Martin Dessart
PhD student at Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l'Insecte, University of Tours
What Is It Like to Be a Bat? In 1974, T. Nagel asked a transcendental question about the subjective experience of another animal. The way I feel, my emotions as well as the senses I use to perceive the world, are unique. How then can we know that every human being feels in the same way? What about non-human animals ?
I am deeply fascinated by how Evolution has shaped the incredible perceptual abilities of animals
. Cognition, the mental process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience and the senses, is the area I want to explore. More specifically, I am deeply fascinated by how animals use their vision to interact with their environment, navigate or escape from a predator. I am currently studying invertebrate cognition
in Tours, France, in particular the role of water pollution on the learning and memory abilities of mosquito larvae. By understanding how animals perceive the world, I strongly believe that we can draw inspiration from this to develop applications and preserve our environment.