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The first time a newborn is held, he is attracted by the human's face. A talking face is even more captivating, as it is the first time he or she hears and sees another human talking. Older infants are relatively good at detecting the relationship between images and sounds when someone is addressing to them, but it is unclear whether this ability is dependent on experience or not. Using an intermodal matching procedure, we presented newborns with 2 silent point-line displays representing the same face uttering different sentences while they were hearing a vocal-only utterance that matched 1 of the 2 stimuli. Nearly all of the newborns looked longer at the matching point-line face than at the mismatching 1, with prior exposure to the stimuli (Experiment 1) or without (Experiment 2). These results are interpreted in terms of newborns' ability to extract common visual and auditory information of continuous speech events despite a short experience with talking faces. The implications are discussed in the light of the language processing and acquisition literature. (PsycINFO Database Record

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International audience; Speech researchers have long been interested in how auditory and visual speech signals are integrated, and recent work has revived interest in the role of speech production with respect to this process. Here we discuss these issues from a developmental perspective. Because speech perception abilities typically outstrip speech production abilities in infancy and childhood, it is unclear how speech-like movements could influence audiovisual speech perception in development. While work on this question is still in its preliminary stages, there is nevertheless increasing evidence that sensorimotor processes (defined here as any motor or proprioceptive process related to orofacial movements) affect developmental audiovisual speech processing. We suggest three areas on which to focus in future research: i) the relation between audiovisual speech perception and sensorimotor processes at birth, ii) the pathways through which sensorimotor processes interact with audiovisual speech processing in infancy, and iii) developmental change in sensorimotor pathways as speech production emerges in childhood.

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International audience; A series of studies on newborns' abilities for recognizing speaking faces has been performed in order to identify the fundamental cues of social cognition. We used audiovisual dynamic faces rather than photographs or patterns of faces. Direct eye gaze and speech addressed to newborns, in interactive situations, appear to be two good candidates for this function. Both enable a correct identification and recognition of an unfamiliar person by the infants. Moreover, a few hours after birth, newborns are also capable of imitating a model (Mouth Opening or Lip Spreading) more quickly if it is associated with the pronunciation of a vowel, /a/ or /i/. Newborns are very sensitive to natural speech compared to filtered speech. These findings reveal the existence of an innate predisposition to social interactions in newborns.

International audience; Factors affecting manual discrimination of spatial orientations and orientation preferences in 5-month-old infants have been investigated by using a familiarisation/reaction to novelty procedure. In the first experiment we explored whether the 'vertical preference' observed by Gentaz and Streri (2004 Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 16 1-7) and Kerzerho et al (2005 Neuro Report 16 1833-1837) is an intrinsic preference or whether it is due to familiarisation. In the second experiment we examined whether the magnitude of angular deviation to the vertical influences the direction of preference. Results showed that when both gravitational vertical and body axes were aligned, the intrinsic 'vertical preference' exists when the angular difference between the two orientations was 10 degrees. When the angular deviation from the vertical was greater than 10 degrees, the novel orientation was preferred. This modification of orientation preference in the manual discrimination of orientation by 5-month-old infants is discussed in relation to the magnitude of the angular deviation to the gravitational vertical and the spatial reference cues available in each condition.

Inter-manual transfer of shape information was studied with habituation/dishabituation procedures in 2- and 6-month-old infants. Both age groups habituated to a shape repeatedly placed in one hand and dishabituated when a new shape was placed in the same hand. Subsequent testing revealed that only the 2-month olds dishabituated when the habituated shape was placed in the opposite hand and that only the 6-month olds dishabituated when a new shape was placed in the opposite hand. These results indicate that inter-manual transfer of hand information occurs by 2-months of age and that inter-manual transfer of shape information emerges between 2 and 6 months of age. The implications of the findings are discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 50: 70–76, 2008.

The ``Fleurbaix-Laventie Ville Santé'' survey is an epidemiological study on the relationships between nutrition and health in 2 small towns of northern France: Fleurbaix and Lavantie. The objective of this study was to understand and improve the relationship between children aged between 5-11 years and food. A second aim of this work is to evaluate the effectiveness of nutrition education programs through the drawing of the children, and whether it has a significant impact on physical and cognitive development. We outline some of the characteristics of this layout. A tool was conceived which is able to automatically extract low-level and high-level primitives from the drawing structuring which allow us to categorize main comportments. These descriptors could help to develop nutrition education programs to improve the eating habits of the children and reduce health risks.

