I am a trained experimental psychologist and behavioral neuroscientist interested in the interplay between associative phenomena and cognitive functions. My experimental research has involved comparative studies of basic mental representations between human and non-human primates (Guinea baboons), and pioneering behavioral and physiology work on an emerging invertebrate model for evolutionary neuroscience, the marine annelid Platynereis dumerilii. My theoretical goal, served by additional philosophy training, is to understand how associative faculties unfold 1) with increasing levels of biological complexity, 2) across animal evolution.
Education
2017 PhD at EMBL & Heidelberg University, Germany
2013 MsC AIV (Interdisciplinary Approaches of Life Sciences) at CRI Paris, France
2012 Engineering degree at Ecole Polytechnique Paris, France
Main academic positions
2020 - pres. Post-doctoral Researcher (CNRS)
CRPN (UMR 7077), CNRS & Aix-Marseille Université, France
2013 - 2018 Doctoral Researcher (EMBL)
European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Arendt Lab, Heidelberg, Germany
Visiting positions
June 2017 Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition (KLI) - Vienna, Austria
Topic: Early evolution of learning (with Dr. Johannes Jäger)
Aug 2016 Max-Planck Institute for Biology (MPIB) - Tübingen, Germany
Topic: Development of a Calcium imaging method (with Dr. Gaspar Jékely)
Awards & funding
2020-2022 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Post-doctoral fellowship
June 2018 Young Investigator Prize, Neurizons conference, MPI Göttingen
June 2017 Visiting Fellowship, Konrad Lorenz Institute, Vienna
July 2016 Poster Prize, European Society for Evo-devo, 6th Biennial meeting
2013-2016 Marie Skłodowska-Curie ITN Doctoral fellowship
Nov 2011 Undergraduate Research Prize, Mechanics department, Ecole Polytechnique
July 2006 International Mathematical Olympiad, Slovenia (among the 6 French students)
2005 Academic Mathematical Olympiad, National rank 2nd accessit ex-aequo
Organization of scientific events
4-6/07/2022: Main organizer (30 pers). Workshop “From association to Cognition”
Marseille, France. From my post-doctoral grant
3/05/2017: Co-organizer (30 pers). EMBL Science & Society Discussion meeting
“The artificial womb”, Heidelberg, Germany
9-11/11/2016: Co-organizer (60 pers). Neptune Symposium, Lisbon, Portugal.
Final event of the “Neptune” ITN Marie Skłodowska-Curie
23-25/10/2014: Scientific coordinator (110 pers). 16th International PhD Symposium,
EMBL Heidelberg. “Inspired by Biology: Exploring Nature's Toolbox“
2014-2015: Founder and animator (10 pers). EMBL Philosophy of Biology Club
Supervision
2020-2022: Master 2 (1 student), Master 1 (2 students), Licence 3 (2 students),
from Aix-Marseille Université and ENSAI Rennes, France.
2015, 2017: Master 2 (2 students), from Heidelberg University and Lisbon University
Publications
Here are 5 publications representative of my scientific work:
- Chartier, T.F., Fagot, J. & Rey, A. (2026). Association: one term, five concepts. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 181, 106525. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2025.106525
- Chartier, T. F., & Dautriche, I. (2023). Do backward associations have anything to say about language? Cognitive Science, 47(4), e13282. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.13282
- Chartier, T. F., & Fagot, J. (2023). Simultaneous learning of directional and non-directional stimulus relations in baboons (Papio papio). Learning & Behavior, 51(2), 166-178. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13420-022-00522-8
- Chartier, T. F., & Fagot, J. (2022). Associative symmetry: a divide between humans and nonhumans? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 26(4), 286-289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2022.01.009
- Chartier, T. F., Deschamps, J., Dürichen, W., Jékely, G., & Arendt, D. (2018). Whole-head recording of chemosensory activity in the marine annelid Platynereis dumerilii. Royal Society Open Biology, 8(10), 180139. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsob.180139