The Louvain Experimental Psychopathology Research Group (LEP) is a lab whose members’ interests are in the elucidation of the psychological processes (cognitive, affective, motivational, interpersonal) involved in the development and maintenance of psychological disorders (especially anxiety, mood, and addiction disorders) as well as in the development of psychological and biological interventions targeting the incriminated processes (e.g., executive control, perfectionism, rumination). The LEP includes members from both the Psychological Sciences Research Institute (IPSY) and the Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS) of UCLouvain. LEP’s research agenda also focuses on the identification of psychological processes shared by various psychological disorders (i.e., a transdiagnostic approach to psychopathology), in the role of these processes in the instigation of disorders (e.g., the role of executive control in binge drinking habits among adolescents), and on the elucidation of the neurobiological mechanisms of these processes (e.g., neural activity, inflammatory responses). LEP’s approach to experimental psychopathology is inspired by complementary theoretical and methodological backgrounds (e.g., cognitive and affective neurosciences; cognitive, social, and behavioral psychology, clinical psychology; neuropsychology).
Team members
Principal investigators:
- Stefan Agrigoroaei
- Damien Brevers
- Philippe de Timary
- Céline Douilliez
- Pierre Maurage
- Pierre Philippot
Postdoctoral researchers :
- Achille Bapolisi
- Carina Carbia
- Mateo Leganes-Fonteneau
- Olivier Desmedt
- Géraldine Petit
- Samuel Suarez
- Bénédicte Thonon
PhD Students:
- Pauline Billaux
- Gwenaëlle Bresmal
- Déborah Dawant
- Bérénice Delor
- Mado Gautier
- Elise Grimm
- Anne-Claire Lafait
- Elisa Martini
- Irem Öz
- Arthur Pabst
- Marbella Perez Pena
- Soliana Perna
- Mélissa Salavrakos
Collaborations
- Department of Psychology, University of Liège (F. Larøi, A. d’Argembeau, S. Blairy, E. Quertemont)
- Department of Psychology, University of Gent (R. De Raedt, E. Koster, J. De Houwer, C. Baeken, G. Pourtois, S. Müller)
- Department of Psychology, University of Leuven (D. Hermans, F. Raes)
- Departement of Psychiatry, Free University of Brussels (S. Campanella, C. Kornreich, X. Noël)
- Clinical Orthopedagogy Unit, University of Mons (I. Wodon)
- Centre for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , University of Anvers (M. Dhar)
- Social and Cognitive Psychology Lab CNRS UMR 6024, University of Clermont-Ferrand (L. Mondillon, V. Flaudias)
- SCALab, University of Lille (H. Sequeira, F. D’Hondt, D. Grynberg, J.-L. Nandrino)
- PSITEC Lab, University of Lille (M. Benbouriche)
- Departement of Psychology , University of Picardy (H. Mouras)
- Departement of Psychology , University of Caen (H. Beaunieux, J. Mange, A.L. Pitel)
- Department of Psychiatry , University of Lyon (B. Rolland, N. Franck, E. Peyroux, G. Sescousse)
- University Hospital of Innsbruck, University of Innsbuck (C. Rupp)
- Department of psychology, Bar Ilan University, Tel Aviv (E. Gilboa)
- Psychology Department, University of Grenada (A. Candido, A. Verdejo-Garcia, J. Perales)
- Cognitive Psychopathology and Neuropsychology Unit, University of Geneva (L. Rochat)
- Division of Substance Abuse, Geneva University Hospitals (D. Zullino, Y. Khazaal, G. Thorens, S. Achab, S. Rothen)
- Abnormal Emotion and Trauma Lab, University of Geneva (G. Ceschi)
- Adolescence Clinical Psychology Research Unit, University of Geneva (M. Debbané, D. Badoud)
- Addiction research Group, University of Lausanne (J. Billieux)
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Vancouver (L. Clark)
- International Gaming Research Unit, Nottingham Trent University (D. Kuss, M. Griffiths)
- Department of clinical psychology, University of Edinburg (M. Power)
- Addiction Lab, University of South Bank London (S. Cox, A. Moss, I. Alberly)
- Department of Psychology, University of Southampton (G. Chronaki)
- Department of psychology, University of Exeter (E. Watkins)
- Nonconscious Information Processing Laboratory, Tulsa University (P. Lewicki)
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, USA) (R. J. McNally, E. E. Bernstein, P. J. Jones)
- Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA (D.P. Valentiner)
- Neuropragmatics and Emotion Lab, University of Trois- Rivières (S. Rigoulot)
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales (Sydney) (M. L. Moulds)
- Department of psychology, Macquarie University (Sydney) (Q. J. Wong)
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Babeş-Bolyai University (C.Mogoase)
Ongoing Projects
- Contribution of psychosocial (e.g., socioeconomic status, sources of disparities, control beliefs), behavioral (e.g., physical and cognitive activities), and stress-related factors (e.g., cortisol response) for optimizing and maintaining good cognitive and physical health as people age.
- Perfectionism as a vulnerability factor for psychopathological states: investigation of the underlying mechanisms (e.g., negative repetitive thinking; goal-regulation).
- Cognitive emotion regulation in normal and abnormal behaviour; Evaluative and attentional biases in processing nonverbal behaviour; Mindfulness based interventions; Physical activity and health.
- Translational and multi-markers approaches (EEG, fMRI, rTMS, psychophysiology) for better understanding neurocognitive processes involved into the initiation and the maintenance of (mal)adaptive habits as applied to physical activity, elite sports, pro-ecological behaviors, as well as addictive disorders.
- Exploration, using combined experimental psychopathology and neuroscience approaches, of the psychological and cerebral processes (cognition, emotion, social interactions) involved in the development and maintenance of alcohol-related disorders.
Key publications
- Bapolisi, A., Maurage, P., Georges, C., Petit, G., Balola, M., Cikomola, C., Rimé, B., Philippot, P., Persu, A., & de Timary, P. (2023). Personal and interpersonal factors moderate the relation between human-made trauma and hypertension: a path analysis approach. Psychosomatic Medicine, 85, 710-715.
- Bollen, Z., Pabst, A., Masson, N., Wiers, R., Field, M., & Maurage, P. (2024). Craving modulates attentional bias toward alcohol in severe alcohol use disorder: An eye tracking study. Addiction, 119, 102-112.
- Brevers, D., Baeken, C., Bechara, A., He, Q., Maurage, P., Sescousse, G., Vögele, C., & Billieux, J. (2024). Increased ventral anterior insular connectivity to sports betting availability indexes problem gambling. Addiction Biology, 29, e13389.
- Grimm, E., Francia, L., & Agrigoroaei, S. (2024). Stress Appraisal Measure: Investigating the Factor Structure and Validity in the French Language. Assessment, In press.
- Lafait, A.-C. & Philippot, P. (2023). Questionnaire de sensibilité au rejet : qualités psychométriques de la traduction française de l’Adult Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (ARSQ). European Review of Applied Psychology, 100820
- Leleu, V., Rusinek, S., & Douilliez, C. (2022). French adaptation of the Attentional Control Scale: Confirmatory factor analyses and relationship with trait anxiety and efficiency of orienting, alerting, and executive control attentional networks. European Review of Applied Psychology, 72(2), 100712.