Top Researchers
Top Neuroscience Researchers at Université du Québec à Montréal for 2026
At Université du Québec à Montréal, recent neuroscience research spans brain health, cognition, and mental health, with work that connects basic mechanisms to clinical questions and everyday function.
Below, you’ll find a closer look at researchers whose recent publications reflect this breadth, from sleep and dementia biomarkers to autism, attention, gait, stress, and developmental support.
Featured Researchers
Jean‐François Gagnon
Jean‐François Gagnon’s recent work at Université du Québec à Montréal centers on neurology, cognitive neuroscience, and epidemiology, with studies on REM sleep behavior disorder, dementia conversion, and automated scoring tools.
Activity over the last year: 10 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Plasma pTau181 and amyloid markers predict conversion to dementia in idiopathic REM sleep behaviour disorder (Jan 2025)
- Altered network efficiency in isolated REM sleep behavior disorder: A multicentric study (Aug 2025)
- Validation of RBDtector : An Open‐Source Automated Software for Scoring REM Sleep Without Atonia (Mar 2025)
Dave Saint‐Amour
Dave Saint‐Amour’s publications bring together cognitive neuroscience, health toxicology, and experimental psychology, including work on theta activity, selective attention, and environmental exposures.
Activity over the last year: 5 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- No aftereffect of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) on theta activity during an inter-sensory selective attention task (Feb 2025)
- The Role of Fronto‐Central Theta Oscillations in Inter‐Sensory Selective Attention (Apr 2025)
- Developmental exposure to legacy environmental contaminants, medial temporal lobe volumes and spatial navigation memory in late adolescents (Jan 2025)
Yasmine Zerroug
Yasmine Zerroug’s research at Université du Québec à Montréal links behavioral neuroscience, clinical psychology, and biological psychiatry through studies of cortisol, testosterone, and adolescent mental health.
Activity over the last year: 5 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Differences in hair cortisol to cortisone ratio between depressed and non-depressed adolescent women (Feb 2025)
- The Association of Cortisol and Testosterone Interaction With Inpatient Violence: Examining the Dual‐Hormone Hypothesis in a Psychiatric Setting (Mar 2025)
- The Role of Fronto‐Central Theta Oscillations in Inter‐Sensory Selective Attention (Apr 2025)
Etienne Aumont
Etienne Aumont’s recent papers connect physiology, psychiatry and mental health, and cognitive neuroscience, with attention to CSF clearance, Alzheimer’s biomarkers, and cognitive resilience.
Activity over the last year: 8 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
Laurent Ballaz
Laurent Ballaz focuses on psychiatry and mental health, physical therapy, and neurology, especially gait, walking speed, and orthosis design in neuromuscular conditions.
Activity over the last year: 4 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Gait changes induced by a 6-min walking exercise in individuals with myotonic dystrophy type 1: relationship with muscle strength (Feb 2025)
- Foot orthosis design for children with Charcot-Marie-Tooth and impact on gait (Jan 2025)
- Effect of walking speed on gait parameters in individuals with myotonic dystrophy type 1 (Apr 2025)
Isabelle Soulières
Isabelle Soulières combines cognitive neuroscience, genetics, and developmental psychology in work on autism, empathy, information processing, and transcranial stimulation.
Activity over the last year: 5 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Autism-related shifts in the brain’s information processing hierarchy (Jun 2025)
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of empathy in autism: The influence of measures (Jul 2025)
- No aftereffect of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) on theta activity during an inter-sensory selective attention task (Feb 2025)
Mélina Rivard
Mélina Rivard’s recent publications at Université du Québec à Montréal explore cognitive neuroscience, clinical psychology, and psychiatry through autism evaluation, early intervention, and family experience.
Activity over the last year: 4 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Families’, practitioners’, and researchers’ experience in the trajectory for the diagnostic evaluation of developmental disorders in young children (Jan 2025)
- Barriers and facilitators to implementing prevent-teach-reinforce for young children in community-based early intervention services for autism (Jul 2025)
- “We Try to Support Each Other, Stay Strong for Our Children”: Parents’ Experiences of Stress and Co-Parenting in Families Who Have a Child With Autism (Nov 2025)
Catherine M. Herba
Catherine M. Herba’s work spans public health, clinical psychology, and behavioral neuroscience, with studies on cortisol, stress, social interactions, and child anxiety and depression.
Activity over the last year: 4 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Differences in hair cortisol to cortisone ratio between depressed and non-depressed adolescent women (Feb 2025)
- Effect of Coping Strategies on Perceived Stress and Hair Cortisol Levels During the COVID‐19 Pandemic According to Sex (Feb 2025)
- Morning cortisol levels and quality of social interactions across the transition to school predict the development of children’s anxious and depressive symptoms in first grade (Dec 2025)
What Université du Québec à Montréal's Neuroscience Community Is Working On
The most common themes in this set point to a neuroscience community working across cognitive neuroscience, clinical psychology, psychiatry and mental health, with additional activity in neurology and behavioral neuroscience. That mix suggests a strong focus on how brain function relates to attention, sleep, autism, stress, and developmental or neurodegenerative outcomes. Rather than staying in one lane, researchers are connecting neural measures, behavior, and health contexts to better understand both mechanisms and everyday impact.- Cognitive Neuroscience - seen across 5 of the featured researchers
- Clinical Psychology - seen across 3 of the featured researchers
- Psychiatry and Mental health - seen across 3 of the featured researchers
- Neurology - seen across 2 of the featured researchers
- Behavioral Neuroscience - seen across 2 of the featured researchers
This snapshot shows a research community moving across lab, clinic, and community settings, with neuroscience questions often linked to health outcomes and lived experience. If you want to track similar patterns in your own literature review or submission workflow, Resub can help streamline citation discovery and manuscript preparation.
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