Isabelle Boutet (University of Ottawa)

Current Activity

As a highly social species, humans share socially relevant information through verbal and nonverbal channels of communication. One of richest and most salient vectors of nonverbal information is the face, from which observers can quickly and easily make inferences about identity, emotions, age, personality traits, etc. These cues have a profound impact on human interactions: they influence how we feel, think and behave towards others. My goal is to understand how aging changes the way in which we analyze these nonverbal cues and the mechanisms that underlie these changes. These questions have real-life implications for the well-being of older adults: problems with interpretation of social cues can reduce social engagement and have negative consequences for psychological and physical health. In keeping with the cognitive neuroscience tradition, I incorporate a broad array of methods in my studies including measurement of behaviour, eye movements, pupillometry, and ERPs.