
Christine AssaianteAix-Marseille University | AMU · Laboratoire Cognitive Neuroscience
Christine Assaiante
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Introduction
Skills and Expertise
Publications
Publications (145)
In humans, body segments' position and movement can be estimated from multiple senses such as vision and proprioception. It has been suggested that vision and proprioception can influence each other and that upper-limb proprioception is asymmetrical, with proprioception of the non-dominant arm being more accurate and/or precise than proprioception...
Phonemic processing skills are impaired both in children and adults with dyslexia. Since phoneme representation development is based on articulatory gestures, it is likely that these gestures influence oral reading-related skills as assessed through phonemic awareness tasks. In our study, fifty-two young dyslexic adults, with and without motor impa...
Sensorimotor disorders have been frequently reported in children and adults with dyslexia over the past 30 years. The present study aimed to determine the impact of sensorimotor comorbidity risks in dyslexia by investigating the functional links between phonological and sensorimotor representations in young dyslexic adults. Using 52 dyslexic partic...
Based on the existence of sensorimotor disorders frequently reported in children and adults with dyslexia (Nicolson & Fawcett, 1999; Ramus et al., 2003 a, Cignetti et al., 2018), this paper focuses on the link between the underlying phonological deficit and a sensorimotor syndrome, or more precisely, between phonemic representation impairment and i...
In a bimanual task, proprioception provides information about position and movement of upper arms. Developmental studies showed improvement of proprioceptive accuracy and timing adjustments of muscular events from childhood to adulthood in bimanual tasks. However, the cortical maturational changes related to bimanual coordination is not fully under...
Introduction
NF1 children have cognitive disorders, especially in executive functions, visuospatial, and language domains, the pathophysiological mechanisms of which are still poorly understood.
Materials and methods
A correlation study was performed from neuropsychological assessments and brain MRIs of 38 NF1 patients and 42 controls, all right-h...
Developmental dyslexia (DD) and developmental coordination disorder (DCD) are distinct diagnostic disorders. However, they also frequently co-occur and may share a common etiology. It was proposed conceptually a neural network framework that explains differences and commonalities between DD and DCD through impairments of distinct or intertwined cor...
Introduction
De nombreuses études rapportent que la scoliose idiopathique de l’adolescent (SIA) s’accompagne d’un défaut d’intégration centrale des informations sensorielles [1], [2], [3], [4].
Méthode
Afin de mieux comprendre si les processus d’intégration proprioceptive sont impactés chez les sujets atteints de SIA, nous avons exploré les bases...
Introduction
Le contrôle anticipé et le contrôle en ligne sont les deux facettes du contrôle prédictif, basés sur les modèles internes, qui sont suspectés d’être impactés dans les troubles des apprentissages.
Matériel et méthodes
Nous avons examiné le contrôle anticipé dans une tâche bimanuelle de délestage, qui teste la coordination entre la post...
Introduction
La question posée chez le jeune adulte dyslexique est de savoir si une atteinte des représentations phonémiques (imprécision des représentations ou difficulté d’accès) est assortie d’une atteinte plus générale des représentations internes de l’action.
Matériel et méthodes
Pour répondre à cette question, nous avons testé 45 dyslexiques...
Le contrôle anticipé et le contrôle en ligne sont les deux facettes du contrôle prédictif, basés sur les modèles internes, qui sont suspectés d’être impactés dans les troubles des apprentissages. Nous avons examiné le contrôle anticipé dans une tâche bimanuelle de délestage, qui teste la coordination entre la posture du bras qui soutient le poids e...
Neurofibromatosis Type 1 leads to brain anomalies involving both gray and white matter. The extent and granularity of these anomalies, together with their possible impact on brain activity, is still unknown. In this multicentric cross‐sectional study we submitted a sample of 42 typically developing and 38 neurofibromatosis‐1 children to a multimoda...
Neurofibromatosis Type 1 leads to brain anomalies involving both gray and white matter. The extent and granularity of these anomalies, together with their possible impact on brain activity, is still unknown. In this multicentric cross-sectional study we submitted a sample of 42 typically developing and 38 neurofibromatosis-1 children to a multimoda...
