Neurophysiological Study of Sensory and Cognitive Processes in Healthy Children and Adults

It is now widely accepted that autism is linked to a developmental disorder and cerebral function.

Our research team (UMR U930 INSERM, François-Rabelais University of Tours, whom Pr F Bonnet-Brilhault is responsible for team "Autism") hypothesizes that atypical sensory information processing, especially auditory and / or visual information, could underly the symptoms observed in autism. A better knowledge of the typical development of the sensory and cognitive processes must therefore make it possible in the long term to identify the abnormalities linked to the autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Studies in healthy subjects are therefore necessary in order to identify neurophysiological indices of cerebral functioning and to study their evolution during normal development, making it possible in the future to compare with populations of subjects with ASD.

The investigators intend to study the development of all the cognitive processes involved in the processing of sensory and, in particular, auditory and visual information in humans: from low-level perception processes to higher-level cognitive processes (attention, emotion, language, prediction, ...). For this the investigators will use non-invasive neurophysiological explorations (EEG, eye tracking) as well as neuropsychological explorations (Questionnaires or spontaneous language recording).

A better understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the symptoms observed in autism could ultimately lead to the development of new specific therapeutic strategies, particularly in the field of exchange and development therapy or cognitive remediation .