CRCN
/ Center for Research in Cognition & Neurosciences
The Center for Research in Cognition & Neurosciences (CRCN), a distant descendant of the 1948 Laboratoire de Psychologie, was created in 2012 along with the other research centres of the Faculty of Psychological Science and Education of the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Currently directed by Axel Cleeremans the Center’s main mission is to organise, coordinate, develop and promote research in the broad domain of the cognitive neurosciences. This interdisciplinary endeavour concerns different fields such as cognitive psychology, psycholinguistics, neuropsychology, cognitive development, philosophy of mind, and the neurosciences.
The CRCN unites five teams active in these different domains: The Consciousness, Cognition & Computation Group (CO3, directed by Axel Cleeremans); the Neuropsychology and Functional Imaging Research Group (UR2NF, directed by Philippe Peigneux); the Laboratoire Cognition Langage et Développement (LCLD, directed by Fabienne Chetail); the Unité de Recherche en Neurosciences Cognitives (UNESCOG, directed by Régine Kolinsky) and the Action Bias & Control Group (AB&C, directed by Wim Gevers). Together, the five teams represent about 60 active members who collectively explore a wide range of research topics.
The CRCN organises its activity in close collaboration with the ULB Neuroscience Institute, of which it is a component. The research activity of the CRCN is focused on different domains of the cognitive neurosciences, in particular: The study of consciousness and of the differences between conscious and unconscious processing, the study of memory consolidation processes and of sleep, the study of learning mechanisms, in particular as they take place in spoken language and in reading, and the study of cognitive control. In many cases, our approach combines behavioural experimentation, imaging methods, and clinical research.
The CRCN benefits from a state-of-the-art technical platform which, in addition to numerous individual or collective testing booths dedicated to behavioural experiments, includes (1) an electroencephalography (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) lab, (2) a Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) platform, (3) a dedicated babylab, (4) an eye-tracking platform, and (5) a dedicated sleep lab (forthcoming in 2015). Thanks to the ULB Neuroscience Institute (UNI), the CRCN also enjoys privileged access to the imaging platform of the Laboratoire de Cartographie Fonctionnelle du Cerveau (LCFC) at the Erasme University Hospital. This includes a 3T fMRI scanner, a magnetoencephalography (MEG) platform, and a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner.
Today, the Center for Research in Cognition & Neurosciences is a thriving community. We invite you to explore the many aspects of the research carried out at the CRCN and welcome any enquiries about its activities.