People
Dr. Eric LAURENT, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Aix-Marseille II University, France, 2003
Maître de Conférences hors classe (Associate Professor) in Cognitive Psychology
Department of Psychology, Université Marie et Louis Pasteur, Besançon, France
UMR 1322 INSERM & Université Marie et Louis Pasteur "Laboratoire de recherches Intégratives en Neurosciences et psychologie Cognitive (LINC)", Besançon, France
UAR 3124 CNRS & Université Marie et Louis Pasteur "MSHE Ledoux", Besançon, France
"I work at developing an enactive/embodied/situated cognition framework in psychology (see Laurent, 2014, Multiscale Enaction Model: The case of complexity and context-sentivity in vision).
I develop projects in domains such as physiological-cognitive, emotional-cognitive, concept-percept, motivational-perceptual, couplings. Most recent research has concerned mood embodiment in both healthy individuals and patients with depressive disorders.
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Main Departmental Duties
Deputy Director (Dec. 2015-Sept. 2020), E.A. 3188 Research Unit "Laboratoire de psychologie", Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté (UBFC)
Head of the cognitive research axis (Jul. 2019-Nov. 2020), E.A. 3188 Research Unit "Laboratoire de psychologie", UBFC
Head of Psychology Undergraduate Studies (2009-2012), UFC
ERASMUS-Exchange Departmental Coordinator for Psychology, Besançon (France) - Ulm (Germany) learning agreement (2010-present), UFC
Research affiliations
Member, Research Unit "Laboratoire de Recherches Intégratives en Neurosciences et Psychologie Cognitive" (LINC), (UBFC Dec. 2020-Dec. 2023, UMR 1322 INSERM & Université de Franche-Comté, Jan. 2024-now)
Member, E.A. 3188 Research Unit "Laboratoire de psychologie", UFC, UBFC, Besançon, France (Sept. 2007-Nov. 2020)
Research Project Leader, USR 3124 "MSHE Ledoux" CNRS & Université de Franche-Comté, Besançon, France (2009-now)
Awards, Distinctions, Fellowships
Outstanding Contribution in Reviewing, Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, Elsevier (2018)
Overseas Fellow, Royal Society of Medicine, United Kingdom (2017)
Young Investigator Award, International Congress of the French Society of Sport Psychology, INSEP, Paris (2000)
Doctoral Fellow of the French Ministry of Research (1999-2002)
Teaching Fellow of Aix-Marseilles II University (1999-2002)
Memberships
Full member, Consortium for Vision and Oculomics in Psychiatry (since 2024)
Member, Psychonomic Society, USA (since 2011)
American Association for the Advancement of Science, USA (2014)
American Psychological Association, USA (2014, 2022)
Association des Enseignants-chercheurs de Psychologie des Universités, France (2011-2016)
Association for Psychological Science, USA (2013-2016)
Editorial Service
Associate Editor, Frontiers in Psychology: Psychopathology / Frontiers in Psychiatry: Psychopathology (2017-now)
Guest Editor, Special issue of Brain Sciences "Mood: Cognition, Brain, and Behavior" (2022-2023)
Ad-hoc Reviewer (Scientific Journals)
L'Année Psychologique – Applied Neuropsychology: Adults – Behavior Research Methods – Behavioural Brain Research – Biological Psychology – BMC Public Health – Chronobiology International – Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking – European Journal of Applied Psychology – European Journal of Sport Science – European Review of Applied Psychology – Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience – Frontiers in Human Neuroscience – Frontiers in Psychiatry: Affective Disorders and Psychosomatic Research – Frontiers in Psychiatry: Mood and Anxiety Disorders – Frontiers in Psychiatry: Psychological Therapies – Frontiers in Psychiatry: Psychosomatic Medicine – Frontiers in Psychology: Clinical and Health Psychology – Frontiers in Psychology: Cognition – Frontiers in Psychology: Cognitive Science – Frontiers in Psychology: Psychopathology – Frontiers in Public Health: Child Health and Human Development – Intellectica – International Journal of Behavioral Medicine – International Journal of Sport Psychology – Journal of Affective Disorders – Journal of Alzheimer's Disease – Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology – Journal of Clinical Psychology – Journal of Eye Movement Research – Journal of Health Psychology – Journal of International Medical Research – Journal of Psychosomatic Research – Journal of Sports Sciences – Learning and Individual Differences – Personality and Individual Differences – Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry – Psychiatry Research – Psychoneuroendocrinology – Scientific Reports – The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry – Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine – Vision
Ad-hoc Reviewer of Applications for Research Funds (Foreign and National Funding Agencies and Universities) and R&D agreements (National Protocols)
International
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)/Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada (CRSNG) (2024-now)
Research Promotion Foundation, RESTART 2016-2020 Programs for Technological Development and Innovation, Republic of Cyprus (national funding agency) (2017; 2018; 2019)
National
French Ministry of Research and Innovation: R&D expert (MESRI-DGRI) (2012-now)
Communauté Université Grenoble Alpes (communauté d’universités et d’établissements [COMUE]), France (2018; 2019)
Review Board
Member, Commission nationale chargée d'évaluer le niveau des diplômes étrangers en psychologie [National Commission for the Evaluation of Psychology Foreign Degrees], French Ministry of Research and Superior Education, MESRI-DGESIP (2014-now)
Abstract Review Board
SAS (Society for Affective Science) conference 2023, 2025
National Academic Association
Président, Commission licence (Commission for the Psychology Undergraduate Studies), within the Association des Enseignants-chercheurs de Psychologie des Universités (2011-2016)
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Below, I mention students and colleagues from the University of Franche-Comté and from elsewhere in France or abroad, with whom I worked/ I have worked, because I am grateful for their precious engagement in our collaborations.
