Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Phenomenology, Motivation, perception, cognition'

In this dissertation, I provide an interpretation and defense of Merleau-Ponty's thesis of the primacy of perception, namely, the thesis that all knowledge is founded on perceptual experience. I take as an interpretative and argumentative key Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological conception of motivation. Whereas epistemology has traditionally accepted a dichotomy between reason and natural causality, I show that this dichotomy is not exhaustive of the forms of epistemic grounding. There is a third type of grounding, the one characteristic of the grounding relations found in perception: motivation. I argue that introducing motivation as a form of epistemic grounding allows us to see how Merleau-Ponty's thesis of the primacy of perception avoids both rationalism and empiricism. Whereas empiricism has argued that all the content of our knowledge is grounded in causal interactions between the world and our senses, and rationalism has held that experience does not suffice as a reason for knowledge, thinking of the relation between experience and knowledge in terms of motivation allows us to see how knowledge can be grounded in experience while at the same time transcending it.

This dissertation explores a method of music analysis that is designed to reflect the phenomenology of the listening experience, specifically in regards to harmony. It is primarily inspired by the theoretical approaches of the music theorist Moritz Hauptmann and by the writings of philosopher Edmund Husserl.

There is a long history of research on the effects of reward motivation on memory, but there are still questions concerning how such motivational variables affect memory. In a study that examined the influence of reward anticipation on episodic memory, Adcock, Thangavel, Whitfield-Gabireli, Knutson, and Gabrieli (2006) found that memory was better for scenes preceded by high value reward cues than low value cues (see also Cushman, 2012; Spaniol, Schain, & Bowen, 2013). More recently, Castel, Murayama, Friedman, McGillivray, & Link (2013) observed that anticipation of reward influences selective attention to “to be remembered” (TBR) words and the memories that are formed in both younger (YA) and older adults (OA). Finally, in an examination of reward-motivated memory for both word items and pairs, Mutter, Luttrell, & Steen (2013) found that high reward enhanced associative memory for word pairs for both YA and OA. The theoretical explanation for this finding attributed word pair stimuli as promoting and high reward motivation as selectively enhancing relational encoding strategies for both OA and YA, producing reward effects for associative recognition performance only. The present study conceptually replicated the methodology from Mutter, Luttrell, and Steen (2013) in an examination of how reward motivation at study affects non-verbal single item recognition and dual item recognition for picture pair stimuli. It was expected that high reward will induce both YA and OA to engage in more extensive encoding of TBR information, but that, due to age-related associative deficits (e.g., Naveh – Benjamin, Hussain, Guez, & Bar-On, 2003), the type of encoded representations would differ for the two groups. YA would perform better than OA on the types of recognition that require memory for relational information (i.e., associative and context recognition), but YA and OA would perform equally well on the types of recognition that require memory for item-specific information (i.e., pair and no context recognition). As compared to the word pair stimuli used by Mutter and colleagues (2013), it was expected that picture pair stimuli would alternatively promote item-specific encoding strategies for both OA and YA and high reward would selectively enhance single item recognition performance.

At least since the time of Aristotle, it has been widely accepted that “man is by nature a social animal”. We eat, sleep, talk, laugh, cry, love, fight and create in ways that integrally depend on others and the social norms that we collectively generate and maintain. Yet in spite of the widely accepted importance of human sociality in underlying our daily activities, its exact manifestation and function is consistently overlooked by many academic disciplines. Cognitive science, for example, regularly neglects the manner in which social interactions and interactively generated norms canalise and constitute our cognitive processes. Without the inescapable ubiquity of dynamic social norms, any given agent simply could not cognise as a human. In this thesis, I aim to use a range of insights – from phenomenology, social psychology, neuroscience, cultural anthropology and gender studies – to clarify the role of sociality for human life. More specifically, the thesis can be broadly separated into three parts. I begin (chapters 1 and 2) with a broad explanation of how human agents are fundamentally tied to worldly entities and other agents in a way that characterises their ontological existence. In chapters 3 and 4, I criticise two recent and much-discussed theories of social cognition – namely, we-mode cognition and participatory sense-making – for failing to make intelligible the social constitution of human existence. In the later chapters (5-7), I then propose foundations for a more satisfactory theory of social cognition, as well as explicating a view of human selfhood as ‘biosocial', such that even the autonomy of biological bodies is socially codified from a human perspective. Taken together, the aforementioned chapters should contribute to calls for a new direction in social cognitive science, whilst also yielding novel insights into the nature of human selfhood.

