Corentin Massot, PhD

 Neuroscience and AI

 

 corentinmassot[at]yahoo.fr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am a computer scientist and a neuroscientist.

I work at the intersection of Neuroscience and AI.

 

News

03/2025: We are presenting at Cosyne 2025 in Mont-Tremblant, Montreal, Canada

Wang Z., Zhang X., Massot C., Rockwell H., Papandreou G., Yuille A., Lee T-S, Cue-invariant geometric structure of the population codes in macaque V1 and V2, Cosyne, Mont-Tremblant, Montreal, Canada, 2025.

            Won Best Poster Prize awarded by PRX Life

 

06/2020: I was awarded the 2020 Center for Neural Basis of Cognition Outstanding Paper Award (Strick Prize) for the paper “Sensorimotor transformation elicits systematic patterns of activity along the dorsoventral extent of the superior colliculus in the macaque monkey” published in Nature Communications Biology.

 

08/2019: Our Paper ‘Sensorimotor transformation elicits systematic patterns of activity along the dorsoventral extent of the superior colliculus in the macaque monkey’ has been published in Communications Biology (Nature). Paper

 

 

Short bio

I did my PhD in Computer and Cognitive Science at the Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France. I implemented a biologically-motivated model of the primary visual cortex for 3D perception from texture and conducted behavioral experiment in psychophysics. I transitioned to Neuroscience to study the vestibular system at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, where I conducted neurophysiological experiments. I studied the non-linear properties of sensory processing by vestibular-only neurons in the vestibular nuclei. I transitioned to the study of the visual system at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA. I conducted experiments in the primary visual cortex (V1/V2) using multi-channels linear probes. I studied hierarchical processing of the visual information. I transitioned to the study of the sensorimotor transformation in the oculomotor system at the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA. I studied properties of the structure-to-function in the Superior Colliculus during saccadic eye movements using linear probes. My current research projects involve neural reinforcement learning and artificial intelligence.

 

 

Education

PhD in Cognitive Sciences (Computer Vision, Visual Psychophysics)

Master in Cognitive Sciences

Bachelor in Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science

 

 

Awards

06/2020: I was awarded the 2020 Center for Neural Basis of Cognition Outstanding Paper Award (Strick Prize) for the paper “Sensorimotor transformation elicits systematic patterns of activity along the dorsoventral extent of the superior colliculus in the macaque monkey” published in Nature Communications Biology.

 

 

Past and current research interests

 

 (5) Reinforcement learning and dopaminergic activity in value-based decision making.

(4) Sensorimotor transformation and laminar analysis of the superior colliculus.

(3) Hierarchical visual processing in the primary visual system.  

(2) Vestibular information processing by the vestibular nuclei.

(1) Texture analysis and 3D perception from texture. 

 

 

Publications

Journal papers:

9- Massot C., Zhang, X., Wang, ZT., Rockwell, H., Papandreou G., Yuille, A. & TS Lee. Cue-invariant Coding of Edge Stimuli in Macaque Early Visual Cortex, in preparation, 2024.

8- Bourelly C., Massot C. & Gandhi N.J., Rapid input-output transformation between local field potential and spiking activity during the sensation but not action in the superior colliculus, Journal of Neuroscience, 2023. Link

7- Massot C., Jagadisan U.K. & Gandhi N.J., Sensorimotor transformation elicits systematic patterns of activity along the dorsoventral extent of the superior colliculus in the macaque monkey, Communications Biology, 2019. Link

6- Massot C., Schneider D. A., Chacron M. & Cullen E. K., The Vestibular System Implement a Linear-NonLinear Transformation in order to Encode Self-Motion, Plos Biology, 2012. Link

5- Massot C., Chacron M. & Cullen E. K., Information Transmission and Detection Thresholds in the Vestibular Nuclei:  Single Neurons versus Population Encoding, Journal of Neurophysiology, 2011. Link

4- Cullen E. K., Brooks J.X., Jamali M, Carriot J. & Massot C., Internal Models of Self Motion: Computations that Suppress Vestibular Reafference in Early Vestibular Processing, Experimental Brain Research, 2010. Link

3- Van Horn R. M., Mitchell E. D. Massot C. & Cullen E. K., Local Field Potentials Dynamically Encode Behaviorally Relevant Information That Is Not Available in Spike Trains Alone, Journal of Neuroscience, 2010. Link

2- Massot C. & Hérault J., Model of Frequency Analysis in the Visual Cortex and the Shape from Texture Problem, International Journal of Computer Vision, 76(2), 2008. Link

1- Massot C. & Hérault J., Extraction de la Forme et de la Perspective dans des Textures Artificielles et Naturelles par Modèles Corticaux, Revue Traitement du Signal, 23, 2006 (selected among best papers for publication at GRETSI 2005). Link

 

Conferences:

23- Wang Z., Zhang X., Massot C., Rockwell H., Papandreou G., Yuille A., Lee T-S, Cue-invariant geometric structure of the population codes in macaque V1 and V2, Cosyne, Mont-Tremblant, Canada, 2025.