ALUMNI
Ph.D. Students
Dr. Nicolas NOIRET, B.A. in Psychology, M.A. in Cognitive Psychology and Neuropsychology, Ph.D. in psychology, University of Franche-Comté, currently a Maître de conférences (Associate Professor) of Psychology at the University of Poitiers, France, was both a student and a research engineer. His Ph.D. dealt with behavioral and neural changes in eye movement control as a function of normal aging, elderly depression, and Alzheimer disease. Nicolas Noiret defended his thesis in psychology on December 11, 2017.
Selected publications:
Noiret, N., Carvalho, N., Laurent, E., Chopard, G., Binetruy, M., Nicolier, M, Monnin, J., Magnin, E., & Vandel, P. (2018). Saccadic eye movements and attentional control in Alzheimer’s disease. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 33(1), 1-13. DOI: 10.1093/arclin/acx044 [JIF ≈ 2.01]. DOI: 10.1093/arclin/acx044 [JIF ≈ 2.01]
Noiret, N., Vigneron, B., Diogo, M., Vandel, P., & Laurent, E. (2017). Saccadic eye movements: What do they tell us about aging cognition? Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition, 24(5), 575-599. DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2016.1237613 [JIF ≈ 1.80]
Noiret, N., Carvalho, N., Laurent, E., Vulliez, L., Bennabi, D., Chopard, G., Haffen, E., Nicolier, M., Monnin, J., & Vandel, P. (2015). Visual scanning behavior during processing of emotional faces in older adults with depression. Aging and Mental Health, 19(3), 264-273. DOI: 10.1080/13607863.2014.926473 [JIF ≈ 1.78]
Dr. Renzo BIANCHI, B.A., M.A., M.S., Ph.D., University of Franche-Comté, is currently an Associate Professor of Psychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. He previously spent several years as a postdoctoral researcher, and then as an Ambizione researcher with the Swiss National Science Foundation, at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He defended his thesis in psychology on November 13, 2014.
"I conduct research on the relation of unresolvable stress to depression. My research combines experimentation, psychometric analyses, and clinical approaches. I am currently examining the validity of the distinction between burnout and depression, a question that elicits debate in the scientific and medical worlds. My main collaborators are Dr. Eric Laurent from the University of Franche-Comté and Pr. Irvin Schonfeld from the City University of New York."
Dr. Renzo Bianchi was awarded the "Young doctor" prize from the University of Franche-Comté on April 17, 2015, for his doctoral work.
Selected publications:
Bianchi, R., Schonfeld, I. S., & Laurent, E. (2017). Burnout or depression: both individual and social issue. The Lancet, 390(10091), 230. [Letter to the editor] [JIF ≈ 47.83]
Bianchi, R., & Laurent, E. (2015). Emotional information processing in depression and burnout: An eye-tracking study. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 265(1), 27-34. 10.1007/s00406-014-0549-x [JIF ≈ 3.36]
Bianchi, R., Schonfeld, I. S., & Laurent, E. (2015). Burnout-depression overlap: A review. Clinical Psychology Review, 36, 28-41. DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2015.01.004 [JIF ≈ 7.18]
Dr. Nicolas CARVALHO, B.A., M.S., Ph.D., University of Franche-Comté, defended his thesis in neuroscience under the supervision of Pr. Pierre Vandel and Dr. Éric LAURENT (November 10, 2014). He held research engineer positions at Université d'Aix-Marseilles, France (2017-2019), Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland (2017-2019) and Unisanté - Centre universitaire de médecine générale et santé publique, Lausanne, Suisse (2019). He has been a managing director in industry since 2021.
