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Arthur Courtin - postdoc (FNRS)

Group : 

André Mouraux

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When we touch something warm or cold, our brain must quickly interpret these temperature cues to learn about the environment, maintain homeostasis, and protect the body. Yet thermosensation is a surprisingly noisy sense: because of its unique neuroanatomy, temperature signals reach the brain with more variability and delay than those of other sensory systems. What does the brain do when faced with such uncertain information?

My work explores what makes thermosensory signals so noisy, and whether (and how) the nervous system navigates this uncertainty. To probe these questions, I develop computational models that capture how the brain infers temperature from ambiguous input, and I test them against behavioural measures (reaction times, choices) and neurophysiological recordings (EEG). Through this approach, I aim to uncover the principles that allow the brain to interpret temperature reliably despite noisy and delayed sensory evidence.

Publications

2025

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Interindividual variations in peak alpha frequency do not predict the magnitude or extent of secondary hyperalgesia induced by high-frequency stimulation

J Neurophysiol

Lebrun L, Ricci G, Courtin A, van den Broeke EN, Lenoir C, Mouraux A

in press.

2024

Effect of limb position change on capsaicin-evoked pain: evidence of interplays between the vascular and nociceptive systems?

Eur J Pain

Courtin AS, Knaepen, C, Mouraux A, van Neerven SGA

in press.

2023

The role of ongoing oscillation in pain perception: Absence of modulation by a concomitant arithmetic task

Cortex

Leu C, Courtin A, Cussac C, Liberati G.

in press.

2023

Spatial summation of cold and warm detection: evidence for increased precision when brisk stimuli are delivered over larger area

Neuroscience Letters

Courtin AS, Delvaux A, Dufour A, Mouraux A

in press.

2022

Combining topical agonists with the recording of event-related brain potentials to probe the functional involvement of TRPM8, TRPA1 and TRPV1 in heat and cold transduction in the human skin

J Pain

Courtin AS, Mouraux A

in press.

2020

Assessing thermal sensitivity using transient heat and cold stimuli combined with a Bayesian adaptive method in a clinical setting: a proof of concept study

European Journal of Pain

Courtin AS, Maldonado Slootjes S, Caty G, Hermans MP, Plaghki L, Mouraux A.

in press.

2018

Event-related brain potentials elicited by high-speed cooling of the skin: a robust and non-painful method to assess the spinothalamic system in humans

Clinical Neurophysiology

De Keyser R, van den Broeke E, Courtin A, Dufour A, Mouraux A.

in press.

Institute of Neuroscience (IONS) - Université catholique de Louvain (UCL)

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NOCIONS : PAIN RESEARCH AT UCLOUVAIN

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