OUDIETTE Delphine

During my PhD in cognitive neuroscience in Paris (supervised by Prof. I. Arnulf), I studied REM sleep behavior disorder and sleepwalking as a unique gateway to studying dreams—usually out of reach. I then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the United States (under Prof. K. Paller), where I investigated memory consolidation during sleep, using a novel method that involves reactivating specific memories through sensory cues during sleep (Targeted Memory Reactivation). I then pursued a second postdoc at the Paris Brain Institute (with Dr. M. Pessiglione), where I examined the paradoxical effects of motivation on physical performance. In 2018, I joined the Paris Brain Institute as a tenured research scientist, and today, I co-lead the DreamTeam, a dynamic group of researchers and clinicians dedicated to pushing the frontiers of sleep science.

The traditional view holds that wakefulness and sleep are distinct and mutually exclusive. But my research, along with that of many others, reveals the existence of "hybrid states" where features of wakefulness and sleep coexist. These states can be pathological, such as sleepwalking, or physiological (e.g.  lucid dreaming, or sleep onset period). These hybrid states challenge our understanding of where sleep ends and wakefulness begins. Can we propose a new classification of conscious states? With my team, we’re exploring these questions by integrating multiple dimensions of sleep into a single experimental framework. We combine electrophysiological measures (high-density EEG, EOG, EMG), behavioral data (spontaneous or in response to external stimuli), and phenomenological assessments (subjective perception of sleep, mental content) with cognitive tasks (attention, memory, creativity). 

• Talking to sleepwalkers? Response to communication efforts in Disorders of Arousals. Idir Y, Lopez R, Barbier A, Saint-Auret S, Morain E, Vollhardt R, Ben Haj Kacem I, Le Coz A, Gales A, Dodet P, Leu-Semenescu S, Dauvilliers Y, Arnulf I, Oudiette D. Sleep 2024; zsae272. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsae272.
• Embracing sleep onset complexity. Lacaux C, Strauss M, Bekinschtein T, Oudiette D. Trends in Neurosciences 2024. 47(4):273-288. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2024.02.002.
• Changes in semantic memory structure support successful problem-solving and analogical transfer. Bieth T, Kenett YN, Ovando-Tellez M, Lopez-Persem A, Lacaux C, Scuccimarra M, Maye I, Sénéchal J, Oudiette D*, Volle E*. Commun Psychol 2024;2(1):54. doi: 10.1038/s44271-024-00100-w. * co-senior author. 
• Behavioral and brain responses to verbal stimuli reveal transient periods of cognitive integration of the external world during sleep. Türker B*, Munoz Musat E*, Chabani E*, Fonteix-Galet A, Maranci JB, Wattiez N, Pouget P, Sitt J, Naccache L**, Arnulf I**, Oudiette D**. Nature Neuroscience 2023; 26(11):1981-1933. doi: 10.1038/s41593-023-01449-7. *co-first authors ; **co-last authors
• What is sleep exactly? Global and local modulations of sleep oscillations all around the clock. Andrillon T, Oudiette D. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 155:105465. doi:
• Sleep onset is a creative sweet spot. Lacaux C, Andrillon A, Bastoul C, Idir Y, Fonteix-Galet A, Arnulf I, Oudiette D. Science Advances 2021; 7(50). doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abj5866. 
• Real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep. Konkoly K*, Appel K*, Chabani E*, Mangiaruga A*, Gott J*, Mallett R, Caughran B, Witkowski S, Whitmore NW, Mazurek CY, Berent JB, Weber FD, Türker B, Leu-Semenescu S, Maranci J-B, Pipa G, Arnulf I**, Oudiette D**, Dresler M**, Paller KA**. Current Biology 2021; 31(7):1417-1427.e6. *Co-first author; **Co-senior author.
• Increased creative thinking in narcolepsy.  Lacaux C, Izabelle C, Sanantonio G, De Villèle L, Frain J, Lubart T, Pizza F, Plazzi G, Arnulf I, Oudiette D. Brain 2019; 142(7):1988-1999. doi: 10.1093/brain/awz137.
• REM sleep respiratory behaviours match mental content in narcoleptic lucid dreamers. Oudiette D, Dodet P, Ledart N, Artru E, Rachidi I, Similowski T, Arnulf I. Scientific Reports 2018; 8(1):6128.  doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-24179-4.