People can make use of multiple brain areas to navigate in the environment. Research in Véronique Bohbot’s laboratory focuses on these various memory systems, and how their use may vary, depending on individual navigational strategies. With experience, individuals may even switch navigational strategies in relation to a modification of the functioning of relevant brain areas. Nevertheless, damage to these brain areas can profoundly hamper spatial navigation, as many individuals continue trying to use strategies dependent on the damaged structures.

With the use of a real and virtual navigation laboratory, Véronique Bohbot investigates the neural correlates underlying both visual and auditory spatial memory in normal volunteers and brain-damaged individuals.

In their pursuit of answers, Véronique Bohbot and her team use state-of-the-art research approaches, including functional neuroimaging, neuroanatomy, and neuropsychology. Testing has involved various populations, ranging from normal volunteers to individuals with brain damage, neurological or psychiatric disorders, such as epilepsy, leukemia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Alzheimer Disease, and Parkinson's Disease.

Véronique Bohbot's research will help to profile neural activity in relevant brain areas (i.e. the parahippocampal cortex, hippocampus, and caudate nucleus) that underlie individual navigational strategies. It will also contribute to the development of effective rehabilitation for patients with navigational difficulties.