Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Behavioural processes'

In this thesis a cognitive-behavioural model of health anxiety is used to investigate the psychological effects of bone densitometry, a health test which can provide an indication of future risk for osteoporosis. The cognitive-behavioural model of health anxiety proposes that people will experience relatively high levels of anxiety about their health if they have a tendency to make particularly negative interpretations of bodily variations and information which may be relevant to health. It was therefore predicted that people who have a pre-existing tendency to worry about their health would react more negatively to the results of bone density measurement. Consistent with this prediction, after a low bone density ("high risk") result, women who reported high levels of pre-existing health anxiety gave higher ratings of anxiety about osteoporosis and perceived likelihood of developing osteoporosis in the near future than women with low levels of preexisting health anxiety. (The two groups did not differ significantly in these ratings before the scan). Differences in the reactions of women with high and low levels of pre-existing health anxiety were still apparent 14 months after the scan. Women receiving a low bone density ("high risk") result showed a "minimization" of the seriousness of low bone density; when individual differences were investigated, it was found that women with very high levels of pre-existing health anxiety did not show minimization. Furthermore, after a "low risk" result, women with high levels of health anxiety were only temporarily reassured. It thus appears that the new measure of health anxiety which was used in this thesis may be useful in helping to identify people who are vulnerable to experiencing distress after health screening. More specific pre-scan measures of beliefs about osteoporosis (derived from the cognitive-behavioural model) also predicted reactions to bone density screening. For example, pre-scan beliefs about the seriousness or burden of low bone density / osteoporosis were stronger predictors of anxiety about osteoporosis three months after the scan than the actual scan result. Factors such as the type of interpretation the woman makes of her scan result, and whether the woman is having her first or second scan, were also found to influence psychological reactions.

Background. Suicidality has most commonly been studied within a psychiatric framework wherein it is conceptualised as a symptom or outcome of mental disorder. However, the majority of people that meet the criteria for a psychiatric diagnosis do not experience suicidality and a significant number of people that do not meet criteria for a diagnosis struggle with thoughts of suicide. Transdiagnostic approaches offer an approach to understanding and intervening with suicidality unhindered by the poor reliability, validity, and lack of specificity associated with psychiatric diagnosis. Aims. This study first sought to explore differences between people experiencing or not experiencing current suicidality, in terms of engagement in transdiagnostic cognitive and behavioural (TCB) processes. Secondly, the role of TCB processes in relation to suicidality were analysed in terms of their explanatory power when considered simultaneously with established suicide-specific psychological constructs. Method. A cross-sectional design was employed and a mixed sample was recruited (N = 927) through convenience and purposive sampling via an online survey. Regression analyses were performed to explore the ability of the variables to classify participants as experiencing or not experiencing current suicidality. Structural equation models were constructed to test the indirect effects of TCB processes. Results. TCB processes were significantly elevated in participants experiencing current suicidality. This elevated engagement persisted in a subsample of participants that had received a psychiatric diagnosis. TCB processes were not significant predictors of suicidality in the final stage of a regression model, but their inclusion improved goodness-of-fit. Finally, TCB processes had a minor but significant negative moderating effect upon 'desire for suicide' in relation to degree of suicidality. Conclusion. Transdiagnostic psychological constructs and cognitive and behavioural processes offer greater explanatory power for suicidality than does meeting the criteria for a psychiatric diagnosis. TCB processes may act as a means of coping with suicidal desire, however, and may not be indicated as initial targets for intervention.

Chez l'homme, la voix facilite les interactions sociales par la transmission d’informations sur l'identité de la personne, ses émotions ou sa personnalité. En particulier, l'identité du locuteur peut être automatiquement extraite même lorsque le message et l'état émotionnel varient, ce qui suggère des mécanismes cognitifs et cérébraux partiellement dissociables pour ces processus. Cependant, la reconnaissance d'une voix familière ou la discrimination entre deux locuteurs sont, pour certains sujets, non seulement non-automatiques, mais même impossibles. Ce déficit, lorsqu'il se manifeste dès la naissance, est appelé phonagnosie du développement et constitue la contrepartie auditive de la prosopagnosie (déficit de reconnaissance des visages). Dans le domaine visuel, il a été proposé que les sujets affectés par la prosopagnosie du développement représentent des cas extrêmes dans la distribution des capacités de reconnaissance de visages. A l’inverse, des "super-reconnaisseurs" des visages se situaient à l’opposé de cette distribution.Comme la distribution des capacités de reconnaissance de la voix dans la population générale était encore inconnue, le premier objectif de cette thèse a été d'en étudier les différences individuelles au moyen d'un court test - le Glasgow Voice Memory Test (GVMT). Les résultats obtenus ont reflété une large variabilité interindividuelle dans les capacités de reconnaissance des voix: parmi une cohorte de 1120 sujets, il y avait à la fois des sujets avec des performances significativement en dessous de la moyenne (potentiels phonagnosiques) et des "super-reconnaisseurs" des voix. Cette variabilité individuelle comportementale semblerait se refléter au niveau cérébral, comme révélés par l'imagerie par résonance magnétique fonctionnelle (IRMf) : en fait, il a été montré précédemment qu'il existait une variabilité interindividuelle considérable dans le signal BOLD (blood-oxygen level dependent) lié à la voix dans les zones temporales de la voix (TVAs). Ces régions sont situées sur le bord supérieur des sulcus/gyrus temporal supérieur (STS/STG) et montrent une activation préférentielle pour les sons vocaux plutôt que non vocaux. Le deuxième objectif de ce travail fut de mieux caractériser le lien entre les mécanismes comportementaux et neuronaux sous-tendant la variabilité interindividuelle dans les processus de reconnaissance des voix. Pour cela, nous avons examiné comment la perception de la voix modulait la connectivité fonctionnelle entre les TVAs, constituant le "noyau" du réseau de perception de la voix, et les régions frontales également sensibles aux voix, constituant une extension de ce réseau. Les résultats ont montré qu'il y avait une connectivité fonctionnelle positive dans l'ensemble du réseau et que la connectivité fonctionnelle fronto-temporelle et fronto-frontale droite augmentait avec les scores obtenus lors du GVMT.Pour compléter ce travail, nous avons réalisé une autre étude IRMf en utilisant des analyses multivariées, afin de clarifier les corrélats neuronaux de la reconnaissance du locuteur mais aussi le lien entre sensibilité cérébrale à la voix et capacités de reconnaissance du locuteur. Pour cela, des sujets ayant des capacités de reconnaissance vocale hétérogènes ont été soumis à la fois à une tâche d'identification du locuteur et à une tâche d'écoute passive de sons vocaux et non vocaux. Les résultats ont confirmé que l’identification du locuteur s’effectuait via un réseau étendu de régions, incluant les TVAs mais aussi des régions frontales. De plus, nous avons observé que le score de classification voix/non-voix dans le STS droit permettait de prédire les capacités d'identification des locuteurs.Dans l'ensemble, ces résultats suggèrent que les capacités de reconnaissance vocale varient considérablement d'un individu à l'autre et que cette variabilité pourrait être le reflet de profils d’activité cérébrale différents au sein du réseau de la perception de la voix
In humans, voice conveys heterogeneous information such as speaker’s identity, which can be automatically extracted even when language content and emotional state vary. We hypothesized that the ability to recognize a speaker considerably varied across the population, as previously observed for face recognition. To test this hypothesis, a short voice recognition test was delivered to 1120 subjects in order to observe how voice recognition abilities were distributed in the general population. Since it has been previously observed that there exists a considerable inter-individual variability in voice-elicited activity in temporal voice areas (TVAs), regions along the superior temporal sulcus/gyrus (STS/STG) that show preferentially activation for voices than other sounds, the second aim of this work was then to better characterize the link between the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying inter-individual variability in voice recognition processes through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The results of a first fMRI study showed that functional connectivity between frontal and temporal voice sensitive regions increased with voice recognition scores obtained at a voice recognition test. Another fMRI study showed that speaker’s identity was treated in an extended network of regions, including TVAs but also frontal regions and that voice/non-voice classification accuracy in right STS increased with speaker identification abilities. Altogether, these results suggest that voice recognition abilities considerably vary across subjects and that this variability can be mirrored by different neural profiles within the voice perception network

Die vorliegende Arbeit widmet sich der Erforschung der Fahrer-Fahrzeug-Interaktion mit dem Ziel der Fahrerabsichtserkennung bei Spurwechselmanövern. Diese Fahrmanöver sind mit einer überproportionalen Unfallhäufigkeit verbunden, die sich in den Unfallstatistiken widerspiegelt. Laut Statistischem Bundesamt (2008) kamen im Jahr 2007 12,0% (1857) aller Unfälle mit schwerem Sachschaden auf Autobahnen in Deutschland aufgrund von Zusammenstößen mit seitlich in die gleiche Richtung fahrenden Fahrzeugen zustande (S. 65). Mit Hilfe der Information über einen intendierten Spurwechsel kann ein System an das zukünftige Fahrerverhalten angepasst werden, um so die Funktionalität und damit das Sicherheitspotential des Gesamtsystems zu erhöhen. Zusätzlich können mit dieser Information auch unerwünschte Systemeingriffe unterdrückt werden, die den Fahrer stören und so zu einer Minderung der Akzeptanz des jeweiligen Fahrerassistenz- und Informationssystems führen könnten. So kann einerseits ein Assistenzsystem eingeschaltet werden, das den Spurwechsel erleichtert (z.B. Side Blind Zone Alert, Kiefer & Hankey, 2008). Zum anderen kann ein Assistenzsystem abgeschaltet werden, das den Fahrer irrtümlich warnen würde, wie zum Beispiel ein Spurverlassenswarner im Falle eines beabsichtigten Überfahrens der Fahrspur (Henning, Beyreuther et al., 2007). In diesem Zusammenhang bilden drei Untersuchungen das Herzstück der vorliegenden Arbeit. In einer Feldstudie untersuchten Henning, Georgeon, Dapzol und Krems (2009) Indikatoren, die auf die Vorbereitung eines Spurwechsels hindeuten und fanden dabei vor allem Blickverhalten in den linken Außenspiegel als einen geeigneten und sehr frühen Indikator. Dieser dient wahrscheinlich vor allem dem Aufbau einer mentalen Repräsentation des rückwärtigen Verkehrs. In einer anschließenden Fahrsimulatorstudie wurde experimentell erforscht, wie diese mentale Repräsentation beschaffen ist und in welchen Komponenten des Arbeitsgedächtnisses sie gespeichert wird (Henning, Beyreuther, & Krems, 2009). In einer dritten Studie, bestehend aus zwei Laborexperimenten, wurde nach einer Schwelle für den Übergang von einer statischen in eine dynamische mentale Repräsentation sich nähernder Fahrzeuge mit Hilfe des Paradigmas des Representational Momentum (Freyd & Finke, 1984) gesucht und ebenfalls deren Lokalisation im Arbeitsgedächtnis erforscht (Henning & Krems, 2009). Die den drei Manuskripten vorangestellte Einleitung dient der allgemeinen Einführung in das Thema und der Einordnung der Befunde. Dabei wird zuerst der Spurwechselprozess dargestellt, gefolgt von einer Diskussion der zugrundeliegenden kognitiven Prozesse und einem Exkurs über die Möglichkeiten der Spurwechselabsichtserkennung und deren Verbesserung im Lichte der Befunde.

Specific strategic control (executive) processes were investigated in 17 boys with ADHD and 18 normal control boys, ages 9--13 years, using a paradigm combining the Warned Reaction Time and Stimulus-Response Compatibility tasks. The length and constancy of the preparatory interval (PI) were manipulated in order to study preparatory processes associated with prediction and temporal adjustment. Compared to control boys, boys with ADHD had particular difficulty with long, fixed, and short, variable preparatory intervals, suggesting problems with the strategic control of response preparation and adaptation to temporal changes. Heart rate deceleratory patterns recorded during the PI indicated that impaired active, accurate, prediction played a major role in the preparatory deficit. The study also manipulated compatibility and predictability of response demands in order to assess inhibitory processes and the ability to shift flexibly between changing response demands. Boys with ADHD had particular difficulty shifting flexibly between compatible and incompatible responding, indicating a problem with strategic response adjustment. Findings also suggested possible difficulties with the allocation of consistent, effortful attention and the inhibition of inappropriate responding. In addition, interactions were also observed in the ADHD group between the strategic and inhibitory measures. Overall, the findings supported Douglas's (1988; 1999) conceptualization of ADHD as involving a self-regulatory deficiency consisting of interacting strategic, effortful, and inhibitory components. The study also addressed the question of whether Sanders' (1983) cognitive-energetic model, which has been used widely in studies of ADHD, can deal adequately with the cognitive difficulties associated with ADHD. The findings indicated that the model has not been developed adequately to deal with the kinds of higher level processing deficits that were identified in the ADHD group. In addition, in

The peripheral olfactory system of the Drosophila larva consists of a pair of dorsal organs each comprising 21 olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs). Each OSN expresses one or two classes of olfactory receptor (OR) in addition to the ubiquitously expressed protein OR83b. The neuronal wiring from OSNs to higher brain centres in Drosophila larvae mirrors the organization seen in higher organisms but is reduced numerically to a simple 1:1:1 connectivity. Presented here is the first in situ electrophysiological data for individual larval OSNs.

