UMR 5169

CRCA

Center for Research on Animal Cognition

Presentation

The CRCA’s main objective is the comparative study of cognitive processes in various animal models, from invertebrates to vertebrates. We are interested in perceptual processes, selective attention, learning and memory. This understanding is based on multidisciplinary approaches such as ethology, experimental psychology, neurobiology and modelling. We study the animal brain and its plasticity at the individual level. With regard to animal societies, we study the behavioural rules that enable coordination and the emergence of complex collective behaviour through self-organisation, using ethology, modelling, physics and robotics.

Claire RAMPON, Director

After earning a PhD in Neurosciences in 1997 and completing a post-doctorate at Princeton University (USA), Claire Rampon was appointed Associate Professor at Paris XI University in 2000. She was awarded the CNRS Bronze Medal in 2002 and was appointed to the Institut Universitaire de France in 2003.

In 2005, she joined CNRS as a Researcher at the Center for Animal Cognition (CRCA) in Toulouse. Currently a Research Director, she leads the REMEMBeR team (lien vers page équipe).

Since 2018, she has been Director of the CRCA in the Centre for integrative Biology (CBI).

Raphaël JEANSON, Deputy director

Raphaël Jeanson obtained a PhD in ethology in 2003.

After two post-doctoral fellowships abroad, he was recruited as a research fellow at the CNRS and joined the Research Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA) in 2005. He is currently Director of Research and the leader of the IVEP team (lien vers page équipe).

Since 2019, he is the deputy director of the CRCA in the Centre for integrative Biology (CBI).