Pascal Barone

Cerveau & Cognition.
Toulouse (France)

The diverse fields of research that I have conducted have all in common a search for relationships between brain structures and functions. I have follow this quest using multiple tools (neuro-anatomy, electrophysiology, psychophysics and brain imaging) and theoretical strategies, from development to adult plasticity.

Since the last 15 years in the CerCo (Toulouse) I conduct anatomical and electrophysiological works to demonstrate that multisensory integration can occur at early stages of sensory processing, arguing against a hierarchical model of this mechanism. This basic research conducted my interest toward clinical research in cochlear implanted deaf patients to work on cross-modal compensation and functional reorganization of the cortical network involved in speech comprehension.
Since several years, I have established a strong link with the clinical research team of Prof B. Fraysse and O. Deguine (CHU Purpan, Toulouse). Because the success of rehabilitations relies on the functional plasticity in the auditory system, our project is aimed at understanding the reorganization of the cortical network involved in speech comprehension that occurs during deafness and following the progressive recovery. Our proposal is based on a multidisciplinary approach at both a fundamental and a clinical levels, it encompasses behavioral and brain imaging (PET) studies in patients as well as in normal hearing subjects experimenting the simulation of the processing performed by a cochlear implant. Our complementary projects aim to a better understanding of hearing restoration coupled to the evaluation of rehabilitation strategies.

Principal recent publications.

• Strelnikov, J. Rouger, J.-F. Demonet, S. Lagleyre, B. Fraysse, O. Deguine, and P. Barone. Visual activity predicts auditory recovery from deafness after cochlear implantation in adult. Brain 136 (2013) : 3682-3695.
• 17. P. Barone, L. Lacassagne and A. Kral. Reorganization of the connectivity of cortical field DZ in congenitally deaf cat. PLoS One (2013) 8(4): e60093.
• Rouger J., Lagleyre S., Demonet JF, Fraysse B., Deguine O., and Barone P. Evolution of crossmodal reorganization of the voice area in cochlear-implanted deaf patients. Human Brain Mapping 33(2012):1929-40.
• Foxton JM, Rivière LD and Barone P. Cross-modal Facilitation in Speech Prosody. Cognition 115 (2010) : 71-78.
• Strelnikov K., J. Rouger, Demonet JF, Lagleyre S., Fraysse B., O. Deguine and. P. Barone. Does brain activity at rest reflect adaptive strategies? Evidence from speech processing after cochlear implantation. Cerebral Cortex 20 (2010) : 1217-1222.
• Rouger J , Lagleyre S, Deneve S , Fraysse B , Deguine O. Barone P : Evidence that cochlear implanted deaf patients are better multisensory integrators. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 104 (2007) : 7295-7300.