In language learning two mechanisms are of critical importance, namely, rule learning and statistical learning. Additionally, an important linguistic unit, the syllable, has been proposed to be the unit of speech segmentation and speech production. The present dissertation explores the influence of syllabic structure on rule learning and statistical learning mechanisms. First, I explored the interference of syllabic structure changes over adjacent repetition-based rules and statistical word segmentation in a series of behavioral experiments. Then, I explored the ERP signatures of a syllabic structure change over adjacent and non-adjacent repetition-based rules. Overall, results show that the learnability of abstract adjacent or non-adjacent repetition-based rules and statistical learning are not interfered by a change in syllabic structure. Our results also show that the extraction of regularities over syllables was easier to perform than over vowels, attesting the pre-eminent role of the syllable in speech processing. The electrophysiological responses to syllabic structure changes were readily detected a few hundred milliseconds after the presentation of the stimulus, manifesting the automatic perceptual nature of its detection.
En l’aprenentatge d’una llengua intervenen dos mecanismes bàsics, l’aprenentatge de regles i l’aprenentatge de relacions estadístiques. A més, s’ha proposat la síl·laba com a unitat amb rellevància lingüística per aquest estudi. La present dissertació explora la influència de l’estructura sil·làbica en els mecanismes d’aprenentatge de regles i de relacions estadístiques. Primerament, en una sèrie d’experiments comportamentals, exploro la interferència que el canvi d’estructura sil·làbica genera en regles repetitives adjacents i en mecanismes estadístics de segmentació de paraules. Després, exploro les respostes cognitives evocades del canvi d’estructura sil·làbica en l’aprenentatge de regles repetitives adjacents i no adjacents. Els resultats mostren que l’aprenentatge de regles repetitives adjacents i no adjacents, i l’aprenentatge de relacions estadístiques, no són interferits per un canvi d’estructura sil·làbica. L’extracció de regularitats sobre síl·labes va ser més fàcil que sobre vocals, confirmant el paper preeminent que la síl·laba té en el processament del llenguatge. La resposta electrofisiològica del canvi d’estructura sil·làbica va ser detectada amb rapidesa, tan sols uns dos-cents mil·lisegons després de la presentació de l’estímul, posant de manifest, doncs, la naturalesa automàtica d’aquesta detecció.

The ability to stop ongoing movements or prevent unwanted movements is fundamental to behavioural control. This thesis addresses the neural processes underlying inhibitory control and how initiation and stop processes interact to control behaviour. We conducted four studies, employing various behavioural tasks that require humans to prepare to initiate a response with the possibility that it may have to be prevented or stopped from being initiated. In the first experiment we sought to determine whether the increase in reaction time (RT) during the performance of traditional stop-signal task was due to a decreased the amount of go-related preparatory activation. We used a startling acoustic stimulus (SAS) to determine whether the go-response could be triggered involuntarily, and investigated whether the latency of SAS responses were delayed when participants were instructed that they might have to stop their response compared to when they knew they would never stop (i.e., simple RT task). We found that the go-response was prepared in advance during the stop-signal task, but to a lesser degree as indicated by the slower SAS response latency, compared to when go trials were completed in the simple RT task. Thus, even the possibility of having to stop a response reduces the level of preparatory go-activation. The second experiment tested the hypothesis that behavioural control during a stop-signal task is determined by an independent race between go- and stop-processes. In this experiment we used a SAS to manipulate initiation and inhibition by probing the go- and stop-response prior to and after the stop-signal respectively in a stop-signal task. We found that the go-response could be triggered by the SAS even 200 ms following the stop-signal suggesting that behavioural control during a stop-signal task is not determined by an independent race between go- and stop-activations, but rather by an interaction between go-activation and stop processes. The third experiment investigated the effect of advance preparation on the ability to proactively and selectively inhibit a single limb in a bimanual response that had been cued to maybe stop. TMS was used to measure the excitability of the limb that was cued to maybe stop in comparison to the limb that was to continue with its response. In addition, a SAS was used to probe the preparatory state of the go-response in each limb. We found that increased preparatory go-activation of responses in both limbs overshadowed the neurophysiological evidence of proactive selective inhibition, while processes related to the selective stopping task appeared to suppress subcortical motor structures and the ability of the SAS to involuntarily trigger the prepared responses. The fourth experiment sought to determine the role of the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) and the pre-supplementary motor area (preSMA) in the inhibition of response initiation during a go/no-go task. We temporarily deactivated rIFG or preSMA using continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) and examined changes in inhibition, voluntary initiation, and the ability of a SAS to involuntary trigger the initiation of the response. We found that stimulation to both cortical sites impaired participant’s ability to withhold movements during no-go trials. Notably, deactivating rIFG and preSMA did not affect voluntary initiation and did not enable the SAS to involuntarily trigger the response. These findings implicate the rIFG and the preSMA in the ability to inhibit responses during a go/no-go task, and suggests that preparation and initiation of the go-response occurs in response to the imperative stimulus, with inhibition only applied once the stimulus is identified as a no-go signal. Taken together, these studies show that i) modulation of preparatory go-activation contributes to the ability to inhibit a motor response, ii) motor response inhibition is achieved by initiation activation being prevented from reaching threshold, iii) preparatory go-activation overshadows proactive inhibition, iv) inhibitory control depends on the integrity and recruitment of top-down inhibitory control to suppress initiation activation once a no-go stimulus is identified. This research speaks to the interaction between initiation and inhibition processes and provides novel insight and evidence in support of an interactive model of inhibitory control.

Psychopathy is a personality disorder, the boundaries and content of which lack clarity and consensus. Researchers and clinicians tend to agree on one key aspect: affective hypo-responsivity. Recent evidence suggests that this disposition may be specific to certain features of psychopathy, and that affective deficits may be specific to aversive stimuli. Recognising that existing tests of emotion processing in relation to psychopathy have tended to rely on facial affect recognition, the present work delineated emotion processing into several components which were assessed in relation to the psychopathy dimensions broadly labelled primary and secondary psychopathic traits. Use of the same pictorial stimulus set allowed for an examination of processing of affective cues in terms of categorisation of affect, physiological response assessed through pupillometry, and influence on behaviour. Emotion experience was assessed through self-report. This approach allowed an examination of whether deficient threat reactivity is consistently found across the different manifestations of emotion. Moreover, by assessing psychopathy in terms of primary and secondary psychopathic traits, the generalisation of threat deficits across the variants could also be examined. Recognising the existing debate regarding the content of psychopathy, the present work also utilised two alternative measures of the disorder, the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version, and the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure. Assessing components of emotion processing in relation to the psychopathy dimensions within a sample of 94 adult male offenders revealed the specificity of threat deficits in relation to PCL:SV Factor 1. Contrary to hypotheses, physiological reactivity to affect was intact for offenders high on primary psychopathic traits. For offenders high on secondary psychopathic traits, affective responses across the components were intact but an atypical pattern of autonomic activity was found. Assessment of multiple components of affect therefore allowed a more subtle pattern of psychopathic emotion processing to emerge and highlighted the multifaceted nature of psychopathy.

That humans and animals learn from interaction with the environment is a foundational idea underlying nearly all theories of learning and intelligence. Learning that certain outcomes are associated with specific actions or stimuli (both internal and external), is at the very core of the capacity to adapt behaviour to environmental changes. In the present work, appetitive and aversive reinforcement learning paradigms have been used to investigate the fronto-striatal loops and behavioural correlates of adaptive and maladaptive reinforcement learning processes, aiming to a deeper understanding of how cortical and subcortical substrates interacts between them and with other brain systems to support learning. By combining a large variety of neuroscientific approaches, including behavioral and psychophysiological methods, EEG and neuroimaging techniques, these studies aim at clarifying and advancing the knowledge of the neural bases and computational mechanisms of reinforcement learning, both in normal and neurologically impaired population.

Sleep in children is important for the functioning of a range of cognitive processes, including memory, attention, arousal, executive functioning, and the processing of emotional experiences. This, in addition to the high comorbidity between sleep problems and anxiety, may suggest that sleep plays a role in the cognitive and behavioural processes associated with childhood anxiety. Although a body of research exists which considers the associations between sleep problems and anxiety, there is currently little research evidence available for the effect of children's sleepiness on anxiety, or for the effect of childhood sleep problems or sleepiness on anxiety related processes. To address this, this thesis begins with a meta-analysis exploring the efficacy of transdiagnostic cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) for the treatment of childhood anxiety (Paper 1). CBT is generally the treatment of choice for childhood anxiety, and targets the processes that the subsequent papers in this thesis consider in relation to children's sleepiness and sleep problems. Papers two to five consider the effect of sleepiness on a range of cognitive and behavioural processes, including vicariously learning and unlearning fear (Paper 2), ambiguity resolution (Paper 3), emotion recognition (Paper 4), and habituation and avoidance (Paper 5). The final paper considers sleep problems in relation to a CBT intervention for childhood anxiety (Paper 6). Overall, while sleep problems and usual sleepiness were found to be associated with childhood anxiety, current sleepiness was not. On the other hand, sleepiness (usual and current), and reduced sleep, affected children's behavioural processes when exposed to anxiety provoking stimuli, but were not found to affect children's anxietyrelated cognitive processes. Sleep problems interacted with vicarious learning processes, but not with ambiguity resolution or emotion recognition processes, or with change in anxiety symptoms following a CBT intervention for childhood anxiety. Implications for treatment and future research directions are discussed.