            Won Best Poster Prize awarded by PRX Life

22- Alikaya A., Kerkhoff W., Massot C., Rothenhoefer K. & Stauffer W. R., Ambiguity aversion is a persistent feature of non-human primate behavior, Society for Neuroscience (SFN), Washington D.C., USA, 2023.

 

21- Massot C., Exploration of the functional role of recurrent connectivity between dopamine neurons in VTA with a recurrent neural network, Society for Neuroscience (SFN), San Diego, USA, 2022.

 

20- Rothenhoefer K.M., Alikaya A., Massot C. & Stauffer W.R., Ambiguity Attitude are Dependent on Reward Magnitude, Society for Neuroscience (SFN), San Diego, USA, 2022.

 

19- Massot C., Zhang X., Rockwell H., Papandreou G., Yuille A., Lee T-S, Coding of pattern complexity in V1 and V2 neurons, Cosyne, remote conference, 2021.

 

18- Massot C., External Inputs and Intrinsic dynamics of the Superior Colliculus Revealed by Local Field Potentials, Nanosymposium Dynamic Signal Integration Across Saccades (talk), Society for Neuroscience (SFN), Chicago, USA, 2019.

17- Massot C., Jagadisan U. K. & Gandhi J. N., Functional Organization of the Pre-saccadic Neural Activity in the Superior Colliculus, Nanosymposium Vision and Eye Movements (talk), Society for Neuroscience (SFN), San Diego D.C., USA, 2018.

16- Massot C., Jagadisan U. K. & Gandhi J. N., Measure of Visual Onset Latency Across Depths in the Superior Colliculus, Society for Neuroscience (SFN), Washington D.C., USA, 2017.

15- Massot C., Jagadisan U. K. & Gandhi J. N., Laminar Analysis of Neural Activity in the Superior Colliculus, Gordon Research Conference (GRC/GRS), Bates College, USA, 2017.

14- Massot C., Jagadisan U. K. & Gandhi J. N., Insights into Sensorimotor Transformation in the Superior Colliculus through Current-Source Density Analysis, Society for Neuroscience (SFN), San Diego, USA, 2016.

13- Jagadisan U. K., Massot C. & Gandhi J. N., Laminar Analysis of the Superior Colliculus, Society for Neuroscience (SFN), Chicago, USA, 2015.

12- Massot C. & Lee T.S., Sensitivity to the Gradient of Spatial Frequency in the Early Visual Cortex, Society for Neuroscience (SFN), Washington D.C., USA, 2014.

11- Massot C. & Lee T.S., Sparse and Distributed Representation of Edge Concepts in V1 and V2 Neuronal Populations, Society for Neuroscience (SFN), Washington D.C., USA, 2014.

10- Massot C. & Lee T.S., Sensitivity to Spatial Frequency Chirp in the Early Visual Cortex, Vision Sciences Society (VSS), St Pete Beach, USA, 2014.

9- Massot C. & Lee T.S., Sensitivity of Early Visual Cortical Neurons to Edge Visual Concepts, Vision Sciences Society (VSS), St Pete Beach, USA, 2014.

8- Massot C., Chacron M. & Cullen K.E., Information Processing in the Vestibular system: a Population Study, Society for Neuroscience (SFN), San Diego, USA, 2010.

7- Massot C., Chacron M. & Cullen K.E., Event detection in the Vestibular system: Detection Thresholds of Central and Afferent Neurons, Society for Neuroscience (SFN), Chicago, USA, 2009.

6- Massot C., Chacron M. & Cullen K.E., Event detection in the Vestibular system: Central VS Afferent Neurons Canadian Physiological Society (CPS), Quebec, Canada, 2009

5- Massot C., Mamassian P. & Hérault J., 3D Shape Perception from Texture: Psychophysical Experiments and Computational Modeling, meeting at Center for Visual Science (CVS), Rochester, USA, 2008

4- Massot C., Chacron M. & Cullen K.E., Information transmission in the vestibular system, Society for Neuroscience (SFN), Washington D.C., 2008

3- Massot C., Chacron M. & Cullen K.E., Information Transmission in the Vestibular System: Central versus Afferent Neurons Canadian Neuroscience Society (CAN), Montréal, Canada, 2008

2- Massot C. & Cullen K.E., Biological Model of Shape from Texture Analysis, Canadian Physiological Society (CPS), Mont Saint-Anne, Canada, 2007

1- Massot C., Mamassian P. & Hérault J., Analysis of the combination of frequency and orientation cue in texture orientation perception. European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), ACoruna, Spain,2005.

 

Peer-reviewed Proceedings and Lecture Notes in Computer Science:

3- Massot C. & Hérault J., Recovering the Shape from Texture Using Lognormal Filters. International Conference on Advanced Concepts for Intelligent Vision Systems (ACIVS), Antwerp, Belgium, 2005. Link

2- Massot C. & Hérault J. Extraction de la forme et de la perspective dans des textures artificielles et naturelles par modèles corticaux. Colloque GRETSI, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgique, 2005.

1- Massot C. & Hérault J. Extraction d’indices de perspective dans les scènes naturelles par modèles corticaux. Colloque GRETSI, Paris, France, 2003.