Portrait of Guillaume Dumas

Guillaume Dumas

Associate Academic Member
Associate Professor, Université de Montréal, Department of Psychiatry and Addiction
Adjunct Professor, McGill University, Department of Psychiatry
Research Topics
Computational Biology
Computational Neuroscience
Deep Learning
Dynamical Systems
Machine Learning Theory
Medical Machine Learning
Reinforcement Learning

Biography

Guillaume Dumas is an associate professor of computational psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, and principal investigator in the Precision Psychiatry and Social Physiology laboratory at the Centre hospitalier universitaire (CHU) Sainte-Justine Research Centre. He holds the IVADO professorship for AI in Mental Health, and the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé (FRQS) J1 in AI and Digital Health. In 2023, Dumas was recognized as a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar – Brain, Mind, and Consciousness program, and nominated as a Future Leader in Canadian Brain Research by the Brain Canada Foundation.

Dumas was previously a permanent researcher in neuroscience and computational biology at the Institut Pasteur (Paris). Before that, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences (Florida Atlanta University). He holds an engineering degree in advanced engineering and computer science (École Centrale Paris), two MSc degrees (theoretical physics, Paris-Saclay University; cognitive science, ENS/EHESS/Paris 5), and a PhD in cognitive neuroscience (Sorbonne University).

The goal of his research is to cross-fertilize AI/ML, cognitive neuroscience and digital medicine through an interdisciplinary program with two main axes:

- AI/ML for Mental Health, which aims to create new algorithms to investigate the development of human cognitive architecture and deliver personalized medicine in neuropsychiatry using data from genomes to smartphones.

- Social Neuroscience for AI/ML, which translates basic brain research and dynamical systems formalism into neurocomputational and machine learning hybrid models (NeuroML) and machines with social learning abilities (Social NeuroAI & HMI).

Current Students

Postdoctorate - Université de Montréal
Master's Research - Université de Montréal
Independent visiting researcher - CHU Sainte Justine / Université de Montréal
Master's Research - Université de Montréal
Principal supervisor :
PhD - Université de Montréal
Principal supervisor :