Introduction
La posture est considérée comme un élément essentiel dans la phonation pour optimiser la communication. En situation de forçage vocal, lorsque le locuteur doit surmonter des difficultés comme la distance de son auditeur, son inattention ou le bruit ambiant, des modifications globales apparaissent au niveau de la posture, telle que la p...
Internal models provide a coherent framework for understanding motor behavior. Examples for the use of internal models include anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs), where the individual anticipates and cancels out the destabilizing effect of movement on body posture. Yet little is known about the functional changes in the brain supporting the d...
Anticipatory postural Adjustments (APAs) cancel the destabilizing effects of movement on posture. Across development, the maturation of APAs is characterized by an accurate adjustment of the timing parameters of electromyographic (EMG) response. The study aimed at investigating the maturation of cortical oscillations involved in the improvement of...
Background and aim:
Feedforward and online controls are two facets of predictive motor control from internal models, which is suspected to be impaired in learning disorders. We examined whether the feedforward component is affected in children (8-12 years) with developmental dyslexia (DD) and/or with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) compa...
Agir avec notre environnement nous est possible grâce à la connaissance précise de notre corps en action stockée au niveau cérébral sous la forme d’une représentation interne appelée le schéma corporel (SC). Le SC se façonne au cours de l’ontogénèse et repose grandement sur la proprioception. La maturation des bases cérébrales sous-jacentes à l’int...
The present study investigated the cortical areas engaged in the perception of graviceptive information embedded in biological motion (BM). To this end, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess the cortical areas active during the observation of human movements performed under normogravity and microgravity (parabolic flight). Moveme...
Exploration of the body representation system (BRS) from kinaesthetic illusions in fMRI has revealed a complex network composed of sensorimotor and frontoparietal components. Here, we evaluated the degree of maturity of this network in children aged 7–11 years, and the extent to which structural factors account for network differences with adults....
La motricité constitue la première voie d’interaction entre l’individu et son environnement et reste la principale au cours des premières années de vie. Elle offre à ce titre un accès privilégié pour comprendre le développement typique et atypique. Cet article présente une conception intégrée du développement moteur établie à partir du modèle neuro...
Introduction
La construction du schema corporel (SC) au cours de l’ontogenese repose sur les entrees sensorielles (visuelles, proprioceptives, vestibulaires) et leurs interactions avec un repertoire moteur qui s’enrichit. Le but de cette etude etait de :
– tester l’influence du couplage perception-action sur la perception de postures humaines ;
–...
La gravité est une constante qui joue un rôle capital dans l’exécution et la perception du mouvement humain. Sur Terre, les informations gravito-inertielles nourrissent l’ensemble des représentations internes de l’action et du corps, sur lesquelles le SNC s’appuie pour contrôler et percevoir le mouvement. En microgravité, l’ensemble des information...
Agir avec son environnement nécessite d’être conscient de son propre corps. Cette conscience corporelle est basée sur le schéma corporel qui correspond à la représentation interne du corps en action. La construction du schéma corporel au cours de l’ontogénèse repose grandement sur la proprioception. La maturation des bases cérébrales sous-jacentes...
The feeling of illusory movement is considered important in the study of human behavior because it is deeply related to motor consciousness. However, the neural basis underlying the illusion of movement remains to be understood. Following optimal vibratory stimulation of muscle tendon, certain subjects experience illusory movements while others do...
El desarrollo de las estrategias de mantenimiento del equilibrio postural y locomotor durante la infancia y la adolescencia no es lineal. Dichas estrategias alcanzan su madurez en la edad adulta. En el transcurso de esta larga adquisición se observan varios períodos de transición. Numerosos factores contribuyen de manera determinante en la buena (n...
Although there is suggestive evidence that a link exists between independent walking and the ability to establish anticipatory strategy to stabilize posture, the extent to which this skill facilitates the development of anticipatory postural control remains largely unknown. Here, we examined the role of independent walking on the infants' ability t...
The objective of this study was to investigate the updating process of internal models of action in children and young adults, through the postural and motor strategies adopted in simple tasks, namely sit-to-stand (STS) and back-to-sit (BTS). To this end, 11 healthy children from 7 to 10 years (latest stage of childhood) and 12 healthy adults parti...