Selected publications:
Carvalho, N., Laurent, E., Noiret, N., Chopard, G., Haffen, E., Bennabi, D., & Vandel, P. (2015). Eye movement in unipolar depression and bipolar disorders: A systematic review of the literature. Frontiers in Psychology: Psychopathology, 6:1809. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01809 [JIF ≈ 2.6]
Carvalho, N., Noiret, N., Vandel, P., Monnin, J., Chopard, G., & Laurent, E. (2014). Saccadic eye movements in depressed elderly patients. PLoS ONE, 9(8), e105355. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0105355 [JIF ≈ 3.53]
Visiting International Ph.D. students [March-June 2011]
Dr. Arvydas KUZINAS, B.A. in Psychology, Vilnius University, M.A. in Developmental Psychology, M.A. in Business Psychology, and Ph.D. in Psychology (2014), from Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius, Lithuania, is currently a lecturer at Vilnius University.
Arvydas visited us during his Ph.D. During this 4-month period, we carried out a research project on color-semantics interactions during the perception of visual scenes. We were interested in self-reported emotions, eye movements and fixations, pupillometry and electrodermal response.
"I am interested in emotional reactions evoked by visual stimuli. During my studies I try to investigate the effects of specific elements (colour, size, shape, etc.) and their interactions: with other elements and with image content. Emphasis on physiological measures and cultural comparisons are especially valuable."
Selected publication (publication from the common project):
Kuzinas, A., Noiret, N., Bianchi, R., & Laurent, E. (2016). The effects of image hue and semantic content on viewer’s emotional self-reports, pupil size, eye movements, and skin conductance response. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts, 10(3), 360-371. DOI: 10.1037/a0040274 [JIF ≈ 3.05]
Master students (M.A. in cognitive psychology and neuropsychology, second-year dissertations)
Research theses (second-year):
2020/2021
Kévin BAGUE, B.A. in Psychology studied in the Research Master program of Psychology, University of Franche-Comté, France. "My research topics deal with depression, perception, action, affordance and unresolvable stress, in an enactive and embodied framework. I’m working on the influence of depression, learned helplessness and action inhibition on the perception of action possibilities (affordances). I also plan to include motivational aspects and physiological measures. I’m very interested in methodological issues, especially the use of frequentist and bayesian statistics. I also follow open science guidelines as much as possible". Kévin defended his (master) research thesis in June 2021.
Colin VÉGAS : B.A., M.A. in Psychology, studied in the Research Master program of Psychology, University of Franche-Comté, France. Colin is a former high-level athlete in athletics (sprint)! He participated in two research projects related to the perception of affordances. Colin defended his (master) research thesis in June 2021.
2019/2020
Jonathan DARTEVELLE: Relationships between depressive symptoms and emotional interpretation of colors.
2017/2018
Cédric DESSEUX: Eye movement strategies under mood induction: The role of environmental emotion-related regularities.
2012/2013
Aline WILLEMIN (co-supervised with Dr. Fabien Mathy): Working memory evaluation with visual stimulation.
2011/2012
Nicolas NOIRET : Eye movements in depressive and healthy individuals.
2010/2011
Marie LAVAUX: Cultural effects on visual processing
2009/2010
Renzo BIANCHI: Effects of mood induction on global vs. local processing of visual information and eye movements.