National audience; Cet ouvrage décrit les différentes méthodes spécifiques aux branches de la psychologie : différentielle, sociale, développementale, clinique et pathologique.L'approche expérimentale en psychologie s'est particulièrement développée durant les cinquante dernières années. Cet essor a été marqué par la différenciation des objets de recherche et par l'élaboration de méthodes spécifiques. Ainsi, les auteurs décrivent, à partir d'exemples concrets, les méthodes utilisées en psychophysiologie, les paradigmes expérimentaux employés en psychologie du développement ou encore les stratégies d'analyse en psychologie différentielle ou en psychologie sociale. Ensuite, l'ouvrage présente les méthodes liées à l'utilisation de systèmes de simulation qui jouent un rôle de plus en plus important dans l'évolution de la recherche. Conçu notamment pour les étudiants de second cycle en psychologie, cet ouvrage offre une aide à la compréhension des publications scientifiques et à l'élaboration de nouvelles méthodes.

Cet ouvrage décrit les différentes méthodes spécifiques aux branches de la psychologie : différentielle, sociale, développementale, clinique et pathologique.L'approche expérimentale en psychologie s'est particulièrement développée durant les cinquante dernières années. Cet essor a été marqué par la différenciation des objets de recherche et par l'élaboration de méthodes spécifiques. Ainsi, les auteurs décrivent, à partir d'exemples concrets, les méthodes utilisées en psychophysiologie, les paradigmes expérimentaux employés en psychologie du développement ou encore les stratégies d'analyse en psychologie différentielle ou en psychologie sociale. Ensuite, l'ouvrage présente les méthodes liées à l'utilisation de systèmes de simulation qui jouent un rôle de plus en plus important dans l'évolution de la recherche. Conçu notamment pour les étudiants de second cycle en psychologie, cet ouvrage offre une aide à la compréhension des publications scientifiques et à l'élaboration de nouvelles méthodes.

The thesis aims to assess whether the transfer of information on the form between touch and vision are properly among children with oral language (dysphasia) or written (dyslexia) or unrest praxia (dyspraxia). In the first study, we conducted a neuropsychological evaluation in order to clarify what level of information processing are possible difficulties. This study shows auditivo-verbal working memory disorder within the three pathologies. More specifically, sequential processing disorders in children with dyslexia, oral language disorders expressive, and unrest visuo-constructifs among dysphasia children, and unrest motor, visuo-perception, visuo-construct and a low spatial memory among dyspraxia children. In a second study, we evaluated a group of child aged 4 to 8 years. The results show an evolving capacities of intramodal T-T and crossmodal TV and V-T of 4 to 8 years with performances almost perfect dice 5 years for simple geometric shapes and performance clearly moving towards 6-7 years for forms oriented.The latest study assesses the capacity for transfer into learning disorders. It showed sensory integration capabilities between touch and vision and efficiency but limited by the slowing cognitive disorders each pathology., Cette thèse a pour objectif d'évaluer si le transfert des informations sur la forme entre le toucher et la vision se fait adéquatement chez des enfants présentant des troubles du langage oral (dysphasiques) ou écrit (dyslexiques) ou des troubles praxiques (dyspraxiques). Dans une première étude, nous avons effectué une évaluation neuropsychologique afin de préciser à quel niveau de traitement des informations se situent les éventuelles difficultés. Cette étude montre des troubles de mémoire de travail auditivoverbale dans les trois pathologies. Plus spécifiquement, des troubles de traitement séquentiel chez les enfants dyslexiques, des troubles du langage oral expressif, et des troubles visuo-constructifs chez les enfants dysphasiques, et des troubles praxiques gestuels, visuo-perceptifs, visuo-constructifs, ainsi qu'une faible mémoire spatiale chez les enfants dyspraxiques. Dans une deuxième étude, nous avons évalué un groupe d'enfant tout-venant âgé de 4 à 8 ans. Les résultats montrent une évolution des capacités de transfert intramodal T-T et intermodal T-V et V-T de 4 à 8 ans avec des performances presque parfaites dés 5 ans pour des formes géométriques simples et des performances évoluant nettement vers 6-7 ans pour des formes composites orientées. La dernière étude évalue les capacités de transfert dans les troubles des apprentissages. Elle montre des capacités d'intégration sensorielle entre le toucher et la vision efficience mais limitée et ralentit par les troubles cognitifs de chaque pathologie.

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