Publications

Changer le regard des étudiants sur les métiers de la comptabilité : Les effets de la simulation de gestion
Yann QUÉMÉNER
La comptabilité véhicule souvent injustement, une image terne et ennuyeuse, auprès du grand public et des jeunes étudiants choisissant l… (see more)eur orientation. Dans cet article, nous questionnons l’effet de pratiques pédagogiques sur la perception par les étudiants, des soft skills attendues par les employeurs. Pour cela nous réalisons une quasi-expérimentation dans laquelle nous comparons les perceptions des étudiants selon que le cours ait été animé sous un format classique (application des connaissances par le biais d’exercices avec corrigé par l’enseignant) ou sous la forme d’une simulation de gestion (application des connaissances en vue de prendre des décisions et piloter une entreprise fictive). Les résultats de la recherche montrent qu’une simulation de gestion, plus que les travaux dirigés classiques, permettent aux primo-apprenants en comptabilité, d’avoir une meilleure perception des soft skills attendues par les praticiens et les recruteurs. Nos résultats rappellent l’importance de donner une représentation réaliste (éloignée des clichés) de la profession, afin de rendre les filières d’enseignement de la comptabilité plus attractives.
A "fine-cuts" approach disentangling psychopathic, autistic and alexithymic traits in their associations with affective, cognitive and motor empathy
Julia Ayache
Nikki Stevenson
Elisha Patel
Alexander Sumich
Nadja Heym
https://www.neuromodec.org/journal/4/2/NzBlvmDpUYspQQbvI4B Online Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation of the Right Temporoparietal Junction Acutely Modulates Human-Machine Social Interactions
Vincent Chamberland
Quentin Moreau
Lisane Moses
Gabriela Milanova
Performance modulations phase-locked to action depend on internal state
Gustavo Rohenkohl
Pascal Fries
Several studies have probed perceptual performance at different times after a self-paced motor action and found frequency-specific modulatio… (see more)ns of perceptual performance phase-locked to the action. Such action-related modulation has been reported for various frequencies and modulation strengths. In an attempt to establish a basic effect at the population level, we had a relatively large number of participants (n=50) perform a self-paced button press followed by a detection task at threshold, and we applied both fixed- and random-effects tests. The combined data of all trials and participants surprisingly did not show any significant action-related modulation. However, based on previous studies, we explored the possibility that such modulation depends on the participant’s internal state. Indeed, when we split trials based on performance in neighboring trials, then trials in periods of low performance showed an action-related modulation at ≈17 Hz. When we split trials based on the performance in the preceding trial, we found that trials following a “miss” showed an action-related modulation at ≈17 Hz. Finally, when we split participants based on their false-alarm rate, we found that participants with no false alarms showed an action-related modulation at ≈17 Hz. All these effects were significant in random-effects tests, supporting an inference on the population. Together, these findings indicate that action-related modulations are not always detectable. However, the results suggest that specific internal states such as lower attentional engagement and/or higher decision criterion are characterized by a modulation in the beta-frequency range.
Sensory multi-brain stimulation enhances dyadic cooperative behavior
Ivo Leiva-Cisterna
Paulo Barraza
Eugenio Rodríguez
Hyperscanning research suggests that interbrain synchronization supports the regulation of social behavior. However, the evidence is predomi… (see more)nantly correlational, leaving a gap for epiphenomenal accounts, where synchrony merely represents concurrent stimulus processing rather than a mechanism relevant to interpersonal interactions. Here, we demonstrate that interbrain synchrony causally drives cooperative success, as evidenced by non-invasive stimulation enhancing coupling and subsequently improving performance in a concurrent interdependent cooperation task. We applied dual-sensory entrainment at 16 Hz and 40 Hz to dyads and compared their performance with non-entrained control dyads performing the same cooperation task. We found that dual stimulation improved interbrain synchrony at the targeted frequencies relative to controls, with 16 Hz entrainment producing the most prominent effect. Strikingly, sensory entrainment facilitated sustained behavioral coupling, allowing partners to maintain coordination over extended periods. Notably, these effects are contingent on improved response coordination, indicating the importance of interbrain coupling for facilitating coordination and demonstrating causally that partner neural attunement is necessary to produce effective joint behavior. Thus, our study supports the concept that interbrain synchrony represents a neural mechanism with functional specificity in social interactions.
Is sharing always caring? Entropy, boundaries and the plurality of psychotherapeutic process.
Lena Adel
Ana Gómez-Carrillo
Jonas Mago
Michael Lifshitz
Decomposing the Brain in Autism: Linking Behavioral Domains to Neuroanatomical Variation and Genomic Underpinnings.
Hanna Seelemeyer
Caroline Gurr
