Yves Boubenec

Yves Boubenec is an Associate Professor (maître de conférences) in neuroscience at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris, where he is affiliated with the Department of Cognitive Studies and the Perceptual Systems Laboratory. His research focuses on the neural basis of auditory cognition, particularly how attention, learning, and memory interact with auditory processing at the cortical level. He teaches neurophysiology of auditory perception at ENS through the IMaLiS and Cogmaster programs.

His research spans three main conceptual angles: Attention, examining how top-down attention modulates auditory processing; Learning, studying how exposure to natural sounds shapes auditory perception across multiple time scales; and Memory, investigating how exposure to sounds leaves long-term traces in auditory cortex. He employs mesoscopic-scale neural recording techniques including electrophysiological recordings of neuronal populations and large-scale functional UltraSound (fUS) neuroimaging.

Boubenec's recent publications (2023-2024) reveal a strong focus on speech processing, task engagement effects on auditory cortex, evidence integration across sensory modalities, and the neural mechanisms underlying categorical perception. His work frequently involves cross-species comparisons (particularly using ferrets) and combines experimental approaches with theoretical modeling.

His laboratory offers multiple internship opportunities for students at various levels (L3, M1, M2, DENS) focusing on hemogenetic imaging, cross-species comparison of rhythm perception, and learning dynamics in biological and artificial networks.

Boubenec collaborates extensively with researchers including Shihab Shamma, Srdjan Ostojic, and various interdisciplinary teams across neuroscience, acoustics, and computational modeling fields. His work bridges fundamental neuroscience with applications in speech processing and artificial intelligence.