Pour percevoir et agir dans son environnement, les caractéristiques du corps de l’individu ainsi que ses interactions avec son milieu sont représentés dans le cerveau. Cette représentation interne du corps en action est appelée le schéma corporel. Au cours des différentes étapes de la vie, le schéma corporel se construit sur la base des information...
Two studies investigated whether typically developing children (TD) and children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) were able to decide whether two characters were communicating or not on the basis of point-light displays. Point-lights portrayed actors engaged or not in a social interaction. In study 1, TD children (4-10 years old; n = 36) graspe...
It has been reported that AIS rely much more on ankle proprioception to control the amplitude of the balance control commands as compared to age-matched healthy adolescents. Our hypothesis was that AIS do not neglect proprioceptive information to control posture probably because of their vestibular deficits. We investigated the proprioceptive contr...
According to the simulation theory, the internal simulation of a movement (imagined movement, IM) and its execution (actual movement, AM) are based on the same motor representations. The brain uses these representations for controlling action. The specific objective of this study was to investigate the updating process of internal models of action...
The aim of this study was to explore, during adolescence, alterations in the use of a sensori-motor representation as unveiled by the measurement of anticipatory postural control in a bimanual load-lifting task. We hypothesised that adolescence constitutes a period of refinement of anticipatory postural control due to on-going updates of the body s...
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by difficulties in social interaction and verbal and non verbal reciprocal communication. Face and gaze direction, which participate in non verbal communication, are described as atypical in ASD. Also body movements carry multiple social cues. Under certain circumstances, for instance when seeing tw...
Our scientific activity is focused on the field of action and representation of action from various adaptative situations during the life span, including pathology and extreme environment such as microgravity. The early action/perception matching, subserving the motor simulation network, is probably a major milestone for the building of action and...
A partire dall’acquisizione della deambulazione durante l’età dello sviluppo e fino alla senescenza, i disturbi legati ad essa, come quelli dell’equilibrio e della postura, sono dei motivi frequenti di visita in medicina e, particolarmente, dal neurologo, dal reumatologo e dal medico rieducatore. L’approccio a questi disturbi si basa essenzialmente...
Anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) compensate in advance for the destabilizing effect of a movement. This study investigated the specific involvement of each primary motor cortex (M1) during a bimanual load-lifting task in which subjects were required to maintain a stable forearm position during voluntary unloading. Kinematics, electromyograp...
Résumé Comprendre une interaction sociale que l’on observe nécessite d’interpréter les actions réalisées, parfois uniquement sur la base d’une analyse subtile du langage corporel. L’objectif de cette étude a été de déterminer le décours développemental de l’aptitude à utiliser les informations portées par le corps en action pour comprendre une inte...
How sensory organization for postural control matures in children is not clear at this time. The present study examined, in children aged 7 to 11 and in adults, the postural control modifications in quiet standing when somatosensory inputs from the ankle were disturbed. Since the reweighting of sensory inputs is not mature before 10, we hypothesize...
Internal models are constantly updated based on the actions and experiences of a person in the world. In the present study, we proposed to assess the updating process of internal models of action by providing new environmental constraints for motor planning, postural control, and execution processes in daily tasks such as STS and BTS. STS and BTS t...
Understanding social interactions requires the ability to accurately interpret conspecifics' actions, sometimes only on the basis of subtle body language analysis. Here we address an important issue that has not yet received much attention in social neuroscience, that of an interaction between two agents. We attempted to isolate brain responses to...
The present experiment assessed, in children aged 7-11 and in adults, whether postural control is affected by cognitive processes and vice versa. Using a dual-task, the level of difficulty of a Stroop task and bipedal quiet stance varied alternatively. We hypothesised that the interference between cognitive and postural tasks was non-linear during...
It was proposed to investigate whether the central nervous system is able to select the most appropriate reference frame for controlling subjects' vertical orientation in response to severe environmental constraints such as microgravity and support perturbations. The question addressed was whether the subjects, regardless of their perceptual typolo...
In this study, we investigated the sensory integration to postural control in children and adolescents from 5 to 15 years of age. We adopted the working hypothesis that considerable body changes occurring during these periods may lead subjects to under-use the information provided by the proprioceptive pathway and over-use other sensory systems suc...
Postural control is a fundamental component of action in which deficits have been shown to contribute to motor difficulties in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). The purpose of this study was to examine anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) in children with DCD in a bimanual load-lifting task.