The role of consumer-resource relationship is the basis of the structure and functioning of ecological communities. The traditional lens for studying such interactions have tended to omit the importance of the species behaviour, particularly in the case of plant-herbivore interactions. However, they way the herbivore exploits the plant and the way the plant responds to that pressure is crucial in determining the stability of the interaction. Thus, both herbivore and plant performances, contextualised in the environment where the interaction takes place, can act as drivers of the resilience of the system. This thesis focuses on Posidonia oceanica ecosystems and specifically on the interaction between this seagrass and its two main herbivores – the fish Sarpa salpa and the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus –. I assess the importance of herbivore behaviour (the aggregation patterns and feeding behaviour of S. salpa and the canopy cover dependence of P. lividus) and the resilience provided feedback mechanisms (direct responses of the plant and indirect ecosystem processes) under changing conditions resulting from global change. Disentangling these components of the interaction allows us to assess its sensitivity to each of the components and to test the response and resilience of the system under different conditions. Chapter 1 shows the importance of body size of Sarpa salpa individuals in their individual feeding activity, shoaling aggregation patterns and shoal feeding strategies, as well as the potential consequences of this on the seagrass P. oceanica. On the one hand, the larger the individuals are, the more feeding activity they show. On the other hand, S. salpa individuals tend to aggregate with conspecifics of the same body size and group size is positively related to the size of the individuals in the group. In addition, feeding strategies increase in complexity with group size and tend to be focused on very specific spots within the meadow. Thus, as individuals grow, they increase their potential impact on the seagrass, both in terms of their consumption capacity and the formation of large shoals capable of concentrating their consumption in very specific areas of the meadow. This distribution of herbivory can lead to spatial heterogeneity with consequences for the functioning of the ecosystem dominated by P. oceanica. In chapter 2, a number of regulatory mechanisms arising from an episode of intense herbivory are found to provide resilience to Posidonia oceanica system once its canopy height is reduced. Four of the mechanisms evaluated function as feedback mechanisms, one of them being actively deployed by the plant (compensatory growth) while the other three (preference for an alternative resource, increased risk of predation and reduced urchin numbers due to competition for the resource and loss of cover) are triggered indirectly and their effectiveness is based on inducing changes in the behaviour of the herbivore Paracentrotus lividus. The results obtained show how P. oceanica is able to invest efforts in recovering part of the lost leaf biomass while the system itself is able to regulate herbivory pressure as long as the environmental conditions are appropriate to the occurrence of these mechanisms. The role of these mechanisms is key to avoid the potential collapse of P. oceanica meadows under the stress caused by an episode of intense herbivory. In chapter 3, the effect of global warming on the Posidonia oceanica – Sarpa salpa interaction is assessed through a combination of gradient approaches in the field and manipulative laboratory experiments. On the one hand, the results show that increasing water temperature significantly increases S. salpa growth rates during its larval stage, reducing its larval period (fewer days in the water column) and limiting its dispersal, while showing no effect on feeding behaviour during its adult phase. On the other hand, warming negatively affects the growth rates of P. oceanica and makes it more palatable towards S. salpa according to the results from the preference experiment. Our study shows that S. salpa could develop faster in warmer environments during its most vulnerable stage, increasing its survival but decreasing its dispersal capacity. At the same time, it could increase its preference for P. oceanica in its adult stage, which, together with the reduction of seagrass growth, could considerably intensify the strength of the interaction under warming conditions. All in all, the results of this study have contributed to confirm the relevance of herbivores’ behaviour in the way they exploit P.oceanica, mainly the feeding strategies of S. salpa, and how feedback mechanisms, provide resilience and allow the ecosystem to be maintained in an vegetated state. All of this gets relevant when contextualised within the process of global change, with a probable strengthening of the plant-herbivore interaction. Understanding the sensitivity of the interaction equilibria to each of its components is crucial to decide where to invest conservation efforts in these ecosystems and to be able to anticipate how changes in the contextual conditions may alter the final balance of the interaction.
El papel de la relación consumidor-recurso es la base de la estructura y el funcionamiento de las comunidades ecológicas. La óptica tradicional usada en el estudio de estas interacciones ha tendido a omitir la importancia del comportamiento de las especies, sobre todo en el caso de las interacciones planta-herbívoro. Sin embargo, tanto la forma en la que el herbívoro explota a la planta y como la manera en que ésta responde a esa presión son cruciales para determinar la estabilidad de la interacción. Por lo tanto, las actuaciones del herbívoro y la de la planta, contextualizadas en el entorno en el que tiene lugar la interacción, pueden actuar como mediadores de la resiliencia del sistema. Esta tesis se centra en los ecosistemas de Posidonia oceanica y, concretamente, en la interacción entre esta fanerógama con sus dos principales herbívoros -el pez Sarpa salpa y el erizo de mar Paracentrotus lividus-. En esta tesis se evlaúa la importancia del comportamiento de los herbívoros (los patrones de agregación y las estrategias de alimentación de S. salpa y la dependencia de la cobertura foliar de P. lividus) y la resiliencia proporcionada por los mecanismos de retroalimentación (respuestas directas de la planta y procesos indirectos del ecosistema) bajo condiciones cambiantes resultantes del cambio global. Desentrañar estos componentes de la interacción nos permite evaluar su sensibilidad a cada uno de los dichos componentes y comprobar la respuesta y la resiliencia del sistema bajo diferentes condiciones. En el capítulo 1 se muestra la importancia del tamaño del cuerpo de los individuos de Sarpa salpa en sus tasas de consumo individual, en sus patrones de agregación y en las estrategias alimenticias de grupos, además de las potenciales consecuencias de estos procesos sobre la fanerógama Posidonia oceanica. Por un lado, cuanto mayores son los individuos, mayores tasas de consumo muestran. Por otro, los individuos de S.salpa tienden a agregarse con conspecíficos de la misma talla, mientras que el tamaño de los grupos se relaciona positivamente con la talla de los individuos que lo forman. Además, las estrategias de alimentación aumentan en complejidad con el tamaño del grupo y tienden a focalizarse en puntos muy concretos de la pradera. Así, a medida que los individuos crecen, aumentan su potencial impacto en la fanerógama, tanto por su capacidad de consumo como la formación de grandes bancos capaces de concentrar su herbivoría en áreas muy concretas de las praderas. Esta distribución de la herbivoría puede provocar una heterogeneidad espacial con consecuencias sobre el funcionamiento del ecosistema dominado por P. oceanica En el capítulo 2 se comprueba la existencia de una serie de mecanismos reguladores surgidos de un episodio de herbivoría intensa que aportan resiliencia al sistema de Posidonia oceanica una vez disminuida su bóveda foliar. Cuatro de los mecanismos evaluados funcionan como mecanismos de retroalimentación, siendo uno de ellos desplegado activamente por la planta (crecimiento compensatorio) mientras que los tres restantes (preferencia por un recurso alternativo, incremento del riesgo de depredación y disminución del número de erizos por competencia por el recurso y pérdida de cobertura) se desencadenan de forma indirecta y su eficacia se basa en inducir cambios en el comportamiento del herbívoro Paracentrotus lividus. Los resultados obtenidos muestran como P. oceanica es capaz de invertir esfuerzos en recuperar parte de la biomasa foliar perdida, mientras que el mismo sistema es capaz de regular la presión de herbivoría siempre que las condiciones del entorno sean propicias para la aparición de dichos mecanismos. El papel resiliente de estos mecanismos es clave para evitar el potencial colapso de las praderas de P. oceanica bajo el estrés provocado por un episodio de herbivoría intensa. En el capítulo 3 se evalúa el efecto del calentamiento global en la interacción Posidonia oceanica – Sarpa salpa a través de una combinación de aproximaciones de gradiente en campo con experimentos manipulativos de laboratorio. Por un lado, los resultados muestran que el aumento de la temperatura del agua incrementa significativamente las tasas de crecimiento de S.salpa durante su etapa larval, acorta su período en dicha etapa (menos días en la columna de agua) y limita su dispersión, mientras que no muestra ningún efecto en la actividad herbívora durante su fase adulta. Por otro lado, el calentamiento afecta negativamente las tasas de crecimiento de P. oceanica y la vuelve más palatable frente a S. salpa de acuerdo con los resultados en el experimento de preferencia. Nuestro estudio muestra que S. salpa podría desarrollarse más rápido en su etapa más vulnerable, aumentando su supervivencia, pero disminuyendo su capacidad de dispersión, mientras que podría incrementar su preferencia por P. oceanica en su etapa adulta, lo que, junto con la reducción del crecimiento de la fanerógama, podría intensificar considerablemente la fuerza de la interacción. En definitiva, los resultados de esta tesis han servido para constatar la relevancia del comportamiento de los herbívoros en su forma de explotar el recurso, principalmente las estrategias de alimentación de S. salpa, y como los mecanismos de retroalimentación aportan resiliencia y permiten al ecosistema mantenerse en un estado óptimo. Todo ello cobra más importancia al contextualizarlo dentro del proceso del cambio global, dado el probable fortalecimiento de la interacción planta-herbívoro. Conocer la sensibilidad de la interacción a cada uno de los componentes es crucial para decidir donde hay que invertir los esfuerzos de conservación en estos ecosistemas y poder así anticiparnos a como los cambios en las condiciones de contorno pueden alterar el equilibrio final de la interacción.

The role of the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPTg) in the control of behavioural processes was investigated in this thesis. This was achieved through examination of: (1) Conditioned place preference formation: PPTg lesioned rats were not impaired in forming an appropriate place preference, regardless of their deprivation state. (2) Reward-related responding: both food deprived and non-deprived lesioned rats displayed disinhibited intake across a gradient of sucrose rewards, the degree of disinhibition increasing as the reward became stronger. This disinhibited responding was disassociated from simple approach behaviour as shown by similar runway completion times across control and lesioned rats. (3) Radial arm maze performance: PPTg lesioned rats were impaired in their ability to retrospectively plan and forage in a random foraging task. This impairment was seen in both acquisition and retention tasks. PPTg lesioned rats were also impaired in the acquisition of a spatial working memory task in which they had to prospectively plan and execute responses. (4) These behavioural tasks are related to striatal output. To complement them anatomical experiments examining altered striatal outflow on neurotransmitter expression in the PPTg were conducted. Neither dopamine receptor blockade nor 6- hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesions of striatal dopamine produced changes in nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH)-diaphorase expression in the PPTg. This work did, however, lay the foundation for future experimentation to address this question. The combination of these findings extends current literature to outline a role for the PPTg in the control of complex behaviours that have been previously associated with sites higher up the neuraxis. This thesis demonstrates that removal of the PPTg results in behaviours that are inappropriate and disinhibited. In conclusion the PPTg is important for both accurate response selection and execution of goal directed behaviours, elements crucial for effective behavioural responding.

The influence of psychiatric diagnoses extends beyond psychiatry. In psychology, Beck's (1967) work paved the way for a disorder-focused conceptualisation of psychological distress and diagnosis-led therapies. Consequently, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy research has focused on studying the role of cognitive and behavioural processes in the development and/or maintenance of symptoms, in specific psychological disorders. Recently, theorists have highlighted the commonalities in these processes across multiple disorders i.e. transdiagnostic approach (Harvey et a/., 2004). This is an emerging theory, in the early stages of empirical evaluation. To identify transdiagnostic processes of interest, a measure called the Cognitive and Behavioural Processes Questionnaire (CBP-Q) was developed. The CBP-Q was administered to a mixed clinical group (n=80) and a control group: student (n=172) and community (n=57), to undertake preliminary analysis of its psychometric properties and explore group differences. A principal component analysis resulted in a 13-item version of the CBP-Q, consisting of one theoretical construct. The measure demonstrated good internal consistency, test-retest stability and satisfactory convergent and divergent validity. Correlations with symptom-based measures showed increased engagement in the processes to be associated with higher levels of symptomatology. The clinical group had a significantly higher mean CBP-Q score than the control groups. The diagnostic category was found to have no effect on CBP-Q scores, however, due to small sample sizes this finding should be interpreted with caution. The findings of the study are preliminary and require replication, however, they suggest the CBP-Q has good psychometric properties. Correlations and group comparisons support a transdiagnostic model. The CBP-Q has the potential of being a useful clinical tool in helping to identify the focus of therapy (i.e. clients individual needs of care), over the traditional diagnosis-led approach. With continued empirical evaluation, the transdiagnostic field holds promising change for clients, clinicians and services.

Climate change is a pressing problem and substantial reductions in the greenhouse gas emissions that cause it are necessary to avert the worst impacts predicted. The UK has targeted an 80% reduction from 1990 emissions levels by 2050. This thesis investigates how to promote behavioural changes that will reduce emissions associated with individuals’ lifestyles, which comprise a significant proportion of the UK total. The thesis begins by appraising whether and how climate change communications, specifically films, can succeed in changing attitudes and behaviour. The impacts on viewers of the film The Age of Stupid were assessed using a fourstage panel survey. Increased concern, motivation to act, and sense of agency felt immediately after seeing the film did not persist, but respondents reported some behavioural changes. The longer-term follow-up suggests that behavioural intentions do not necessarily translate into action, but also revealed issues concerning the reliability of participants’ causal attributions of their behaviour. These and other challenges of conducting longitudinal studies of behavioural change related to climate change communications are discussed. The thesis then uses a model of behavioural change transposed from health psychology to analyse the processes of change employed or depicted by four climate change films, in order to identify more generally the strengths and limitations of films as means to promote mitigation action, and to demonstrate the potential utility of the model in the field of proenvironmental behaviour change. The issue is then considered from the opposite angle, with an examination of what has motivated individuals who have already adopted lower-carbon lifestyles. Qualitative research reveals that protecting ‘the environment’ per se is not the primary value stimulating most interviewees’ action; typically they were more concerned about the impacts of climate change on people in developing countries. Although analysis of a survey instrument showed that biospheric values are important to the participants, they tended to score altruistic values significantly higher. Thus it may not be necessary to promote biospheric values to encourage lower-carbon lifestyles. The final element of the work involved researching the opinions of members of Carbon Rationing Action Groups, seeking to understand what can be learned from their experiences of living with a carbon allowance, and the implications that the findings may have for potential government policies, especially personal carbon trading. The thesis concludes that, given the scale of action required, the difficulties individuals face when considering whether and how to adopt lower-carbon behaviours, and the limited impact of initiatives such as Carbon Rationing Action Groups and The Age of Stupid beyond a relatively small circle of people who tend to exhibit particular traits (such as a preference for frugality), significant UK emissions reductions will necessitate far-reaching legislation that will impact on everyday practices and behaviour.

