Human communication is fundamental to enable participation in society and ensure human well-being throughout the life trajectory. It results from the implementation of a broad set of cognitive skills which are based on the proper functioning of neurofunctional networks which characterize the human brain.

The Laboratory’s vision aims to carry out a series of work in cognitive neuroscience of human communication, in order to:

• describe the impacts of acquired brain lesions on all communication skills, whether focal (stroke) or progressive (neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease);
• understand the evolution with age of the neurocognitive and neurofunctional organization of the brain which allows the relative maintenance of communication skills during normal aging;
• transform the knowledge thus acquired into clinical evaluation and intervention tools that allow speech therapists – in concert with other health professionals – to describe communication disorders in order to establish an intervention plan for the person and those around them.

Founded in 1982, the Laboratory was a pioneer in describing the impacts of brain lesions acquired in the right hemisphere of the brain on the discursive, pragmatic and social dimensions of communication. He also made an important contribution to the description of the evolution of the neurobiological and neurocognitive bases supporting the relative maintenance of communication skills during normal aging. The Laboratory’s work has made it possible to provide clinical and intervention tools that have radically changed approaches to communication disorders in adults living with a right hemisphere lesion or a neurodegenerative disease.

The foundations of the Laboratory’s activities correspond to the contributions of graduate student members, postdoctoral and undergraduate trainees as well as research professionals, many of whom have maintained clinical activities. The Laboratory’s activities benefit from numerous national and international collaborations covering all continents.