Stanislas Dehaene
Stanislas Dehaene is an experimental psychologist whose studies of the brain now reach questions about machine minds. In 2017 he and two colleagues publish a Science paper asking whether machines could have consciousness, and in 2019 he co-authors a study of number and syntax units in LSTM language models. He shares the Brain Prize with Giacomo Rizzolatti and Trevor Robbins in 2014, and in 2020 the Cognitive Science Society names him the twentieth David E. Rumelhart Prize recipient. As of October 2026, he chairs the Scientific Council on Education and remains a professor at the Collège de France.
- Now at
- Collège de France and French Scientific Council on Education
- Works
- 1,101
- Citations
- 114,803
- h-index
- 166
Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 14 October 2026.
Timeline
-
1989
A doctorate with Jacques Mehler
He completes a doctorate in experimental psychology with Jacques Mehler in 1989, after studying at the École normale supérieure.
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September 2005
A Collège de France chair
He takes up a newly created chair in experimental cognitive psychology at the Collège de France in 2005, after nearly ten years as a research director at Inserm.
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2014
Sharing the Brain Prize
In 2014 he shares the Brain Prize with Giacomo Rizzolatti and Trevor Robbins.
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2017
A question about machine consciousness
In 2017 he and two colleagues publish 'What is consciousness, and could machines have it?' in Science.
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2019
Number units in LSTM language models
He co-authors 'The emergence of number and syntax units in LSTM language models' with Yair Lakretz, Marco Baroni and others, published in 2019.
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2020
The twentieth Rumelhart Prize
In 2020 the Cognitive Science Society names him the twentieth David E. Rumelhart Prize recipient.
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2025
A prize for writing about science
In 2025 he receives the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science.
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As of October 2026
Chairing the Scientific Council on Education
He chairs the French Scientific Council on Education, a post dating from 2018, and remains a professor at the Collège de France.
Sources and credits
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- Stanislas Dehaene - Wikipedia
- Biography and publications | Stanislas Dehaene - Experimental Cognitive Psychology | Collège de France
- Rumelhart Prize - Cognitive Science Society
- Frédéric Joliot Institute for Life Sciences - What is consciousness, and could machines have it?
- The emergence of number and syntax units in LSTM language models - ACL Anthology
- 17 March 2025 Stanislas Dehaene received the 2025 Lewis Thomas Prize for writing about science – Unicog_2025
- IHES Evening at the Fondation Louis Vuitton - IHES