Affective Cognitive Neuroscience Lab

Post-Doctoral Fellow

I did my undergraduate studies in biology and physiology at the University Pierre and Marie Curie (Paris, France) and later specialized in cognitive neuroscience, obtaining a Master degree through the multi-institute Cogmaster program in Paris. I did my Master's project in Geneva, Switzerland, under the supervision of Patrik Vuilleumier and Sophie Schwartz, where I studied facial mimicry of emotional expressions using simultaneous EMG and EEG. I then pursued my PhD in the same lab, using fMRI combined with several psychophysiological measurements to investigate fear conditioning. More precisely, I focused on two distinct mechanisms that modify fear expression: the generalization of fear responses and the modulation of their inhibition through internal state modifications. I was also interested on how these mechanisms are influenced by individual differences in trait anxiety levels. As a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Bishop’s lab I will further investigate the impact of individual differences on fear memory acquisition and inhibition, and their underlying brain mechanisms.

Publications

Hofstetter, C., A. Achaibou, et al. (2012). "Reactivation of visual cortex during memory retrieval: content specificity and emotional modulation." Neuroimage 60(3): 1734-1745.
Grave de Peralta Menendez, R., A. Achaibou, et al. (2008). "Bayesian models of mentalizing." Brain Topogr 20(4): 278-283.
Achaibou, A., G. Pourtois, et al. (2008). "Simultaneous recording of EEG and facial muscle reactions during spontaneous emotional mimicry." Neuropsychologia 46(4): 1104-1113.