Over the last two decades, research has identified factors that foster versus undermine human motivation and well being with important implications for learning and performance. Much of the research is concerned with intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation and autonomous versus non-autonomous learning environments. The data suggests that learning and performance are often significantly enhanced in autonomy-supportive environments that foster intrinsic motivational perspectives. This study examines the lived experience of Abraham Lincoln in the context of his adult learning motivation, forming a qualitative narrative around his adult educational experiences. It was hypothesized that Abraham Lincoln benefited from learning experiences with high levels of both intrinsic motivation and autonomy-supportive contexts. Results indicate that Abraham Lincoln experienced near total autonomy in his learning activities and that most of his adult learning activities were intrinsically-motivated. A discussion section explores the relevance of the findings to select topics in adult education.

All athletes are driven by motivation, sources or reasons to push their bodies to their limits and continue to do so regularly. There have been several studies concerning motivation in typical athletes, and many regarding social motivation in people with High Functioning Autism (HFA), however most have been limited to children, and there have been no investigations into HFA athletes’ motivation. The current study looks into the role of social dimensions in athletics, and tests how one’s gender and placement on the Empathy Questionnaire (EQ), Systemizing Questionnaire (SQ), and on the Autism Questionnaire (AQ) affect intrinsic motivation in athletics. It was predicted that athletes with HFA would demonstrate greater levels of intrinsic motivation than those with lower scores on the Systemizing and Autism Questionnaires. The second hypothesis predicted that those who are more prone to systematizing (and perhaps higher on the AQ) would be more intrinsically motivated than those who are more prone to empathizing, as social rewards may not be as important to them. To uncover the differences between intrinsic motivation due to placement on the AQ, SQ and EQ, as well as differences between sexes and coaching feedback, a combination of Linear Regression Analyses, Independent Groups T-Tests and Correlations (n=25) were used. The first hypothesis was invalid due to lack of recruitment of HFA participants, but the second was supported by the data.

L’homme est un animal social. La majorité des décisions que nous prenons se font dans un contexte social et dépendent d’autrui, ce qui implique des calculs cérébraux complexes qui incluent tous les facteurs contextuels et environnementaux. La majorité des études ultérieures de la prise en compte d’autrui dans la décision ont utilisé des tâches de partage de récompenses entre soi et autrui. Les choix possibles amènent le décideur à considérer autrui, mais dans le but de gagner soi-même une récompense ; donc dans un contexte où les récompenses liées à soi et les récompenses liées à autrui sont confondues. Le travail présenté dans cette thèse avait pour but une meilleure compréhension des mécanismes cérébraux soutenant l’intégration d’autrui dans la prise de décision, sans que la récompense pour autrui n’interfère directement avec soi. Nous nous sommes appuyés sur le cadre théorique de la décision perceptuelle et des modèles de diffusion pour l'étude i) des modifications du processus décisionnel induites par une récompense monétaire allant à autrui et ii) de l’impact de l’effet d’audience (le fait de se sentir observé) sur la décision. Nos résultats computationnels montrent qu'une récompense pour autrui, par rapport à une récompense pour soi, et une audience, par rapport au secret, modifient le taux de dérive de la variable de décision. En magnétoencéphalographie, nos résultats indiquent que les décisions pour soi et pour autrui diffèrent pendant, mais aussi après, la prise de décision dans des zones cérébrales associées avec la transformation sensori-motrice, l'ajustement du compromis entre rapidité et justesse et avec la cognition sociale. Ainsi, le cortex temporal montre des différences de -1170 millisecondes (ms) à -1023 ms, de -993 ms à -915 ms et de -343 ms à -188 ms en amont de la réponse. Ce qui suppose une influence sur l’intégration des preuves sensorielles. Après la décision, les régions frontales ont également montré des différences entre soi et autrui, de 153 ms à 303 ms post-réponse, suggérant une différence entre soi et autrui dans l’ajustement du compris entre justesse et rapidité. Le bénéficiaire de la récompense associée à la décision modifie les paramètres décisionnels et les corrélats cérébraux de la décision perceptuelle, démontrant l’importance du contexte social dans l’implémentation de la prise de décision chez l’Homme. Ce travail appuie également l’utilité des modèles mathématiques tels que les modèles de diffusion dans la compréhension des processus décisionnels, même de ceux découlant de la cognition sociale
Humans are inherently social: most of human’s decisions are within a social context and depend on others. For more than a century, researchers explore aspects of social cognition. Aiming to understand human behavior in social contexts, neuro-economic researches showed that taking others into account involve complex brain computations that include all environmental and contextual factors. However, most of the work was made using money allocation tasks; mixing self-affecting and other-affecting rewards into the decision making process. The present work intended the understanding of the brain mechanisms underpinning the integration of others into the decision making process for decisions that include others and do not interfere with self-rewards.Taking advantage of mathematical models from the drift diffusion models framework, we conducted experiments investigating how others influence the mechanistic of perceptual decisions and their correlates in the human brain. We showed that taking rewards for others into account and being observed by others influence the drift rate of the decision variable. The drift rate is higher in audience than in secret and higher for self-rewards than for other-rewards. These results indicate that others are integrated into the accumulation process together with the evidence available for making a decision. At the brain level, we found difference between self and other decisions over the anterior temporal and centro-frontal cortices during decision making. This suggests that the beneficiary of a decision modifies sensory-motor transformation processes. In addition, self- and other-affecting difference showed difference over the medial frontal sensors after the decision making process, indicating a variation in the speed-accuracy tradeoff adjustment process

This project demonstrates how English teachers in Japan can conduct purposeful and meaningful lessons for middle school low-intermediate students. The teaching approach used for this project is based on Content-Based Instruction (CBI).