Professional theses (second-year):
2024/2025 (in progress)
Alicia CHATEAUX - Louise GRABER - Lou MANNONE - Eva METTETAL
2023/2024
Emeline COUETTE - Emma MICHEL
2022/2023
Maud ROLHION
2021/2022
Laurianne CICHON - Océane GUIGNARD
2020/2021
Lola LEFÈVRE
2017/2018
Marjorie MAGGI
2016/2017
Maëlle GOUSSET - Andréa MARIE
2015/2016
Eva BÉDU - Laurène MAGAKIAN - Hélène PROST
2014/2015
Blanche VIGNERON - Claire WATTENNE
2013/2014
Anne-Aurore BARDET - Karl WELKLEN
2012/2013
Coline ALBA - Pauline JEANNIN
2011/2012
Aline CLAUDON - Flora LENOIR - Marie LAVAUX
2010/2011
Eloïse CORDIR - Marine JONARD - Odile ROUSSEAU - Hélène SELLIER
2009/2010
Séverine JACQUES - Sophie ROSIER - Charline VIENNET
Master students (M.A. in cognitive psychology and neuropsychology, first-year research dissertations)
2024/2025 (in progress)
2023/2024
Elvan BAKIRBAS - Perle CHENVAT - Eva METTETAL
2022/2023
Emeline COUETTE - Marine PAVEGLIO
2020/2021
Laurianne CICHON - Océane GUIGNARD - Lucile LHOPITAL - Juliane ROUSSET
2019/2020
Kévin BAGUE - Colin VÉGAS
2018/2019
Rémi DORGNIER - Didier MICHAUD
2017/2018
Jonathan DARTEVELLE - Lola LEFÈVRE - Justine LIBLIN - Mélanie THIÉBAUD
2016/2017
Cédric DESSEUX - Caroline FÉVRIER - Louise GAGLIARDI - Mathilde GIRARDET - Amandine PAUL (co-supervised) - Méline POULET (co-supervised)
2015/2016
Marie-Magdeleine COUTTIER
2014/2015
Mathilde GOUJON - Ralph SAPOLIN
2013/2014
Senoussi BENMOHAMED - Marine DIOGO - Claire WATTENNE
2012/2013
Charlène HIBERTY - Anne-Laure MARX - Blanche VIGNERON
2011/2012
Élodie PARISATO : Influence of expertise on the judgement of recency for pictures: An eye-tracking study.
Pauline JEANNIN: Influences of linguistic categorization on visual processing.
2010/2011
Mélanie BÉCAUD: Stress-influences on categorization of line segments.
Gladys CHAUTAIN: Visual pleasure: relationships between explicit and implicit measures.
Aline CLAUDON: Antisaccade tasks under mood induction.
Aline WILLEMIN: Influences of mood on similarity judgments and eye movements.
2009/2010
Cindy BADET-DEMOLY: Relationships between global and local processing of compound stimuli and visual processing during Rorschach test.
Marie LAVAUX: Cultural and emotional influences on global and local processings of visual information.
Emilie MARCONOT: Thirst influences on the judgment of visual presentations of thirst-satisfying products.
Nicolas NOIRET: Mood influences on eye movements during visual scene inspection.
Mallory POECKER: Mood influences on eye movements during visual scene inspection.
Etienne WAGNER: Stress influences on categorization of line segments
2008/2009
Athéna BALVERDE: worked on the role of categorical learning in the change of visual discrimination abilities for complex stimuli. More specifically, she investigated the links between the amount of conceptual learning and the development of within-category compression (i.e., the acquired confusability of members pertaining to the same category).
Renzo BIANCHI: researched the role of dehydration on alliesthesia relative to visual stimulation processing ; he also investigated the role of affective concept priming on visual processing.
Anaïs MORET: investigated the links between expertise, emotions and judgment of recency (JOR) in adults.
Sophie ROSIER: investigated the links between expertise, emotions and judgment of recency (JOR) in adolescents in order to better understand how emotions modulates the cognitive 'weight' of information.
Charline VIENNET: dealt with judgment of recency (JOR) in individuals with congenital visual impairment.
2007/2008
Antoine IZING: examined the links between categorical learning and perceptual judgment. He is now a professional in ergonomics.
Master students (other disciplines)
Charlène PERRIN (M.A. in Education and Teaching): first-year dissertation, 2013/2014; second-year dissertation, 2014/2015.
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Research collaborators (present)
Dr. Renzo BIANCHI, Researcher, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Pr. Jean-Pierre BRESCIANI, Associate Professor, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
Dr. Elise DAN-GLAUSER, Researcher, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Dr. Eloi MAGNIN, Neurologist and Associate Professor of Neurology, University Hospital of Besançon, France
Pr. Christine MOHR, Professor of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Pr. Irvin Sam SCHONFELD, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, City College of the City University of New York and Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, USA
Pr. Pierre VANDEL, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry, University of Franche-Comté, France
Research collaborators (past)
Dr. Pierre COURRIEU, Researcher, CNRS & University of Provence, France
Pr. Hubert RIPOLL, Professor of Human Movement Science, University of the Mediterranean
Pr. Thierry RIPOLL, Professor of Cognitive Psychology, University of Provence
Nevin VUNKA JUNGUM, Computer Science and Engineering Department, University of Mauritius, Mauritius
Pr. Paul WARD, Professor of Psychology, Head of Centre for Sports Science & Human Performance University of Greenwich, London, UK
Pr. Mark WILLIAMS, Professor of Motor Behavior, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
AN ENACTIVE, MULTISCALE APPROACH TO THE ECOLOGY OF COGNITION
Mood, cognition and health