; (ii) on the validity of the ecological character of virtual environments; and (iii) on the question of whether the results obtained in a specific context can be generalized to all dual-task
situations typical of daily life. To overcome the limitations associated with virtual reality, we propose: (i) to include a standardized familiarization phase in assessment protocols so as to limit the interference caused by the use of new technologies; (ii) to systematically compare virtual reality performance with conventional tests or real-life tests; and (iii) to
design dual-task scenarios that are independent from the patient’s expertise on one of the two tasks. We conclude that virtual reality appears to constitute a useful tool when used in
combination with more conventional tests.
we offer a comparative review of conventional tools used to assess divided attention and also of the first virtual reality studies (mostly from the field of road and pedestrian safety).
The ecological character of virtual environments leads to a better understanding of the influence of dual-task settings and makes it possible to clarify issues such as the utility of
hands-free phones. After discussing the theoretical and clinical contributions of these studies, we discuss the limits of virtual reality assessment, focusing in particular: (i) on the challenges associated with the lack of familiarity with new technological devices; (ii) on the validity of the ecological character of virtual environments; and (iii) on the question of whether the results obtained in a specific context can be generalized to all dual-task
situations typical of daily life. To overcome the limitations associated with virtual reality, we propose: (i) to include a standardized familiarization phase in assessment protocols so as to limit the interference caused by the use of new technologies; (ii) to systematically compare virtual reality performance with conventional tests or real-life tests; and (iii) to
design dual-task scenarios that are independent from the patient’s expertise on one of the two tasks. We conclude that virtual reality appears to constitute a useful tool when used in
combination with more conventional tests.
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We investigated effects of NREM and REM predominant sleep periods on sleepiness and psychomotor performances measured with visual analog scales and the psychomotor vigilance task, respectively. After one week of stable sleep-wake rhythms,... more
We investigated effects of NREM and REM predominant sleep periods on sleepiness and psychomotor performances measured with visual analog scales and the psychomotor vigilance task, respectively. After one week of stable sleep-wake rhythms, 18 healthy sleepers slept 3hours of early sleep and 3hours of late sleep, under polysomnographic control, spaced by two hours of sustained wakefulness between sleep periods in a within subjects split-night, sleep interruption protocol. Power spectra analysis was applied for sleep EEG recordings and sleep phase-relative power proportions were computed for six different frequency bands (delta, theta, alpha, sigma, beta and gamma). Both sleep periods presented with similar sleep duration and efficiency. As expected, phasic NREM and REM predominances were obtained for early and late sleep conditions, respectively. Albeit revealing additive effects of total sleep duration, our results showed a systematic discrepancy between psychomotor performances and ...
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Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Science, Neural Network, Space perception, Right Hemisphere Functions, and 19 moreHumans, Sleep Deprivation, Female, Male, Reaction Time, Young Adult, Arousal, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Time Factors, Neuropsychologia, Shift Work, Bias (Epidemiology), Healthy Subjects, Neurosciences, Attentional Bias, Psychomotor Performance, Statistics as Topic, and Neuropsychological Tests
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A link between sleep loss and increased risk for the development of diabetes is now well recognized. The current study investigates whether sleep extension under real-life conditions is a feasible intervention with a beneficial impact on... more
A link between sleep loss and increased risk for the development of diabetes is now well recognized. The current study investigates whether sleep extension under real-life conditions is a feasible intervention with a beneficial impact on glucose metabolism in healthy adults who are chronically sleep restricted. Intervention study. Sixteen healthy non-obese volunteers (25 [23, 27.8] years old, 3 men]. Two weeks of habitual time in bed followed by 6 weeks during which participants were instructed to increase their time in bed by one hour per day. Continuous actigraphy monitoring and daily sleep logs during the entire study. Glucose and insulin were assayed on a single morning blood sample at the end of habitual time in bed and at the end of sleep extension. Home polysomnography was performed during one weekday of habitual time in bed and after 40 days of sleep extension. Sleep time during weekdays increased (mean actigraphic data: +44±34 minutes, P < 0.0001; polysomnographic data: ...