Selon des études comportementales, les comportements complexes sont des processus multi-échelles, souvent composés de sous-éléments (unités fonctionnelles ou primitives). Cette thèse propose des architectures fonctionnelles afin de représenter la structure dynamique des unités fonctionnelles ainsi que celle des comportements multi-échelles résultants. Dans un premier temps, des unités fonctionnelles sont modélisées comme des flux structurés de faible dimension dans l'espace de phase (modes de fonctionnement). Des dynamiques supplémen-taires (signaux opérationnels) opèrent sur ces modes de fonctionnement faisant émerger des comportements complexes et sont classifiés selon la séparation entre leur échelle temporelle et celle des modes. Ensuite, des mesures de complexité, appliquées sur des architectures dis-tinctes composant un mouvement simple, révèlent un compromis entre la complexité des modes de fonctionnement et celle des signaux opérationnels. Celui-ci dépend de la séparation entre leurs échelles temporelles et soutient l'efficacité des architectures utilisant des modes non triviaux. Dans un deuxième temps, une architecture pour le comportement séquentiel (ici l'écriture) est construite via le couplage des modes de fonctionnement (réalisant des lettres) et des signaux opérationnels, ceux-ci beaucoup plus lents ou beaucoup plus rapides. Ainsi, l'importance des interactions entre les échelles temporelles pour l'organisation du comporte-ment est illustrée. Enfin, les contributions des modes et des signaux sur la sortie de l'architec-ture sont déterminées. Ceci semble être uniquement possible grâce à l'analyse du flux de phase (c'est-à-dire, non pas à partir des trajectoires dans l'espace de phase ni des séries temporelles)
Behavioural studies suggest that complex behaviours are multiscale processes, which may be composed of elementary ones (units or primitives). Traditional approaches to cognitive mod-elling generally employ reductionistic (mostly static) representations and computations of simplistic dynamics. The thesis proposes functional architectures to capture the dynamical structure of both functional units and the composite multiscale behaviours. First, a mathe-matical formalism of functional units as low dimensional, structured flows in phase space is introduced (functional modes). Second, additional dynamics (operational signals), which act upon functional modes for complex behaviours to emerge, are classified according to the separation between their characteristic time scale and the one of modes. Then, complexity measures are applied to distinct architectures for a simple composite movement and reveal a trade off between the complexities of functional modes and operational signals, depending on their time scale separation (in support of the control effectiveness of architectures employing non trivial modes). Subsequently, an architecture for serial behaviour (along the example of handwriting) is demonstrated, comprising of functional modes implementing characters, and operational signals much slower (establishing a mode competition and ‘binding’ modes into sequences) or much faster (as meaningful perturbations). All components being coupled, the importance of time scale interactions for behavioural organization is illustrated. Finally, the contributions of modes and signals to the output are recovered, appearing to be possible only through analysis of the output phase flow (i.e., not from trajectories in phase space or time)

La méthode de preuve par bisimulation est un pilier de la théorie de la concurrence et des langages de programmation. Cette technique permet d’établir que deux programmes, ou deux protocoles distribués, sont égaux, au sens où l’on peut substituer l’un par l’autre sans affecter le comportement global du système. Les preuves par bisimulation sont souvent difficiles et techniquement complexes. De ce fait, diverses techniques ont été proposées pour faciliter de telles preuve. Dans cette thèse, nous étudions une telle technique de preuve pour la bisimulation, fondée sur l’unicité des solutions d’équations. Pour démontrer que deux programmes sont égaux, on prouve qu’ils sont solution de la même équation, à condition que l’équation satisfasse la propriété d’unicité des solutions : deux solutions de l’équation sont nécessairement égales. Nous utilisons cette technique pour répondre à une question ouverte, à savoir le problème de full abstraction pour l’encodage, dû à Milner, du λ-calcul en appel par valeur dans le π-calcul
The bisimulation proof method is a landmark of the theory of concurrency and programming languages: it is a proof technique used to establish that two programs, or two distributed protocols, are equal, meaning that they can be freely substituted for one another without modifying the global observable behaviour. Such proofs are often difficult and tedious; hence, many proof techniques have been proposed to enhance this method, simplifying said proofs. We study such a technique based on ’unique solution of equations’. In order to prove that two programs are equal, we show that they are solution of the same recursive equation, as long as the equation has the ’unique solution property’: two of its solutions are always equal. We propose a guarantee to ensure that such equations do have a unique solution. We test this technique against a long- standing open problem: the problem of full abstraction for Milner’s encoding of the call-by-value λ-calculus in the π-calculus
La bisimulazione è una tecnica di prova fondamentale in teoria della concorrenza e dei linguaggi di programmazione. Questa tecnica viene usata per dimostrare che due programmi, o due protocolli distribuiti, sono uguali, nel senso che l’uno puòsostituire l’altro senza modificare il comportamento globale del sistema. Le prove di bisimulazione sono spesso difficili e tecnicamente pesanti. Per questa ragione, varie tecniche di prova sono state introdotte per facilitare le prove di bisimulazione.In questo documento viene studiata tale tecnica, che sfrutta l’unicità delle soluzioni di equazioni. Per dimostrare che due programmi sono uguali, si stabilisce che sono soluzioni della stessa equazione ricorsiva, dal momento in cuil’equazione soddisfa una proprietà di “unicità delle soluzioni”: ogni due soluzioni di questa equazione sono uguali. Questa tecnica viene usata per rispondere alla questione della full abstraction per l’encodaggio del _-calcolo in call-by-value nel_-calcolo, proposto inizialmente da R. Milner

There is growing research evidence about the role of cognitive, behavioural and emotional factors in psychotic disorders. This has led to the development of successful assessment and treatment packages for people with psychosis based on the CBT model. Research has attempted to use this model to examine crimes committed by people with psychotic disorders. This relationship remains controversial and is widely debated. The current study aimed to draw together the literature on CBT in psychosis and on mentally disordered offenders to further investigate the nature of any interaction. This has implications for successful outcome with this population. It was hypothesised that cognitive, behavioural and emotional measures would differ across three groups comprising non-offenders and people with minor and major offending histories. Twenty six subjects were recruited from a secure psychiatric forensic unit and general psychiatric services; all subjects completed five measures. The Locus of Control questionnaire and Conviction of Beliefs scale were used to examine cognitive processes; the Coping Responses Inventory and clinical interview were used to examine behavioural processes and the Beck Depression Inventory - 2nd edition and Beck Anxiety Inventory were used to examine emotional processes. Analyses using parametric and non-parametric tests were not significant; results are interpreted in light of methodological difficulties. Results were discussed in the context of relevant literature, clinical utility and future research.

L'habénula, qui représente un point de rencontre entre les systèmes limbique et extrapyramidal, participe à la régulation des voies ascendantes monoaminergiques, et est impliquée dans la douleur, le sommeil, les comportements sexuel et maternel, les phénomènes de récompense, l'apprentissage, l'anxiété et la dépression. L'hypothèse selon laquelle l'habénula serait impliquée dans la schizophrénie a été testée d'un point de vue comportemental, chez des rats en ayant subli une lésion bilatérale. Pour ce faire, le repli social, le filtrage sensoriel et la cognition (mémoire et attention) ont été explorés. Ensuite, l'effet de la lésion sur le niveau d'activité cérébrale a été étudié à l'aide de l'imagerie à résonance magnétique, couplée à un traitement à l'amphétamine, afin de déterminer si les animaux lésés étaient plus sensible à cette drogue. Enfin, les conséquences de la lésion, à court et long terme, sur des récepteurs impliqués dans la schizophrénie, D1 et D2, 5-HT1A et 5-HT2A, NMDA et alpha-7, a l'aide de la technique d'autoradiographie. Laissant inchangés le niveau d'intéractions sociales et le filtrage sensoriel, la lésion a causé un déficit marqué de mémoire de référence spatiale, et, lors du test d'attention, a induit une augmentation immédiate et prolongé de l'impulsivité, alors que l'acuité n'était altérée que progressivement. L'imagerie fonctionnelle a révélé que, chez les animaux lésés, un traitement à l'amphétamine provoque une activation significativement moins important au niveau du cortex pré-frontal. L'autoradiographie a montré une augmentation significative généralisée du nombre de récepteurs sérotoninergiques 5-HT2A à court terme, différence qui n'était plus présente à long terme. En conclusion, l'habénula est particulièrement impliquée dans les désordres cognitifs rencontrés chez les schizophrènes. Sa lésion entraîne des effets distincts, à court terme impliquant des systèmes monoaminergiques, et à long terme qui semblent en être indépendant.

The aim of this study is to explore how individuals with bulimia nervosa (BN) understand processes of change in individual cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). The treatment of individuals with BN remains a major challenge and research suggests that treatment only helps a modest number of individuals. The rationale for this investigation is to learn more about the factors that influence change, which might contribute to or shed further light on the body of research that already exists in this area. A qualitative research method is chosen and used from a critical realist framework. The in-depth interviews of eight participants’ experiences of change in CBT for BN are analysed using a grounded theory methodology. The data analysis includes initial open coding, categorisation and linking the categories to construct a theory that is grounded in the data. The findings indicate that healing from BN is a complex and painful continual process of personal transition, which involves ‘a journey towards de-fusion of the sense of self and the BN’. Participants described how BN gradually became part of self and how bodily sensations and attributes affected cognitions and emotions. The overall finding demonstrates an immediate connection between the participants’ physical and psychological realities. This symbolic communication via the body, however, was not experienced as metaphors but rather as actual reality, which affected the change processes in several ways. The processes of de-fusion of the sense of self and therapeutic change in the BN seemed to have an interactional relationship that was central to the experiences of change at all stages of CBT for BN. The main findings are linked to the wider context and the possible implications are discussed. A critical evaluation of the study is offered followed by recommendations for future research and practice in the field of counselling psychology and beyond. In particular, mentalization-based therapy is explored as a possible framework for conceptualising BN, which might help grasp some basic limitations and difficulties in psychotherapy and treatment in general.

This study investigated whether attachment-related anxiety and attachment-related avoidance are significant predictors of coping strategies in relation to memories of coping with partner infidelity. Four hundred and fifteen participants who had the experience of a romantic partner engaging in infidelity completed questionnaires measuring their attachment style and their use of eight cognitive and behavioural coping strategies. Of the total participants, 231 who had completed all of the study’s measures and met the research inclusion criteria were included within the preliminary and main analyses. The data was analysed using a series of separate hierarchical multiple linear regressions. Individuals with high attachment avoidance scores engaged in less seeking social support and confrontive strategies, and in more distancing strategies to cope with partner infidelity. Alternatively, individuals with high attachment anxiety engaged in more accepting responsibility and escape avoidance strategies, and less positive reappraisal strategies to cope with partner infidelity. These findings advocate potential therapeutic interventions for individuals coping with partner infidelity, including helping clients understand the ineffective coping mechanisms that arise from their attachment patterns and supporting them in challenging their cognitions and adopting more effective methods of coping with partner infidelity. Although the study was able to predict the types of coping strategies insecurely attached individuals are likely to use when coping with a partner's infidelity, it did not directly focus on the impact this had on participants’ psychological distress. Future research using mediator analyses could offer interesting information into the complex relationship between attachment, coping, and psychological distress, and shed light on whether specific strategies may increase an individual’s vulnerability of developing mental health difficulties in response to a partner’s infidelity.

The participation of children and young people (CYP) in decisions affecting them is high on the political agenda. CYP with special educational needs (SEN) in the form of social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) continue to be under-represented in the literature with regard to participation and sharing their views. CYP with a statement of SEN must be formally reviewed on an annual basis, which is referred to as the annual statement review (ASR). The current research investigates how CYP with SEBD are presently participating in this formal and regular process that involves reviewing, decision-making and planning around their individual needs. A multiple case study was carried out, which involved two educational provisions, a resource based provision and a special provision, both for CYP with SEBD. Participants included the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) in each provision, two CYP from the resource based provision, and one CYP from the special provision. Each of the three CYP were the focus of each individual case, with the two CYP from resource based provision being in Key Stage 2 and the individual CYP in special provision in Key Stage 4 of the National Curriculum. Main methods of data collection were semi-structured interview and observation throughout the ASR process. Data was analysed using thematic and content analysis. From a critical realist perspective, the investigation revealed that current practice to enable CYP with SEBD to participate in their ASR was found to be good, although it was proposed it could be better. This overall finding is based on the perspective that CYP should have the opportunity to make an impact on the ASR process as well as the outcome through decision-making, no matter how small the decision is that they are involved with. This was not always the case in the current practice examined in the study, more so with the younger CYP attending the resource based provision. The findings contribute to developing a good practice model for schools to support CYP with SEBD to effectively participate in review, decision-making and planning around their needs in statutory processes. A further research opportunity would be to investigate such practice in specialist provision for CYP with SEBD on a wider scale by using the survey design, to consider the current findings in a wider context.

