Linguistic irregularities of number naming systems, such as inverted number words (e.g., the German number word for 32 translates to “two-and-thirty”), affect the processing of Arabic numerals. Recently, it has been claimed that there is even a number word syntax representation, i.e. a specific system dedicated to representing the syntax of number words in the human brain. However, to date, studies have mainly focused on the effects of inversion on performance in simple and calculation-based processing of numerical information. The effects of number syntax in non-inverted but still intransparent number word systems such as French have not yet been explored to a similar extent, especially their neuro-cognitive correlates during development, although the French number word system might be particularly suited for studying the neural correlates of a specific number word syntax representation. In the proposed project, we aim to investigate the development of the unit-decade-compatibility effect (UDCE) in number magnitude comparison in children (aged 6.5-7.5 and 9.5-10.5 years) and adults using combined behavioral and neuroimaging (fMRI) data, because the UDCE known to be sensitive to linguistic irregularities. This will allow us to triangulate the neuro-cognitive correlates of number word syntax processing and their developmental trajectories. Thereby, the proposed project will contribute to the knowledge of how number word syntax is processed in the developing brain and pave the way for improved remediation or education concepts.

The aim of the project "Human nouns in Medieval French" aka HumaNs-MF would be to conduct a comprehensive linguistic analysis of the human nouns lexical network in a representative corpus of Medieval French (9th - 15th centuries) with a dual objective: 1. produce a clear linguistic representation of the HN lexical network in Medieval French 2. establish whether the image suggested by this representation can be linked to what we know about the Human Beings in Medieval France from historical studies. The study of human nouns - nouns that denote humans beings such as person, man, teenager, (a) beauty etc. - as a separate lexical network is a rather young field. Its relevance, as well as the importance of a cross-disciplinary approach, has been recently pointed out by a number of works resulting from the NHUMA project (see Schnedecker & Mihatch eds. 2018). Those studies focus mostly on modern-times objects of close diachrony. As for Medieval French studies, as of now, no existing research or resource that would be based on a representative corpus presents a multifactorial linguistic description of the human noun or other lexical network. Our project aims to address this gap and to go further by confronting linguistic results with the data social and historical sciences have gained about the human beings in Medieval French society. The project would thus be held in two stages : Stage1 - linguistic analysis that would result in an electronic resource allowing to fully represent the human nouns lexical network - and Stage 2 - reinterpretation of linguistic data from a wider social and human sciences point of view. The results of this synthesis would complete the electronic database launched at Stage 1. Thus, the HumaNs-MF proposes a groundbreaking research for both HN and MF studies due to its methodology, its object and its ambition. If successful, it will launch a new electronic resource for French language : a cross-disciplinary database of Medieval French lexicon.

Space, time and number are intertwined dimensions at the cognitive and neural level. Recent evidence suggests that numerical and temporal information is projected onto a spatially organized conceptual dimension (i.e. a conceptual space). The Operational Momentum Effect (OME) can be seen as a consequence of the spatial character of the mental magnitude representation. The OME describes the tendency to overestimate the outcome of additions and underestimate the outcome of subtractions. An analog effect has been described in the temporal domain (Bonato, Fias & Zorzi, 2021). Participants were asked to either combine the temporal duration of two auditory stimuli (addition) or to estimate the temporal difference between them (subtraction). Participants reproduced the estimated duration by holding down a button. Compared to a baseline condition without arithmetic combination, participants overestimated the duration of addition and underestimated the duration of subtraction (Temporal Momentum Effect, TME). By tackling three theoretic problems, the current project further characterizes the underlying functional principles of the TME in a number of psychophysical experiments with healthy adults: 1. I will probe the functional locus of the effect by isolating the perceptual from the motor component of the information processing. 2. I will test the predictions that can be made according to the sensory integration hypothesis to test whether the observed effects reflect stimulus energy accumulation rather than a cognitive bias. 3. I will test the notion that OME and TME are be positively correlated that can be derived from the hypothesized common underlying mechanisms. The results will provide important information about the generalizability of the TME and will finally help understand how humans code and operate on temporal information.

Primary healthcare (PHC) in Cuba are considered as a model, notably by the WHO. During the COVID-19 pandemic, PHC have played a key role in health policies in Cuba. While the country was largely preserved from the pandemic until early 2021, a severe epidemic episode occurred between June and August 2021, leading to the saturation of the health system. At a global level, the role and impact of has been overlooked. This project relies on the hypothesis that the activities of PHC and its availability represents a key factor modulating the distribution of the epidemic. However, this impact is heterogeneous because we suppose that the offer and availability of PHC has been highly differentiated on the territory. Furthermore, the augmentation of social vulnerabilities (aging, chronic disease, poverty, etc.) on the different territories may have limited the impact of PHC. Then, this project aims to: 1) analyze the impact of offer and availability of PHC to mitigate social vulnerabilities; 2) understand the territorial differentiation of the impact of PHC on epidemic indicators according to local priorities defined to conciliate the control of COVID-19 with maintaining other public health activities; 3) describe local experiences at the PHC level and communities to deal with the pandemic; 4) situate the Cuban experience at a global level to highlight possible lessons for future preparedness, in particular for the countries in the Caribbean region. Intersecting public health and social sciences, this project relies on both quantitative and qualitative methods undertaken in three provinces presenting contrasted socioeconomic characteristics. The consortium associates two French teams, one focusing more on geographical analysis and integrating Cuban colleagues who are member of the national group for the control of the pandemic; the second specialized in public health, sociology and anthropology.