Sixteen children with reported...
Postural correlates of vocal effort are rarely described in the literature, while they are extensively dealt with in speech therapy.
This study aims at determining whether body movement is a side effect of vocal effort or an integral part of communication effort behavior. The answer to this question is mainly based on correlations between posture a...
Background:
In order to test how gravitational information would affect the choice of stable reference frame used to control posture and voluntary movement, we have analysed the forearm stabilisation during sit to stand movement under microgravity condition obtained during parabolic flights. In this study, we hypothesised that in response to the t...
From one year of age, gait and balance disorders are frequent complaints in neurology. During the first year following the acquisition of independent walking, most of the gait, such as transition from digitigrade to plantigrade locomotion, parameters are well-established in children. Nevertheless, bipedal locomotion means solving a large number of...
From one year of age, gait and balance disorders are frequent complaints in neurology. During the first year following the acquisition of independent walking, most of the gait, such as transition from digitigrade to plantigrade locomotion, parameters are well-established in children. Nevertheless, bipedal locomotion means solving a large number of...
Whether the vertical body orientation depends on the initial posture and/or the type of straightening up movement is the main question raised in this paper. Another objective was to specify the compensatory role of visual input while adopting an erected posture during microgravity. The final body orientation was analysed in microgravity during para...
La voix chuchotée est caractérisée par la production d’un bruit laryngé intelligible en l’absence de vibration des plis vocaux. Deux types de voix chuchotée ont été décrits dans la littérature : la voix chuchotée « silencieuse » et la voix chuchotée « forcée » [1]. Notre hypothèse de travail est que la voix chuchotée « forcée » partage avec l’effor...
Un aspect majeur de l'autisme reside dans l'alteration des capacites de communication. Or, une des fonctions essentielles de la motricite est, precisement, de permettre le dialogue entre l'organisme et son environnement, notamment au travers des entrees sensorielles, et ce des le plus jeune âge. C'est dans le cadre de l'hypothese d'une atteinte gen...
Résumé Un aspect majeur de l’autisme réside dans l’altération des capacités de communication. Or, une des fonctions essentielles de la motricité est, précisément, de permettre le dialogue entre l’organisme et son environnement, notamment au travers des entrées sensorielles, et ce dès le plus jeune âge. C’est dans le cadre de l’hypothèse d’une attei...
The objective of the study was to assess how posture and vocal acoustics are modified when one needs to communicate despite environmental obstacles (i.e. vocal effort performance).
20 healthy young women participated to this study. They had to communicate numbers to a listener. Environmental obstacles were the distance between the subject and the a...
In the current study, we adopted the hypothesis that the body scheme disturbances occurring during adolescence might lead subjects to transiently neglect proprioceptive information and that adolescents might rely more strongly on vision to control their orientation and stabilize their body. To check this point, we asked adolescents 14-15 years to m...
In humans, studies of back muscle activity have mainly addressed the functioning of lumbar muscles during postural adjustments or rhythmic activity, including locomotor tasks. The present study investigated how back muscles are activated along the spine during rhythmical activities in order to gain insights into spinal neuronal organization. Electr...
Maintaining erect human posture depends on graviceptive information. This can come from at least of three origins: vestibular, visual and somaesthetic. We hypothesize here that subject's use proprioception rather than visual or vestibular cues for their control of upright body posture and this even when subjects stand on a tilting body support surf...
The purpose of this study was to investigate the functional effects of a structural deformation, internal rotations (IR) of the lower limbs, on upper body balance strategies used during locomotion in 5-6 year-old and 7-10 year-old children. Balance control was examined in terms of rotation around the longitudinal axis in horizontal plane (yaw) and...
The study examined, in children aged 7 and adults, the postural control when a cognitive task (modified Stroop) of varying level of difficulty is executed simultaneously. Postural difficulty also varied (with or without vibrations of the ankle joint). We hypothesized that children's performance was more affected than adults', when the difficulty of...
Postural control and sensory integration were assessed in 12 patients with Cervical Dystonia (CD) and 11 healthy control subjects (CS), who were asked to maintain their posture as vertical as possible with their eyes open and closed while standing on a platform tilting laterally at angular accelerations below the vestibular activation threshold.
Da...