Introduction: Current recommendations by National Institute of Clinical Excellence (Technology Appraisal 51) emphasise the need for future research to examine the effectiveness of CCBT across the age span. Kaltenthaler et al. (2008) recommended future research focuses on acceptability of CCBT through using ‘survey and intensive qualitative methods, include the process of initial engagement, continuation versus drop-out, and in those completing, satisfaction or regret undertaking CCBT’ (p.1528). The pilot study by McMurchie (2011) was the first to explore the acceptability and effectiveness of the CCBT package Beating the Blues (BTB) solely with older people. Using qualitative methodology, the aim of the current study was to explore the experiences of older people who, when participating in the pilot study chose to use BTB compared to those who chose to remain with their treatment as usual (TAU). The current study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the acceptability of BTB as well as factors that influence decisionmaking in terms of uptake to BTB and discontinuation from BTB. Method: Individual semi-structured interviews were carried out with 20 older people who took part in the pilot study (McMurchie, 2011). Participants were in one of three groups, these were: BTB-completers, BTB-discontinuers and TAU. Transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (Smith et al., 2009). Findings: Five master themes emerged from the interviews: Beating the Blues as a Process of Change; Relevance of Beating the Blues to Older People; Challenges of Using Beating the Blues; Motivation to Try Something New and Barriers to Beating the Blues at Time of Uptake. Conclusions: Overall, the master themes reflected the experiences of either “regaining control” or a sense of “hopelessness” when opting whether or not to use BTB in the first instance and to then continue with the treatment. Experiences of using BTB appeared to be linked to the outlook participants had about using a novel treatment with either a sense of hope or impending failure. Participants who chose BTB had a more positive outlook which impacted their ability to manage perceived challenges and work towards recovery. The sense of impending failure seemed to be linked to participants perceiving more barriers to using BTB and struggling to overcome these challenges, resulting in them either declining BTB or feeling they were not benefiting from BTB and therefore discontinuing it.

Tesis por compendio
[ES] Comprender el comportamiento humano en situaciones de riesgo, cómo los factores individuales y externos influyen en nuestras decisiones y en qué medida es posible influir y modificar nuestros comportamientos, constituye un desafío tanto para los científicos como para la sociedad en general. Desde la perspectiva de la Seguridad y Salud en el Trabajo (SST), así como en numerosos campos como la sociología y las finanzas, este tema tiene importantes implicaciones ya que las situaciones de riesgo son un aspecto común en diversos ámbitos de nuestra vida. La toma de riesgos (TR) es parte del proceso de toma de decisiones en situaciones de incertidumbre, en las que se conoce de antemano la probabilidad de cada consecuencia positiva o negativa. Si bien el concepto de la TR está bien definido en la literatura, se ha abordado desde diferentes perspectivas, por lo que los factores que se han propuesto para explicar o moderar la TR también son muy diversos. Centrándonos en los factores individuales (procesos cognitivos y emocionales) que influyen en la TR, estos pueden afectar la forma en que se abordan las situaciones peligrosas de dos maneras diferentes. En primer lugar, pueden sesgar la percepción de una situación, de modo que no se lleve a cabo una evaluación adecuada y por tanto esto lleve a conductas sesgadas. En segundo lugar, estos factores configuran una cierta propensión general al riesgo en los seres humanos, de modo que pueden o no sentirse atraídos por situaciones potencialmente peligrosas. De la misma manera que la definición de la TR se ha abordado desde diferentes perspectivas, su evaluación también se ha tratado desde diferentes puntos de vista y constituye hoy en día un desafío para investigadores y profesionales, por lo que no se ha encontrado un consenso claro en cuanto a la existencia de una medida validada para la TR. La evaluación de la TR se ha realizado tradicionalmente mediante cuestionarios; sin embargo, se ha demostrado que estas medidas presentan diversas limitaciones que pueden conducir a resultados alterados. Las tareas comportamentales surgen como una solución alternativa capaz de superar algunas de estas barreras. En cambio, su capacidad de transferencia a situaciones de la vida real parece ser limitada. La realidad virtual (RV) permite recrear situaciones reales simuladas para realizar evaluaciones basadas en el desempeño. La RV presenta numerosas ventajas que pueden aportar beneficios para la evaluación de los comportamientos humanos, ya que aporta una mayor inmersión, fidelidad y un mayor nivel de implicación que los métodos de evaluación tradicionales, y numerosos trabajos en el campo de la psicología aplicada y la neurociencia organizacional han avalado su uso para evaluación humana. En esta investigación, proponemos la RV como tecnología capaz de facilitar el estudio de los procesos de la TR, aprovechando sus numerosas posibilidades, que se pueden resumir como: simulación de situaciones de riesgo realistas, interacciones naturales con el entorno virtual, inclusión de medidas implícitas para evaluación oculta y medición fisiológica en tiempo real. Esta tesis proporciona aportaciones a la definición de la TR, particularmente en la identificación de qué factores constituyen este complejo proceso. Además, investiga el uso de la RV inmersiva en la investigación del comportamiento humano, específicamente para la evaluación de la TR, proporcionando premisas de diseño de entornos virtuales para la evaluación de los constructos psicológicos identificados como determinantes para definir la TR. Finalmente, analiza la validez de la RV en combinación con medidas fisiológicas para la evaluación de la TR de forma implícita.
[CA] Comprendre el comportament humà en situacions de risc, com els factors individuals i externs influeixen en les nostres decisions i en quina mesura és possible influir i modificar els nostres comportaments, constitueix un desafiament tant per als científics com per a la societat en general. Des de la perspectiva de la Seguretat i Salut en el Treball (SST), així com en nombrosos camps com la sociologia i les finances, aquest tema té importants implicacions ja que les situacions de risc són un aspecte comú en diversos àmbits de la nostra vida. La presa de riscos (PR) és part del procés de presa de decisions en situacions d'incertesa, en les quals es coneix per endavant la probabilitat de cada conseqüència positiva o negativa. Si bé el concepte de la PR està ben definit en la literatura, s'ha abordat des de diferents perspectives, per la qual cosa els factors que s'han proposat per a explicar o moderar la PR també són molt diversos. Centrant-nos en els factors individuals (processos cognitius i emocionals) que influeixen en la PR, aquests poden afectar la forma en què s'aborden les situacions perilloses de dues maneres diferents. En primer lloc, poden esbiaixar la percepció d'una situació, de manera que no es duga a terme una avaluació adequada i per tant això porte a conductes esbiaixades. En segon lloc, aquests factors configuren una certa propensió general al risc en els éssers humans, de manera que poden o no sentir-se atrets per situacions potencialment perilloses. De la mateixa manera que la definició de la PR s'ha abordat des de diferents perspectives, la seua avaluació també s'ha tractat des de diferents punts de vista i constitueix hui dia un desafiament per a investigadors i professionals, per la qual cosa no s'ha trobat un consens clar quant a l'existència d'una mesura validada per a la PR. L'avaluació de la PR s'ha realitzat tradicionalment mitjançant qüestionaris; no obstant això, s'ha demostrat que aquestes mesures presenten diverses limitacions que poden conduir a resultats alterats. Les tasques comportamentals sorgeixen com una solució alternativa capaç de superar algunes d'aquestes barreres. En canvi, la seua capacitat de transferència a situacions de la vida real sembla ser limitada. La realitat virtual (RV) permet recrear situacions reals simulades per a realitzar avaluacions basades en l'acompliment. La RV presenta nombrosos avantatges que poden aportar beneficis per a l'avaluació dels comportaments humans, ja que aporta una major immersió, fidelitat i un major nivell d'implicació que els mètodes d'avaluació tradicionals, i nombrosos treballs en el camp de la psicologia aplicada i la neurociència organitzacional han avalat el seu ús per a avaluació humana. En aquesta investigació, proposem la RV com a tecnologia capaç de facilitar l'estudi dels processos de la PR, aprofitant les seues nombroses possibilitats, que es poden resumir com: simulació de situacions de risc realistes, interaccions naturals amb l'entorn virtual, inclusió de mesures implícites per a avaluació oculta i mesurament fisiològic en temps real. Aquesta tesi proporciona aportacions a la definició de la PR, particularment en la identificació de quins factors constitueixen aquest complex procés. A més, investiga l'ús de la RV immersiva en la investigació del comportament humà, específicament per a l'avaluació de la PR, proporcionant premisses de disseny d'entorns virtuals per a l'avaluació dels constructes psicològics identificats com a determinants per a definir la PR. Finalment, analitza la validesa de la RV en combinació amb mesures fisiològiques per a l'avaluació de la PR de manera implícita.
[EN] Understanding human behaviour in risk situations, how individual and external factors influence our decisions and to what extent it is possible to influence and modify our behaviours, constitutes a challenge both for scientists and for society in general. From the perspective of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), as well as in numerous fields such as sociology of finance, this topic has important implications since risk situations are a common aspect in various domains of our lives. Risk taking (RT) is part of the decision-making process in uncertain situations, in which the probability of each positive or negative consequence is known in advance. Although the concept of RT is well defined in the literature, it has been approached from different perspectives, so that the factors that have been proposed to explain or moderate RT are also very diverse. Focusing on the individual factors - cognitive and emotional processes - that influence RT, these may affect how hazardous situations are addressed in two different ways. First, they can skew the perception of a situation, so that an adequate evaluation is not carried out and therefore this leads to biased behaviors. Second, these factors shape a certain general propensity towards risk in humans, so that they may or may not be attracted to potentially dangerous situations. In the same way that the definition of RT has been approached from different perspectives, the evaluation of RT has also been treated from different points of view and nowadays constitutes a challenge for researchers and practitioners, so that a clear consensus has not been found regarding the existence of a validated measure for RT. RT evaluation has traditionally been carried out using questionnaires; however, it has been demonstrated that these measures present various limitations that can lead to altered results. Behavioural tasks emerge as an alternative solution capable of overcoming some of these boundaries. Instead, their ability to transference to real life situations appears to be limited. Virtual reality (VR) enables recreating real-simulated situations to carry out performance-based assessments. VR presents numerous advantages that can provide benefits for the evaluation of human behaviours, since it provides greater immersion, fidelity and a higher level of involvement than traditional evaluation methods, and numerous works in the field of applied psychology and organizational neuroscience have endorsed its use for human assessment. In this investigation, we propose VR as technology capable of facilitating the study of RT processes, taking advantage of its numerous possibilities, which can be resumed as: simulation of realistic risk situations, natural interactions with the virtual environment, inclusion of implicit measures for stealth assessment and physiological real-time measurement. This thesis provides novel contributions to the definition of RT, particularly in the identification of which factors constitute this complex process. Moreover, it investigates the use of immersive VR in human behaviour research, specifically for RT assessment, providing design premises of virtual environments for the evaluation of the psychological constructs identified as determinants to define RT. Finally, it analyses the validity of VR in combination with physiological measures for the evaluation of RT in an implicit way.
Contrato predoctoral FPI (BES-2017-079857). Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Madrid, Spain).
Juan Ripoll, CD. (2021). Virtual reality environments for the study of decision-making processes in risky contexts through the use of physiological measures and behavioural responses [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/171236
TESIS
Compendio

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) gave children and young people the right to participate in decisions that affect them. In relation to Special Educational Needs (SEN), this meant that schools were obligated to gain pupil' s views about their education. However, the SEN Code of Practice (DfES, 2001; p.27) recognised that there was "a fine balance" between giving a pupil "voice" and overburdening them with decision~making . This placed pupils with SEN in a position where their vo ice relied on the motivations, skills and focus of the adul ts around them (May, 2005). This paper presents findings from a qualitative study that explored how teachers enable participation for pupils with behavioura l, emotional and social difficulties (BESD) in the processes surrounding their SEN. A Grounded Theory methodology was used to capture and analyse data from se mi ~str u cture d interviews conducted with eight t eachers. The issues of how pupils' views were obtained, formally reported and applied to practice were considered. Find ings suggested that the process of enabling participation for pupils with BESD relied on the quality of re lationships built between t eachers and pupils. These rela tionships served to ba lance pupils' needs for familiarity and secu rity against the challenges of learn ing. As such, enabling voice was only one element of the work undertaken by teachers to maximise pupils' success in school. Within this context, pupils were empowered to "find a voice", whi lst tea ch ers advocated for pupils in formal meetings and reviews. 16 Implications of the findings are discussed to inform the body of research into participation for pupils with SEN and guide good practice in the field. A framework for understanding how school systems can elicit the views of pupils with BESD and promote their participation in SEN processes is given and recommendations are made to inform the work of Educational Psychology services in this regard.

