“Alain is a convincing and wise thinker. He is by far the clearest communicator I have come across. No professor dedicates as much energy as he does to perfecting his expertise.”
This commendation by a doctoral student summarizes comments made by both students and professors when it comes to describing the teaching and research projects of Alain Desrochers, researcher in cognitive psychology.
A colleague makes this analogy: “The image that comes to mind when I think of the teaching and research accomplishments of Alain Desrochers, is that of the artist Alex Colville. The detail of every element in a painting blends as a whole so wonderfully that you are left thinking it is the reality of a photograph and yet you realize it is an abstract vision of reality.”
Brooch the subject with Desrochers and you will quickly get his perspective on things. He points out that the purpose of his course is to train students in scientific reasoning.
“If we are sketchy in the way we address a problem, we will be sketchy in the steps we take to solve it. One of my objectives is to ensure that my students learn to do something by the end of the semester that they did not know how to do at the beginning. For that to happen, you have to communicate clearly.”
Desrochers’ interest in cognitive processes, both in adults and children, began long ago. A biology professor in CEGEP sparked the young Desrochers’ interest in the inner workings of the brain and the process of thought. His initial sights set on engineering, Desrochers’ new-found interest led him towards cognitive psychology and research instead.
Throughout his career, he has concentrated on the cognitive processes that govern reading in both adults and children. In the course of his research, he has developed tools such as OMNILEX, an extensive database of contemporary French lexicon. More recently, he joined a multidisciplinary team that is studying language representations of uneducated writers in the 17, 18 and 19th centuries—an ambitious project that he speaks about with much enthusiasm.
Despite a very busy research program, Desrochers has several more ideas taking shape. He hopes to develop courseware that will allow students to elaborate entire research plans, visualize all the elements and modify their content to solidify the research. As always, he will insist on a systemic approach to reach sound conclusions.
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