Laurent Mottron Laboratory

My research group explores how autistic people process information from early development through adulthood. We are therefore interested in describing the perceptual, memory and reasoning mechanisms by which autistic people perceive the world, construct representations and manipulate them. Our ultimate goal is to facilitate the integration of autistic people into society whatever their age, whilst respecting their differences.

avril 2024

Time for a radical change in the autism diagnosis, status as a human variant, and intervention: the prototypical autism paradigm

Laurent Mottron's lecture at The 2nd Brain Science Forum for Autism Spectrum Disorder

March 31, 2023
Beijing, China


avril 2024

Dr. Laurent Mottron reçoit la distinction "Excellence" du Collège des médecins du Québec

Cette Distinction souligne les réalisations remarquables d’une ou d’un médecin dans le domaine clinique, de la recherche ou de l’enseignement, et son apport hors du commun à la communauté médicale ou à l’évolution de la profession.

Psychiatre et sommité internationale en recherche sur l’autisme, le Dr Laurent Mottron se distingue par son approche novatrice, sa contribution à l’avancement des connaissances, ses prises de position sociétales et l’impact de ses découvertes sur le bien-être de la patientèle autiste. Pionnier dans son champ de recherche, il fut le premier à découvrir les altérations perceptuelles chez les personnes autistes, d’abord dans le domaine visuel, puis auditif.

Auteur prolifique, le Dr Mottron a signé plus de 200 articles scientifiques et écrit 4 livres au cours de sa carrière. Son ouvrage L’autisme : une autre intelligence constitue une référence francophone en matière de diagnostic et de soutien aux personnes autistes. Professeur titulaire au Département de psychiatrie et d’addictologie de l’Université de Montréal, il est également l’un des fondateurs du Réseau pour transformer les soins en autisme, qui a pour mission de connecter et mobiliser les acteurs québécois de la recherche en autisme afin d’améliorer la qualité de vie des personnes autistes et de leurs proches.

Pour en savoir plus:
- 5 questions au Dr Laurent Mottron
- Lauréates et lauréats des Prix et Distinctions du Collège

décembre 2023

Conférence de Laurent Mottron à La soirée des familles STRAS&ND

"Les écrans nuisent-ils aux enfants autistes, ou les aident-ils à apprendre le langage ?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vis6Z-UqC8

novembre 2023

Rencontre des meilleurs chercheurs internationaux dans le domaine de l'autisme

Au Centre de développement et de comportement de l'enfant du troisième hôpital de Zhongshan en Chine du 9 au 11 novembre 2023.

Une collaboration à large échelle sur plusieurs projets de notre groupe se réalise avec le Centre de développement et de et comportement de l'enfant du troisième hôpital de Zhongshan.

Liens vers l'événement:
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/lXZCNhC0XVhTqxk63LdVIw

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/lXZCNhC0XVhTqxk63LdVIw?poc_token=HIzlV2WjFE_mdofigCDSW_Fjt9PJk0eB9wph3WEX

April 2023

Dr. Laurent Mottron receives the "Excellence" distinction from the Collège des médecins du Québec

This award recognizes a physician's remarkable achievements in the clinical, research or teaching fields, and his or her outstanding contribution to the medical community or to the evolution of the profession.

Psychiatrist and international leader in autism research, Dr. Laurent Mottron stands out for his innovative approach, his contribution to the advancement of knowledge, his societal stance and the impact of his discoveries on the well-being of autistic patients. A pioneer in his field, he was the first to discover perceptual alterations in autistic people, first in the visual and then in the auditory domain.

A prolific author, Dr. Mottron has authored over 200 scientific articles and written 4 books in the course of his career. His book L'autisme : une autre intelligence is a French-language reference on diagnosis and support for people with autism. A full professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Addictology at the Université de Montréal, he is also one of the founders of the Réseau pour transformer les soins en autisme, whose mission is to connect and mobilize Quebec players in autism research in order to improve the quality of life of autistic people and their families.

To find out more, click here:
- 5 questions to Dr. Laurent Mottron
- Prix et Distinctions du Collège winners

December 2023

Conference of Laurent Mottron at La soirée des familles STRAS&ND

"Do screens harm autistic children, or help them learn language?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vis6Z-UqC8

November 2023

The meeting of the top international researchers in the field of autism will take place at the Child Development and Behavior Center of the Third Hospital of Zhongshan in China from November 9 to 11, 2023.

A large-scale collaboration on multiple projects from our group is underway with the Child Development and Behavior Center of the Third Hospital of Zhongshan.

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/lXZCNhC0XVhTqxk63LdVIw

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/lXZCNhC0XVhTqxk63LdVIw?poc_token=HIzlV2WjFE_mdofigCDSW_Fjt9PJk0eB9wph3WEX

May 2023

Prototypical autism: New diagnostic criteria and asymmetrical bifurcation model

Article from Laurent Mottron and David Gagnon in Acta Psychologica

The current formulation of the "autism spectrum" generates considerable diagnostic heterogeneity, which can hinder intervention and the advancement of basic research. In this article, we propose new diagnostic criteria for "prototypical" autism between the ages of 2 and 5.
In our reformulation work, we suggest a new conception of autism, in which we propose that it is a human possibility arising from a developmental bifurcation. Prototypical autism would follow a developmental trajectory marked by a progressive decline in social biases, starting at the end of the 1st year, then bifurcate towards a prototypical autistic presentation in the second half of the 2nd year of life. The integration of autism into asymmetrical developmental bifurcations would explain the absence of deleterious neurological and genetic markers, and the presence of familial transmission in canonical autistic presentations.



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This website features the work of autistic artists!

Drawings by Denis Boudouard (EC in the scientific literature)

EC was an autistic man who passed away in the 1990s, and possessed the ability to draw inanimate objects in 3D. His drawings were almost always done on A4 paper using black fine felt-tip or ballpoint pens, with little color. Without using a ruler, or ever needing to touch up his work, EC was able to trace perfect lines, circles and ellipses. He was also able to draw an object as it rotated through space, without needing to manipulate or walk around the object. Motors, explosions and angry women were recurrent themes in EC’s work. A project looking into his exceptional skills (Mottron & Belleville, 1993, 1995) lay the groundwork for models of perceptual “overfunctioning” in autism.

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