Analysing human creativity has always been a difficult undertaking. The reason for this is the vagueness of the term creativity itself. Philosophers and Researchers have tried to unveil the secrets behind creativity since centuries. Besides some principles e.g. defined by Finke, Ward, and Smith, there is no holistic understanding about term creativity and there will always be discussions between researchers of different disciplines about how creativity is achieved. Current approaches try to understand creativity through studying the creative artifact or the creative human himself. These approaches have not lead to any promising results. Instead of focussing on creativity itself, it is more promising to look at the creative process of creators. Through this, it is possible to analyse what happened during the creation of an artefact. The aim of the analysis is the identification of certain behaviours within the creative process, which lead to very creative results or in opposite hinder creativity. The gained knowledge is used for the creation of patterns, describing this specific behaviour. The analysis of the creative process is not only interesting for artists, but also for engineers, researchers, students and many others. Important target groups for this approach are schools and universities. Being able to early recognise problems in the learning curve of a student will enable a directed support, in order to improve the student's performance. Until now, the main problem for analysing the creative process of a creator is the lack of information on how an artefact was created. Most creators tend not to make many notes during their creative phase, even if there are famous exemptions like Beethoven who left behind a huge amount of notices and marked changes in his work. Hence, the challenge is the development of a powerful framework, which can cope effectively with the recording and presentation of this creative process, in order to enable detailed analyses. Modern computer technology fosters the recording of the creative process of a person. Much of today's creative work is achieved with computers and powerful software applications. Computer networks and the internet enable new ways of collaboration. The creation of a flexible, collaborative tool-set is the ideal approach for the mapping and analysis of the creative process. A novel approach, based on these ideas, was developed by the members of the Creative Technologies Research Programme at the Software Technology Research Laboratory (STRL). The central aim of the approach is the mapping of the human creativity with so-called creativity maps. A creativity map is basically transition system, which allows to store and represent the creative process as well as to hold each version of the artefact. The developed De Montfort Creativity Assistant (DMCA), is a collaborative, web-enabled state-of-the-art software framework, realising the theoretical concepts. This thesis represents a substantial contribution to the research project. The focus of the presented work lies on the analysis and the support of the creative process. Several novel techniques for the analysis of massive data sets have been developed. The presented techniques enable a domain-independent analysis and support of the creative process. This is huge improvement over previous concepts, which are highly specialised and focus on the creative artefact itself. The presented approach required the development of several novel techniques. The major contributions of the presented research are: - Behavioural Patterns Enable the description of constructs inside the creativity map. These constructs represent the creative behaviour of the creator. - Techniques for a Computer-supported Information Extraction A pattern description language enables the computer-supported information extraction from creativity maps. - Knowledge Repository Knowledge, gained through the analysis processes, is stored centrally and shared with other creators in order to stimulate further growing of knowledge. - Concepts for the Analysis and Support of the Creative Process Novel concepts allow the structured analysis and support of the creative process, regardless of the creator's domain. All developed techniques have been implemented in several tools, which aim to enrich the DMCA with the ability of a computer-supported analysis and support of the creative process.

This study tested the relationship of the personality variable of hardiness to the organisational outcomes of job satisfaction, performance and intention to turnover. These relationships were also tested via two alternative transactional models, with a sequential and simultaneous structure for the appraisal and coping processes. Employees (N = 297) from a range of large New Zealand organisations completed a questionnaire on hardiness, appraisal, coping, affect and the three distal outcomes. Bivariate correlations revealed significant positive relationships between hardiness and job satisfaction, hardiness and performance, and a significant negative relationship with intention to turnover. Structural equation modelling results revealed that the direct relationship between hardiness and job satisfaction was the strongest path, which indicates that the higher an employees level of hardiness the higher their likely level of job satisfaction. The simultaneous model provided best fit to the data, revealing a positive path from hardiness through challenge appraisals to positive affect, and a negative path through threat appraisal and emotion-focused coping. This study concludes that higher levels of hardiness are associated with more positive situational appraisals and more effective coping responses.

Business Process Management (BPM) emerged as a means to control, analyse, and optimise business operations. Conceptual models are of central importance for BPM. Most prominently, process models define the behaviour that is performed to achieve a business value. In essence, a process model is a mapping of properties of the original business process to the model, created for a purpose. Different modelling purposes, therefore, result in different models of a business process. Against this background, the misalignment of process models often observed in the field of BPM is no surprise. Even if the same business scenario is considered, models created for strategic decision making differ in content significantly from models created for process automation. Despite their differences, process models that refer to the same business process should be consistent, i.e., free of contradictions. Apparently, there is a trade-off between strictness of a notion of consistency and appropriateness of process models serving different purposes. Existing work on consistency analysis builds upon behaviour equivalences and hierarchical refinements between process models. Hence, these approaches are computationally hard and do not offer the flexibility to gradually relax consistency requirements towards a certain setting. This thesis presents a framework for the analysis of behaviour consistency that takes a fundamentally different approach. As a first step, an alignment between corresponding elements of related process models is constructed. Then, this thesis conducts behavioural analysis grounded on a relational abstraction of the behaviour of a process model, its behavioural profile. Different variants of these profiles are proposed, along with efficient computation techniques for a broad class of process models. Using behavioural profiles, consistency of an alignment between process models is judged by different notions and measures. The consistency measures are also adjusted to assess conformance of process logs that capture the observed execution of a process. Further, this thesis proposes various complementary techniques to support consistency management. It elaborates on how to implement consistent change propagation between process models, addresses the exploration of behavioural commonalities and differences, and proposes a model synthesis for behavioural profiles.
Das Geschäftsprozessmanagement umfasst Methoden zur Steuerung, Analyse sowie Optimierung von Geschäftsprozessen. Es stützt sich auf konzeptionelle Modelle, Prozessmodelle, welche den Ablauf zur Erreichung eines Geschäftszieles beschreiben. Demnach ist ein Prozessmodell eine Abbildung eines Geschäftsprozesses, erstellt hinsichtlich eines Modellierungsziels. Unterschiedliche Modellierungsziele resultieren somit in unterschiedlichen Modellen desselben Prozesses. Beispielsweise unterscheiden sich zwei Modelle erheblich, sofern eines für die strategische Entscheidungsfindung und eines für die Automatisierung erstellt wurde. Trotz der in unterschiedlichen Modellierungszielen begründeten Unterschiede sollten die entsprechenden Modelle konsistent, d.h. frei von Widersprüchen sein. Die Striktheit des Konsistenzbegriffs steht hierbei in Konflikt mit der Eignung der Prozessmodelle für einen bestimmten Zweck. Existierende Ansätze zur Analyse von Verhaltenskonsistenz basieren auf Verhaltensäquivalenzen und nehmen an, dass Prozessmodelle in einer hierarchischen Verfeinerungsrelation stehen. Folglich weisen sie eine hohe Berechnungskomplexität auf und erlauben es nicht, den Konsistenzbegriff graduell für einen bestimmten Anwendungsfalls anzupassen. Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt einen Ansatz für die Analyse von Verhaltenskonsistenz vor, welcher sich fundamental von existierenden Arbeiten unterscheidet. Zunächst werden korrespondierende Elemente von Prozessmodellen, welche den gleichen Geschäftsprozess darstellen, identifiziert. Auf Basis dieser Korrespondenzen wird ein Ansatz zur Konsistenzanalyse vorgestellt. Jener basiert auf einer relationalen Verhaltensabstraktion, dem Verhaltensprofil eines Prozessmodells. Die Arbeit führt verschiedene Varianten dieses Profils ein und zeigt wie sie für bestimmte Modellklassen effizient berechnet werden. Mithilfe von Verhaltensprofilen werden Konsistenzbegriffe und Konsistenzmaße für die Beurteilung von Korrespondenzen zwischen Prozessmodellen definiert. Weiterhin werden die Konsistenzmaße auch für den Anwendungsfall der Konformität angepasst, welcher sich auf beobachtete Abläufe in Form von Ausführungsdaten bezieht. Darüber hinaus stellt die Arbeit eine Reihe von Methoden vor, welche die Analyse von Verhaltenskonsistenz ergänzen. So werden Lösungen für das konsistente Übertragen von Änderungen eines Modells auf ein anderes, die explorative Analyse von Verhaltensgemeinsamkeiten, sowie eine Modellsynthese für Verhaltensprofile vorgestellt.