Johanna Leyhausen
Lisa M. Berg
Charlotte M. Pretzsch
Tim Schäfer
Bassem Hermila
Christine M. Freitag
Eva Loth
Beth Oakley
Luke Mason
Jan K. Buitelaar
Christian Beckmann
Dorothea L. Floris
Tony Charman
Tobias Banaschewski
Emily Jones
Thomas Bourgeron
Jumana Ahmad
Sara Ambrosino … (see 58 more)
Bonnie Auyeung
Simon Baron-Cohen
Sarah Baumeister
Sven Bölte
Carsten Bours
Michael Brammer
Daniel Brandeis
Claudia Brogna
Yvette de Bruijn
Bhismadev Chakrabarti
Ineke Cornelissen
Daisy Crawley
Flavio Dell’Acqua
Sarah Durston
Christine Ecker
Jessica Faulkner
Vincent Frouin
Pilar Garcés
David Goyard
Lindsay Ham
Hannah Hayward
Joerg F. Hipp
Rosemary Holt
Mark Johnson
Emily J. H. Jones
Prantik Kundu
Meng-Chuan Lai
Xavier Liogier D’ardhuy
Michael V. Lombardo
David J. Lythgoe
René Mandl
Andre Marquand
Maarten Mennes
Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg
Carolin Moessnang
Nico Bast
Larry O’Dwyer
Marianne Oldehinkel
Bob Oranje
Gahan Pandina
Antonio Persico
Barbara Ruggeri
Declan G.M. Murphy
Amber N. V. Ruigrok
Jessica Sabet
Roberto Sacco
Antonia San José Cáceres
Emily Simonoff
Will Spooren
Julian Tillmann
Roberto Toro
Heike Tost
Jack Waldman
Steve C. R. Williams
Caroline Wooldridge
Marcel P. Zwiers
Declan Murphy
Effects of gene dosage on cognitive ability: A function-based association study across brain and non-brain processes
Thomas Renne
Cécile Poulain
Alma Dubuc
Kuldeep Kumar
Sayeh Kazem
Worrawat Engchuan
Omar Shanta
Elise Douard
Catherine Proulx
Martineau Jean-Louis
Zohra Saci
Josephine Mollon
Laura M. Schultz
Emma E.M. Knowles
Simon R. Cox
David Porteous
Gail Davies
Paul Redmond
Sarah E. Harris … (see 10 more)
Gunter Schumann
Aurélie Labbe
Zdenka Pausova
Tomáš Paus
Stephen W. Scherer
Jonathan Sebat
Laura Almasy
David C. Glahn
Sébastien Jacquemont
Copy-number variants (CNVs) that increase the risk for neurodevelopmental disorders also affect cognitive ability. However, such CNVs remain… (see more) challenging to study due to their scarcity, limiting our understanding of gene-dosage-sensitive biological processes linked to cognitive ability. We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in 258,292 individuals, which identified—for the first time—a duplication at 2q12.3 associated with higher cognitive performance. We developed a functional-burden analysis, which tested the association between cognition and CNVs disrupting 6,502 gene sets biologically defined across tissues, cell types, and ontologies. Among those, 864 gene sets were associated with cognition, and effect sizes of deletion and duplication were negatively correlated. The latter suggested that functions across all biological processes were sensitive to either deletions (e.g., subcortical regions, postsynaptic) or duplications (e.g., cerebral cortex, presynaptic). Associations between non-brain tissues and cognition were driven partly by constrained genes, which may shed light on medical comorbidities in neurodevelopmental disorders.
Introducing Brain Foundation Models
Hena Ghonia
Bruno Aristimunha
Md Rifat Arefin
Sylvain Chevallier
Brain function represents one of the most complex systems driving our world. Decoding its signals poses significant challenges, particularly… (see more) due to the limited availability of data and the high cost of recordings. The existence of large hospital datasets and laboratory collections partially mitigates this issue. However, the lack of standardized recording protocols, varying numbers of channels, diverse setups, scenarios, and recording devices further complicate the task. This work addresses these challenges by introducing the Brain Foundation Model (BFM), a suite of open-source models trained on brain signals. These models serve as foundational tools for various types of time-series neuroimaging tasks. This work presents the first model of the BFM series, which is trained on electroencephalogram signal data. Our results demonstrate that BFM-EEG can generate signals more accurately than other models. Upon acceptance, we will release the model weights and pipeline.
LLMs and Personalities: Inconsistencies Across Scales
This study investigates the application of human psychometric assessments to large language models (LLMs) to examine their consistency and m… (see more)alleability in exhibiting personality traits. We administered the Big Five Inventory (BFI) and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R) to various LLMs across different model sizes and persona prompts. Our results reveal substantial variability in responses due to question order shuffling, challenging the notion of a stable LLM "personality." Larger models demonstrated more consistent responses, while persona prompts significantly influenced trait scores. Notably, the assistant persona led to more predictable scaling, with larger models exhibiting more socially desirable and less variable traits. In contrast, non-conventional personas displayed unpredictable behaviors, sometimes extending personality trait scores beyond the typical human range. These findings have important implications for understanding LLM behavior under different conditions and reflect on the consequences of scaling.
Long-term outcomes of critically ill patients with hematological malignancies: what is the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic? Author's reply
Laveena Munshi
Sangeeta Mehta
Diagnostic tests for infections in critically ill immunocompromised patients
Adrien Joseph
Lara Zafrani