Stanislas Dehaene

Career

• 2005: Professor at the Collège de France, Chair of Experimental Cognitive Psychology
• Director of the Inserm-CEA Joint Unit for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Orsay, 2002–2007; Saclay, since 2008
• 1997–2005: Research Director at Inserm
• 1992–1994: Postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute of Cognitive and Decision Sciences, University of Oregon (USA), under the supervision of 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 stream)

Qualifications

• 1999: Qualification to supervise 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: Diploma in Advanced Studies 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 honours and awards

• 2014: Brain Prize
• 2011: Honorary Doctorate, University of Lisbon
• 2011: Knight of the Legion of Honour
• 2010: Honorary Professor, East China Normal University (Shanghai)
• 2010: Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences
• 2010: Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy
• 2010: Member of the American Philosophical Society
• 2008: Dr A. H. Heineken Prize for Cognitive Science
• 2008: Member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
• 2008: Knight of the National Order of Merit
• 2007: Grand Gold Medal, Association Arts-Sciences-Lettres
• 2005: Member of the Academy of Sciences
• 2003: Grand Prix of the Louis D. Foundation of the Institut de France (with D. Le Bihan)
• 2002: Pius XI Medal from the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
• 2002: Boehringer-Ingelheim Prize from the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS)
• 2001: Jean-Louis Signoret Prize from the Ipsen Foundation
• 2000: Villemot Prize from the French Academy of Sciences
• 1999: Centennial Fellowship from 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 roles

• 2018–: Chair of the Scientific Council of the French Ministry of Education
• 2010–: Member of the Scientific Council of the Directorate-General for School Education (DGESCO)
• 2009–2010: Member of the Council for the Development of the Humanities and Social Sciences (CDHSS)
• 2009–present: Member of the Board of Directors of the SARAH Network of Rehabilitation Hospitals (Brazil)
• 2009–present: Member of the Scientific Council of the Institut de la Vision, Paris
• 2008–2012: Member of the Scientific Council of Inserm
• 2005–2007: Steering Committee for the ANR’s Neurosciences Programme
• 2001–present: Council of the International Association for the Study of Attention and Performance
• 2001–2005: Board of Directors of the French Society for Neuroscience
• 2001–2005: Inserm’s ‘Avenir’ Commission
• 1999–present: Scientific Council of IFR 49 (Neuroimaging)
• 1999–2005: Scientific Adviser, OECD ‘Brain and Education’ Programme
• 1997–2005: Scientific Advisory Board of the Fyssen Foundation
• 1990–2000: Founder and co-organiser, with L. Cohen, of the Paris Neuropsychology Club at the Hôpital de la Salpêtrière

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, *Neuroimage*
• 1999–2000: Associate Editor, *Cognition*
• 1998–2003: Associate Editor, *Cognitive Neuropsychology*
• 1996–: Editorial advisor, Éditions Odile Jacob
• 1991–1997: Editorial board member, *Mathematical Cognition*

Research

Numbers in the brain

Stanislas Dehaene is a recognised expert on the neural basis of mathematical operations, a field in which he was a pioneer. He has devised new psychological tests for arithmetic and number comprehension, and has applied them to patients with brain lesions and those suffering from dyscalculia. His work has led to the discovery that numerical intuition involves specific brain circuits, particularly those in the parietal lobe. Stanislas Dehaene has used brain imaging techniques to analyse not only the anatomical organisation of these circuits but also their temporal sequence, demonstrating in particular, in an article published in *Science* in 1999, that approximate calculation involves regions that are partly different from those used in exact calculation. In collaboration with the neurologist Laurent Cohen, he observed new pathologies in these regions, which cause certain ‘acalculic’ patients to lose all sense of number. He also demonstrated striking similarities between the processing of numbers in humans and animals. Thus, the foundations of our arithmetic abilities have their origins in the evolution of the brain.

Stanislas Dehaene’s research shows that pathologies of the parietal lobe, whether traumatic or genetic in origin, can occur in children. These lead to ‘dyscalculia’ – an early-onset developmental disorder comparable to dyslexia, but affecting numerical intuition. The diagnosis, understanding and rehabilitation of dyscalculia, through the use of educational game software, are key objectives of the laboratory. Stanislas Dehaene has provided an abstract of his research on the brain and mathematics in a book aimed at the general public: *La Bosse des maths* (Éditions Odile Jacob; winner of the Jean Rostand Prize in 1997), a revised edition of which was published in 2010.

The impact of education on the brain

In the late 1990s, Stanislas Dehaene expanded his research on arithmetic to address the broader question of the impact of education in written symbols on the brain. This research led to the discovery and analysis, in collaboration with Laurent Cohen, of the visual word form area – a region of the left occipito-temporal cortex which, during the process of learning to read, becomes specialised in the invariant recognition of written symbols. A comparison of the brains of literate and illiterate individuals has shown that not only this region, but also certain visual and auditory areas and their connections, undergo radical changes during the process of learning to read.

Subliminal reading and awareness

Stanislas Dehaene conducted the first brain imaging experiments on the subliminal processing of numbers and words. These experiments demonstrated that words or numbers presented too briefly for us to become aware of them nevertheless activate a series of specialised brain regions. Is it therefore possible to identify ‘brain signatures of consciousness’ – that is, brain events that are specifically present when sensory information or a mental operation enters consciousness? Research suggests that becoming aware of a word is associated with the sudden and coordinated activation of multiple additional regions, particularly in the prefrontal cortex. Together with Jean-Pierre Changeux, Stanislas Dehaene is developing mathematical models of this ‘cortical flare-up’, which enables conscious information to be memorised and recalled. Clinical applications relating to comas and vegetative states are the subject of close collaboration with Dr Lionel Naccache at the Hôpital de la Salpêtrière.

Towards deciphering the neural codes of language

Stanislas Dehaene’s current research seeks to push the boundaries of brain imaging. The aim is to decipher the unique code of each cortical region and to understand its origins during development. Brain imaging of reading, sentence comprehension and bilingualism; visualisation of brain activity in infants; variability in the brain from one person to another. In these fields, where brain imaging bridges the gap between psychology and neuroscience, the new research being carried out by Stanislas Dehaene and Denis Le Bihan at the CEA’s NeuroSpin imaging centre in Saclay is opening up fresh perspectives on our understanding of the human brain.