Many functions that at one time could only be performed by humans can nowadays be carried out by machines. Automation impacts many areas of life including work, home, communication and mobility. In the driving context, in-vehicle automation is considered to provide solutions for environmental, economic, safety and societal challenges. However, automation changes the driving task and the human-machine interaction. Thus, the expected benefit of in-vehicle automation can be undermined by changes in drivers’ behaviour, i.e. behavioural adaptation. This PhD project focuses on motivational as well as higher cognitive processes underlying behavioural adaptation when interacting with in-vehicle automation. Motivational processes include the development of trust and acceptance, whereas higher cognitive processes comprise the learning process as well as the development of mental models and Situation Awareness (SA). As an example for in-vehicle automation, the advanced driver assistance system Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) was investigated. ACC automates speed and distance control by maintaining a constant set cruising speed and automatically adjusting vehicle’s velocity in order to provide a specified distance to the preceding vehicle. However, due to sensor limitations, not every situation can be handled by the system and therefore driver intervention is required. Trust, acceptance and an appropriate mental model of the system functionality are considered key variables for adequate use and appropriate SA. To systematically investigate changes in motivational and higher cognitive processes, a driving simulator as well as an on-road study were carried out. Both of the studies were conducted using a repeated-measures design, taking into account the process character, i.e. changes over time. The main focus was on the development of trust, acceptance and the mental model of novice users when interacting with ACC. By now, only few studies have attempted to assess changes in higher level cognitive processes, due to methodological difficulties posed by the dynamic task of driving. Therefore, this PhD project aimed at the elaboration and validation of innovative methods for assessing higher cognitive processes, with an emphasis on SA and mental models. In addition, a new approach for analyzing big and heterogeneous data in social science was developed, based on the use of relational databases. The driving simulator study investigated the effect of divergent initial mental models of ACC (i.e., varying according to correctness) on trust, acceptance and mental model evolvement. A longitudinal study design was applied, using a two-way (3×3) repeated measures mixed design with a matched sample of 51 subjects. Three experimental groups received (1) a correct ACC description, (2) an incomplete and idealised account omitting potential problems, and (3) an incorrect description including non-occurring problems. All subjects drove a 56-km track of highway with an identical ACC system, three times, and within a period of 6 weeks. Results showed that after using the system, participants’ mental model of ACC converged towards the profile of the correct group. Non-experienced problems tended to disappear from the mental model network when they were not activated by experience. Trust and acceptance grew steadily for the correct condition. The same trend was observed for the group with non-occurring problems, starting from a lower initial level. Omitted problems in the incomplete group led to a constant decrease in trust and acceptance without recovery. This indicates that automation failures do not negatively affect trust and acceptance if they are known beforehand. During each drive, participants continuously completed a visual secondary task, the Surrogate Reference Task (SURT). The frequency of task completion was used as objective online-measure for SA, based on the principle that situationally aware driver would reduce the engagement in the secondary task if they expect potentially critical situations. Results showed that correctly informed drivers were aware of potential system limitations and reduced their engagement in the secondary task when such situations arose. Participants with no information about limitations became only aware after first encounter and reduced secondary task engagement in corresponding situations during subsequent trials. However, trust and acceptance in the system declined over time due to the unexpected failures. Non occurring limitations tended to drop from the mental model and resulted in reduced SA already in the second trial. The on-road study investigated the learning process, as well as the development of trust, acceptance and the mental model for interacting with ACC in real conditions. Research questions aimed to model the learning process in mathematical/statistical terms, examine moments and conditions when these processes stabilize, and assess how experience changes the mental model of the system. A sample of fifteen drivers without ACC experience drove a test vehicle with ACC ten consecutive times on the same route within a 2-month period. In contrast to the driving simulator study, all participants were fully trained in ACC functionality by reading the owner’s manual in the beginning. Results showed that learning, as well as the development of acceptance and trust in ACC follows the power law of learning, in case of comprehensive prior information on system limitations. Thus, the major part of the learning process occurred during the first interaction with the system and support in explaining the systems abilities (e.g. by tutoring systems) should therefore primarily be given during this first stage. All processes stabilized at a relatively high level after the fifth session, which corresponds to 185 km or 3.5 hours of driving. No decline was observable with ongoing system experience. However, in line with the findings from the simulator study, limitations that are not experienced tended to disappear from the mental model if they were not activated by experience. With regard to the validation of the developed methods for assessing mental models and SA, results are encouraging. The studies show that the mental model questionnaire is able to provide insights into the construction of mental models and the development over time. Likewise, the implicit measurement approach to assess SA online in the driving simulator is sensitive to user’s awareness of potentially critical situations. In terms of content, the results of the studies prove the enduring relevance of the initial mental model for the learning process, SA, as well as the development of trust, acceptance and a realistic mental model about automation capabilities and limitations. Given the importance of the initial mental model it is recommended that studies on system trust and acceptance should include, and attempt to control, users’ initial mental model of system functionality. Although the results showed that also incorrect and incomplete initial mental models converged by experience towards a realistic appreciation of system functionality, the more cognitive effort needed to update the mental model, the lower trust and acceptance. Providing an idealised description, which omits potential problems, only leads to temporarily higher trust and acceptance in the beginning. The experience of unexpected limitations results in a steady decrease in trust and acceptance over time. A trial-and-error strategy for in-vehicle automation use, without accompanying information, is therefore considered insufficient for developing stable trust and acceptance. If the mental model matches experience, trust and acceptance grow steadily following the power law of learning – regardless of the experience of system limitations. Provided that such events are known in advance, they will not cause a decrease in trust and acceptance over time. Even over-information about potential problems lowers trust and acceptance only in the beginning, and not in the long run. Potential problems should therefore not be concealed in over-idealised system descriptions; the more information given, the better, in the long run. However, limitations that are not experienced tend to disappear from the mental model. Therefore, it is recommended that users be periodically reminded of system limitations to make sure that corresponding knowledge becomes re-activated. Intelligent tutoring systems incorporated in automated systems could provide a solution. In the driving context, periodic reminders about system limitations could be shown via the multifunction displays integrated in most modern cars. Tutoring systems could also be used to remind the driver of the presence of specific in-vehicle automation systems and reveal their benefits
Viele Aufgaben, die ehemals von Menschen ausgeführt wurden, werden heute von Maschinen übernommen. Dieser Prozess der Automatisierung betrifft viele Lebensbereiche von Arbeit, Wohnen, Kommunikation bis hin zur Mobilität. Im Bereich des Individualverkehrs wird die Automatisierung von Fahrzeugen als Möglichkeit gesehen, zukünftigen Herausforderungen wirtschaftlicher, gesellschaftlicher und umweltpolitischer Art zu begegnen. Allerdings verändert Automatisierung die Fahraufgabe und die Mensch-Technik Interaktion im Fahrzeug. Daher können beispielsweise erwartete Sicherheitsgewinne automatisch agierender Assistenzsysteme durch Veränderungen im Verhalten des Fahrers geschmälert werden, was als Verhaltensanpassung (behavioural adaptation) bezeichnet wird. Dieses Dissertationsprojekt untersucht motivationale und höhere kognitive Prozesse, die Verhaltensanpassungen im Umgang mit automatisierten Fahrerassistenzsystemen zugrunde liegen. Motivationale Prozesse beinhalten die Entwicklung von Akzeptanz und Vertrauen in das System, unter höheren kognitiven Prozessen werden Lernprozesse sowie die Entwicklung von mentalen Modellen des Systems und Situationsbewusstsein (Situation Awareness) verstanden. Im Fokus der Untersuchungen steht das Fahrerassistenzsystem Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) als ein Beispiel für Automatisierung im Fahrzeug. ACC regelt automatisch die Geschwindigkeit des Fahrzeugs, indem bei freier Fahrbahn eine eingestellte Wunschgeschwindigkeit und bei einem Vorausfahrer automatisch ein eingestellter Abstand eingehalten wird. Allerdings kann ACC aufgrund von Einschränkungen der Sensorik nicht jede Situation bewältigen, weshalb der Fahrer übernehmen muss. Für diesen Interaktionsprozess spielen Vertrauen, Akzeptanz und das mentale Modell der Systemfunktionalität eine Schlüsselrolle, um einen sicheren Umgang mit dem System und ein adäquates Situationsbewusstsein zu entwickeln. Zur systematischen Erforschung dieser motivationalen und kognitiven Prozesse wurden eine Fahrsimulatorstudie und ein Versuch im Realverkehr durchgeführt. Beide Studien wurden im Messwiederholungsdesign angelegt, um dem Prozesscharakter gerecht werden und Veränderungen über die Zeit erfassen zu können. Die Entwicklung von Vertrauen, Akzeptanz und mentalem Modell in der Interaktion mit ACC war zentraler Forschungsgegenstand beider Studien. Bislang gibt es wenige Studien, die kognitive Prozesse im Kontext der Fahrzeugführung untersucht haben, unter anderem auch wegen methodischer Schwierigkeiten in diesem dynamischen Umfeld. Daher war es ebenfalls Teil dieses Dissertationsprojekts, neue Methoden zur Erfassung höherer kognitiver Prozesse in dieser Domäne zu entwickeln, mit Fokus auf mentalen Modellen und Situationsbewusstsein. Darüber hinaus wurde auch ein neuer Ansatz für die Analyse großer und heterogener Datenmengen im sozialwissenschaftlichen Bereich entwickelt, basierend auf dem Einsatz relationaler Datenbanken. Ziel der der Fahrsimulatorstudie war die systematische Erforschung des Effekts von unterschiedlich korrekten initialen mentalen Modellen von ACC auf die weitere Entwicklung des mentalen Modells, Vertrauen und Akzeptanz des Systems. Eine Stichprobe von insgesamt 51 Probanden nahm an der Studie teil; der Versuch wurde als zweifaktorielles (3x3) gemischtes Messwiederholungsdesign konzipiert. Die 3 parallelisierten Versuchsgruppen zu je 17 Personen erhielten (1) eine korrekte Beschreibung des ACC, (2) eine idealisierte Beschreibung unter Auslassung auftretender Systemprobleme und (3) eine überkritische Beschreibung mit zusätzlichen Hinweisen auf Systemprobleme, die nie auftraten. Alle Teilnehmer befuhren insgesamt dreimal im Zeitraum von sechs Wochen dieselbe 56 km lange Autobahnstrecke im Fahrsimulator mit identischem ACC-System. Mit zunehmendem Einsatz des ACC zeigte sich im anfänglich divergierenden mentalen Modell zwischen den Gruppen eine Entwicklung hin zum mentalen Modell der korrekt informierten Gruppe. Nicht erfahrene Systemprobleme tendierten dazu, im mentalen Modell zu verblassen, wenn sie nicht durch Erfahrung reaktiviert wurden. Vertrauen und Akzeptanz stiegen stetig in der korrekt informierten Gruppe. Dieselbe Entwicklung zeigte sich auch in der überkritisch informierten Gruppe, wobei Vertrauen und Akzeptanz anfänglich niedriger waren als in der Bedingung mit korrekter Information. Verschwiegene Systemprobleme führten zu einer konstanten Abnahme von Akzeptanz und Vertrauen ohne Erholung in der Gruppe mit idealisierter Beschreibung. Diese Resultate lassen darauf schließen, dass Probleme automatisierter Systeme sich nicht zwingend negativ auf Vertrauen und Akzeptanz auswirken, sofern sie vorab bekannt sind. Bei jeder Fahrt führten die Versuchsteilnehmer zudem kontinuierlich eine visuell beanspruchende Zweitaufgabe aus, die Surrogate Reference Task (SURT). Die Frequenz der Zweitaufgabenbearbeitung diente als objektives Echtzeitmaß für das Situationsbewusstsein, basierend auf dem Ansatz, dass situationsbewusste Fahrer die Zuwendung zur Zweitaufgabe reduzieren wenn sie potentiell kritische Situationen erwarten. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass die korrekt informierten Fahrer sich potentiell kritischer Situationen mit möglichen Systemproblemen bewusst waren und schon im Vorfeld der Entstehung die Zweitaufgabenbearbeitung reduzierten. Teilnehmer ohne Informationen zu auftretenden Systemproblemen wurden sich solcher Situationen erst nach dem ersten Auftreten bewusst und reduzierten in entsprechenden Szenarien der Folgefahrten die Zweitaufgabenbearbeitung. Allerdings sanken Vertrauen und Akzeptanz des Systems aufgrund der unerwarteten Probleme. Erwartete, aber nicht auftretende Systemprobleme tendierten dazu, im mentalen Modell des Systems zu verblassen und resultierten in vermindertem Situationsbewusstsein bereits in der zweiten Fahrt. Im Versuch unter Realbedingungen wurden der Lernprozesses sowie die Entwicklung des mentalen Modells, Vertrauen und Akzeptanz von ACC im Realverkehr erforscht. Ziele waren die statistisch/mathematische Modellierung des Lernprozesses, die Bestimmung von Zeitpunkten der Stabilisierung dieser Prozesse und wie sich reale Systemerfahrung auf das mentale Modell von ACC auswirkt. 15 Versuchsteilnehmer ohne ACC-Erfahrung fuhren ein Serienfahrzeug mit ACC insgesamt 10-mal auf der gleichen Strecke in einem Zeitraum von 2 Monaten. Im Unterschied zur Fahrsimulatorstudie waren alle Teilnehmer korrekt über die ACC-Funktionen und Funktionsgrenzen informiert durch Lesen der entsprechenden Abschnitte im Fahrzeughandbuch am Beginn der Studie. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass der Lernprozess sowie die Entwicklung von Akzeptanz und Vertrauen einer klassischen Lernkurve folgen – unter der Bedingung umfassender vorheriger Information zu Systemgrenzen. Der größte Lernfortschritt ist am Beginn der Interaktion mit dem System sichtbar und daher sollten Hilfen (z.B. durch intelligente Tutorsysteme) in erster Linie zu diesem Zeitpunkt gegeben werden. Eine Stabilisierung aller Prozesse zeigte sich nach der fünften Fahrt, was einer Fahrstrecke von rund 185 km oder 3,5 Stunden Fahrzeit entspricht. Es zeigten sich keine Einbrüche in Akzeptanz, Vertrauen bzw. dem Lernprozess durch die gemachten Erfahrungen im Straßenverkehr. Allerdings zeigte sich – analog zur Fahrsimulatorstudie – auch in der Realfahrstudie ein Verblassen von nicht erfahrenen Systemgrenzen im mentalen Modell, wenn diese nicht durch Erfahrungen aktiviert wurden. Im Hinblick auf die Validierung der neu entwickelten Methoden zur Erfassung von mentalen Modellen und Situationsbewusstsein sind die Resultate vielversprechend. Die Studien zeigen, dass mit dem entwickelten Fragebogenansatz zur Quantifizierung des mentalen Modells Einblicke in Aufbau und Entwicklung mentaler Modelle gegeben werden können. Der implizite Echtzeit-Messansatz für Situationsbewusstsein im Fahrsimulator zeigt sich ebenfalls sensitiv in der Erfassung des Bewusstseins von Fahrern für potentiell kritische Situationen. Inhaltlich zeigen die Studien die nachhaltige Relevanz des initialen mentalen Modells für den Lernprozess sowie die Entwicklung von Situationsbewusstsein, Akzeptanz, Vertrauen und die weitere Ausformung eines realistischen mentalen Modells der Möglichkeiten und Grenzen automatisierter Systeme. Aufgrund dieser Relevanz wird die Einbindung und Kontrolle des initialen mentalen Modells in Studien zu automatisierten Systemen unbedingt empfohlen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen zwar, dass sich auch unvollständige bzw. falsche mentale Modelle durch Erfahrungslernen hin zu einer realistischen Einschätzung der Systemmöglichkeiten und -grenzen verändern, allerdings um den Preis sinkenden Vertrauens und abnehmender Akzeptanz. Idealisierte Systembeschreibungen ohne Hinweise auf mögliche Systemprobleme bringen nur anfänglich etwas höheres Vertrauen und Akzeptanz. Das Erleben unerwarteter Probleme führt zu einem stetigen Abfall dieser motivationalen Faktoren über die Zeit. Ein alleiniges Versuchs-Irrtums-Lernen für den Umgang mit automatisierter Assistenz im Fahrzeug ohne zusätzliche Information wird daher als nicht ausreichend für die Entwicklung stabilen Vertrauens und stabiler Akzeptanz betrachtet. Wenn das initiale mentale Modell den Erfahrungen entspricht, entwickeln sich Akzeptanz und Vertrauen gemäß einer klassischen Lernkurve – trotz erlebter Systemgrenzen. Sind diese potentiellen Probleme vorher bekannt, führen sie nicht zwingend zu einer Reduktion von Vertrauen und Akzeptanz. Auch zusätzliche überkritische Information vermindert Vertrauen und Akzeptanz nur am Beginn, aber nicht langfristig. Daher sollen potentielle Probleme in automatisierten Systemen nicht in idealisierten Beschreibungen verschwiegen werden – je präzisere Information gegeben wird, desto besser im langfristigen Verlauf. Allerdings tendieren nicht erfahrene Systemgrenzen zum Verblassen im mentalen Modell. Daher wird empfohlen, Nutzer regelmäßig an diese Systemgrenzen zu erinnern um die entsprechenden Facetten des mentalen Modells zu reaktivieren. In automatisierten Systemen integrierte intelligente Tutorsysteme könnten dafür eine Lösung bieten. Im Fahrzeugbereich könnten solche periodischen Erinnerungen an Systemgrenzen in Multifunktionsdisplays angezeigt werden, die mittlerweile in vielen modernen Fahrzeugen integriert sind. Diese Tutorsysteme können darüber hinaus auch auf die Präsenz eingebauter automatisierter Systeme hinweisen und deren Vorteile aufzeigen

Cette thèse a un double objectif : évaluer la pertinence théorique du modèle du comportement planifié dans le contexte camerounais et valider un modèle intégratif d’explication de l’intention de s’engager dans des programmes de restructuration du travail informel. Nous sommes parti du constat d’un décalage entre la mobilisation croissante en vue de formaliser les activités informelles et leur paradoxale persistance dans les pays en voie de développement en général et au Cameroun en particulier. Il est question de comprendre pourquoi les acteurs du travail informel adhèrent peu aux politiques publiques en faveur dudit secteur.La littérature sur le travail informel l’aborde comme une catégorie d’analyse (Busso, 2005) et a tendance à expliquer l’échec des programmes par des causes exogènes, socioéconomiques et politiques. De ce fait, elle néglige l’importance de la dimension psychosociale dans l’implémentation des politiques publiques et l’accompagnement du changement. L’échec des programmes successifs initiés au Cameroun en vue de restructurer le travail informel justifie l’intérêt d’étudier les déterminants sociocognitifs de l’engagement dans lesdits programmes. En nous appuyant sur les modèles cognitivo-comportementaux, nous nous attendons à ce que les représentations, les croyances et les perceptions puissent permettre de mieux comprendre les intentions des acteurs du ce secteur à s’engager dans les programmes de restructuration dudit travail. Plusieurs approches théoriques sont ainsi mobilisés. La théorie des représentations sociales (Jodelet, 1996), la théorie du comportement planifié (Ajzen, 2015), la théorie du comportement orienté par un but (Locke & Latham, 2002) entre autres.Sept études ont été réalisées. La première explore les représentations sociales du travail informel et des programmes visant sa restructuration. Les six autres études sont empiriques. Elles explorent les liens entre représentations sociales, croyances et attitudes des travailleurs informels et des promoteurs d’unités de production informelles (études 2 et 3). Elles évaluent également la pertinence théorique du modèle du comportement planifié tout comme le rôle médiateur du désir (Bagozzi, 1992) entre l’intention comportementale et ses déterminants (études 4 et 5). Dans les études 6 et 7 sont évaluées l’impact de la connaissance, de la crédibilité perçue des programmes et des acteurs chargés de les piloter, ainsi que la perception de l’information sur l’intention. Les hypothèses sont vérifiées auprès de deux échantillons (travailleurs informels, N =337, et promoteurs d’unités de production informelle, N = 175, respectivement). Le modèle global est évalué.Les résultats confortent les hypothèses de la thèse. Malgré la pertinence du modèle du comportement planifié dans l’explication de l’intention de s’engager dans les programmes, l’intégration de variables nouvelles dans un modèle intégratif permet d’améliorer de façon significative la variance expliquée de l’intention. En effet, cette variance passe de 52.40% à 76% chez les travailleurs informels et de 44% à 78.30% chez les promoteurs d’unités de production informelle avec la prise en compte de ces variables supplémentaires. Par ailleurs, les résultats montrent que la connaissance des programmes joue un rôle prépondérant non seulement dans l’explication de l’intention, mais également de l’attitude. Ces résultats vont dans le sens des travaux antérieurs (Radovic & Hasking, 2013). La crédibilité perçue des programmes apparait aussi comme un déterminant majeur de l’intention chez les travailleurs informels alors qu’elle l’est moins chez les promoteurs d’UPI. Chez ces derniers, on note un effet élevé de la perception de l’information sur l’intention de s’engager dans les programmes de restructuration du travail informel. Ces résultats sont aussi consonants avec la littérature (Lunemberg, 2011) qui soutient que le désir est le déterminant proximal de l’intention
This thesis has a double objective: to evaluate the theoretical pertinence of the planned behaviour theory (PBT) in the Cameroonian context and to validate an integrative explanatory model of the intention of engaging in the informal work sector restructuring programs. Our stating point was the observation of the distance that exists between the increasing mobilisation towards the formalisation of informal activities and their paradoxical persistence in developing countries in general and particularly in Cameroon. Our preoccupation is to understand why the informal work actors refuse to adhere to public policies in favour of the said sector. Which psycho-social variables could justify their intention and consequentLiterature on the informal work considers it as a category of analysis (Busso, 2005) and has the tendency of explaining the failure of programs by external, socioeconomic and political causes. By doing so, they neglect the psycho-social dimension in the implementation of public policies and the accompaniment of change. The successive failure of programs initiated in Cameroon in order to restructure the informal work justifies the interest towards socio-cognitive determinants of engagement in the said programs. Based on the cognitions-behaviours models, we expect that the representations, beliefs and perceptions could help in the understanding of the intentions of the actors to engage in informal work restructuring programs. Therefore, prediction models of behaviour have been mobilised in order to discern those socio-cognitive factors that can likely explain those intentions. Several theoretical approaches have been used in this framework. These include: the theory of social representations (Jodelet, 1996), the theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 2015), the goal oriented behaviour theory (Locke & Latham, 2002), etc.Seven studies have been realised. The first one which is exploratory, analyses the social representations of the informal work and the programs geared towards its reorganization. The six other studies are empirical. They analyse the relationship between social representations, beliefs and attitudes respectively of the informal workers and the informal business promoters (studies 2 and 3); they evaluate the theoretical pertinence of the planned behaviour model just as the mediator role of the desire (Bagozzi, 1992) between the behavioural intention and its determinants (studies 4 and 5). In the 6th and 7th studies are evaluated the impact of the knowledge, the perceived credibility of the programs and the actors in charge of piloting them, as well as the perception of information about those programs on the intention. The hypotheses are verified on two samples (337 informal workers and 175 informal business promoters respectively). The global model is evaluated.The results reinforce the thesis. Despite the pertinence of the planned behaviour model in the explanation of the intention of engaging in the programs, the integration of new variables improve significantly the explained variance of the intention. Indeed, this variance goes from 52.40% to 76% among informal workers and from 44% to 78.30% among informal business promoters. Moreover, the results show that knowledge of programs plays a major role not only in explaining the intention, but also in the attitude. These results are in line with previous works (Radovic & Hasking, 2013). The perceived credibility of the programs appears also as a major determinant of the intention among informal workers while it is less among informal work promoters. Among the latter, there is quite a high effect of the perception of information on the intention of engaging in the informal work restructuring programs. These results are also consistent with the literature (Lunenberg, 2011) which considers the desire as the proximate determinant of the intention

While research suggests that peer influence can lead to increases in undesirable behaviours of adolescents, there has been little focus on the specific mechanisms of influence. A relatively small literature examining social interactions between peers has found that the discussion of rule breaking topics by pairs of boys relates to how much problem behaviour the boys engage in. This research is limited by its reliance on a set of similar samples from a North American population base. This thesis explored the relationship between social interaction and behaviour with sample from New Zealand Aotearoa. Nine pairs of Year 10 boys were recruited primarily from two high schools. A half-hour conversation was video taped for each pair. These conversations were coded on the basis of the nature of the talk between pairs of participants following the coding system proposed by Poe, Dishion, Griesler and Andrews (1990). The coded behaviours were analysed and compared to measures of previous rule breaking behaviours. The duration of rule breaking talk was found to correlate with the level of previous rule breaking behaviour. It was not clear whether the amount of rule breaking talk was related to the amount of laughter following it. Possible explanations are discussed. While generalisations from these results are limited by an unexpectedly small sample size, they show similarity to the previous research findings. The findings, the difficulties in recruitment to the research and the implications of these for future research are discussed.

Information technology and political motives, e.g. e-governance, freedom of information legislation, has recent years lead to an increasing emphasis on users and access to records, but little research based knowledge about those issues exist so far. The main focus of the previous research is the use of non-current records in archival repositories. The aim of this thesis is to make a contribution to the research field, in order to gain a better understanding of the information behaviour of users of records in contemporary organizational settings. The research questions addressed are: § How are records used in contemporary organizations?- In what context and for what purposes are records used?- What user categories can be identified? § How is the search for records mediated?- What intermediaries are used in the search process?- How well do the features of the artefactual intermediaries serve the users' information needs?- What is the role of human intermediaries? An additional purpose of the study is to contribute to theory development, and to provide a conceptual model of the information behaviour of users of records that can form the basis for further research. The thesis is based on explorative case studies undertaken in two contemporary Swedish public organizations, one municipality and one governmental agency. Data was collected through interviews, analysis of documentary sources and complementary observations. The analysis of the findings was guided by a theoretical framework consisting of activity theory informed by concepts from archival theory and models of information behaviour. The results of the cases studies showed that information behaviour of users of records and the search process could be described as a part of an activity system. The search process was a sub-ordinated activity of other activities. The needs for records was generated by a task or accomplishment of anykind with purpose to achieve something. Those needs motivated the purposes of use of records: material, operational, accountability seeking or knowledge enhancing purposes. The subjects, users in collaboration with the registrars and archivists, seeked to obtain records with help of different mediational means, e.g. artifactual intermediaries as the journal and the archives inventory that could be defined as representational systems, in order to reach a certain outcome: fact-finding, re-construction of past actions and events, regaining experience and knowledge, verifying status, or illustrating and exemplifying. A variety of user groups, internal as well as external, could be identified in both organizations. Those could act as direct or indirect users, and indirect use by one part meant direct use by another who acted as a mediator between the records and the end users. The external users could be defined as stakeholders of the organizations or other users. Users showed, with occasional exceptions, a preference for informal means of mediation, particularly personal communication. Certain features of the formal representational systems, journals and inventories, could be identified, which made them less useful as search tool. Those were generated by contradictions and tensions within the organizations: contradictions within the representational systems; contradictions between the tasks of the users and the representational systems; contradictions between user requests and the access points in the representational systems; contradictions between external users and the activities of the organizations; contradictions between exogenous institutional conditions and the the activities of the organizations; and contradictions of a temporal character. These circumstances necessitated an active intervention of human intermediaries. This could be seen as an example of the division of labour in the organizations. Search and retrieval of records were part of the registrars’ and the archivists’ specific professional knowledge, but were not considered as primary tasks of other employees or, especially not, of the external users. The results of the study contributes to to the knowledge about the use of records, and how records are approached. It provides a model of the search process that can form the basis for further research. The practical implications of the findings could be improved search tools and user services, i.e. enhanced access. The thesis can also contribute to theoretical enrichment of the field by combining a more comprehensive social theory with archival theory and concepts from information science.
Utveckling av arkiv- och informationsvetenskap

We study two examples of infinite dimensional stochastic processes. Situations and techniques involved are quite varied, however in both cases we achieve a progress in describing their long time behaviour. The first case concerns interacting particle system of diffusions. We construct rigorously the process using finite dimensional approximation and the notion of martingale solution. The existence of invariant measure for the process is proved. The novelty of the results lies in the fact, that our methods enable us to consider such examples, where the generator of the diffusion is subelliptic. The other project is related to stochastic partial differential equations and their stability properties. In particular it is shown that Robbins-Monro procedure can be extended to infinite dimensional setting. Thus we achieve results about pathwise convergence of solution. To be able to define corresponding solution, we rely on so-called variational approach to stochastic partial differential equations as pioneered by E. Pardoux, N. Krylov and B. Rozovskii. Our examples covers situations such as p-Laplace operator or Porous medium operator.

The three chapters of this thesis investigate the decision-making processes behind financial and donation behaviour of individuals. Chapter One studies the impact of prior learning and competition on the presence of the disposition effect in a venture capital setting. It reveals that prior learning leads to better venture choices and confirms competition as the most efficient form of resource allocation and management. Chapter Two addresses the empirical finding of a negative relationship between income and charitable giving as a proportion of that income. As the first study to replicate this downward relationship in an experiment, it exposes income rank information as one of the factors causing the relationship. Using a unique dataset from a natural experiment in Chapter Three, I explore the effect of increased publicity via additional visibility and information on the household donation behaviour. The results show that donations increase with public announcements and the announcement order.
Los tres capítulos de esta tesis investigar los procesos de toma de decisiones que describen la conducta financiera y la donación de los individuos. Capítulo I estudia el impacto de la formación previa y la competencia en la presencia del efecto de la disposición en un entorno de capital de riesgo. El estudio confirma que la formación previa favorece el proceso de selección y que la competencia permite la asignación más eficaz de recursos y gestión. Capítulo II investiga la presencia de una relación negativa entre los ingresos y las donaciones (representados en proporción de esos ingresos). El capitulo presenta los resultados del primer estudio que examina esta relación con un experimento y propone que entre los factores que explican esta relación es la información sobre los ingresos personales comparado con los de sus compañeros. Capítulo III utiliza una base de datos única que contiene los resultados de un experimento natural y presenta resultados empíricos sobre el efecto de una mayor publicidad a través de la visibilidad e información adicional sobre el comportamiento de la donación de los hogares. Los resultados muestran que las donaciones aumentan con los anuncios públicos y el orden de estos anuncios.