The aim of this study is two-fold. First, we want to understand the levels of metacognitive awareness of learning strategies in undergraduates with learning disabilities. Previous research states that recall is the most effective method of studying, but most students prefer to reread their notes or textbook which is ineffective. Second, we want to explore the link between Working Memory and metacognitive awareness of learning strategies in undergraduates with learning disabilities. The learning strategies that college students with and without disabilities is examined, we found that students in both groups preferred the usage of the same strategies equally. The most preferred strategy was rereading notes/textbook, and least preferred was studying in groups. Interestingly, we found no differences between the groups with regards to their: motivation, metacognition, and working memory. Initially, it was found that the group of students with disabilities greatly differed in visual-spatial working memory, however, once we controlled for those who were visually-impaired or had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the results became non-significant. Gender differences in learning strategies was examined and we found that males preferred the usage of completing practice problems and the usage of mnemonic devices, whereas females preferred highlighting their notes or textbook.

Au cours des dernières années, l’avènement des technologies de captation du mouvement a radicalement transformé l’univers de la pratique artistique tout en ouvrant des perspectives inédites pour la recherche scientifique. La musique est actuellement l’un des domaines les plus impliqués dans ce renouvellement expressif et épistémologique. Dans ce cadre, les processus d’interaction entre médiation technologique, mouvement et son, semblent se décliner selon deux modalités majeures : d’une part, les technologies d’analyse du mouvement permettent d’étudier expérimentalement la connexion mutuelle entre phénomène acoustique et système sensori-moteur; de l’autre, la compréhension de la nature incarnée de l’expérience musicale oriente la conception et le développement de technologies interactives pour la performance vers un modèle plus holistique. En partant de ces prémisses, cette thèse porte sur la manière dont la transformation des aspects imperceptibles du mouvement en données perceptibles – sous forme de son – permet de prendre conscience des processus physiologiques et figuratifs qui sont à la base du geste. Dans ce contexte, la relation entre mouvement et feedback sonore est analysée selon une perspective écologique visant à mettre en lumière comment la médiation technologique induit un processus d’extension et d’intensification autopoïétique de l’anatomie corporelle. Notamment dans le cas de la pratique performative, l’interaction sonore offre alors au performeur la possibilité de redéfinir sa propre organisation perceptive sur la base d’un un nouveau répertoire des données sensorielles, lui permettant ainsi de repenser la composition expressive du mouvement
During the last years, motion sensing technologies have radically transformed the universe of the artistic practice. This dramatic change has recently inspired new perspectives in scientific research. Music is actually among the most affected domaines by this expressive and epistemological renewal. The interactive relation between mediation technology, movement and sound, seems to be declined into two main modalities : on one hand, movement analysis’ technologies allow to study mutual connections between acoustic phenomenon and sensorimotor system, on the other hand, embodied understanding of musical experience can help to devise an holistic approach to interactive systems conception and development. Given this background scenario, this thesis focuses on how movement’s qualities transformation into sound allows the performer to become aware of physiological and imaginative processes in gesture composition. In this framework, sound feedback-movement relation is analyzed from an ecological point of view. According to this approach, mediation technology seems to elicit an autopoietic process of extension and intensification of corporeality. Especially in the artistic performance, sound interaction offers to performer a new sensorial geography that allows him/her to renew his/her perceptive organization and thereby rethink expressive composition of movement

This research aims to fill a research gap by examining video games to explore whether gender, age, or hours played per week would exert any influence on the information of those who may or may not play video games. Mood Management Theory and Uses and Gratification Theory were used as the theoretical foundation for this study. Four-hundred-three East Tennessee State University students who received the survey via email were asked to voluntarily participate in a survey about their motivations behind playing video games. Results from MANOVA showed that the motivations of male participants on video games were significantly higher than were female participants on video games. Moreover, those who claimed to play five or more hours of video games per week were significantly higher than those who claimed to play zero hours per week.

Ce travail a pour objectif de mettre en evidence certaines variables et processus qui affectent la motivation a l'accomplissement, dans les activites motrices. Il s'appuie sur des donnees issues du paradigme expectation-valence (vroom, 1964), et des theories socio-cognitives contemporaines sur les buts (nicholls, 1989). La premiere partie presente les concepts et theories de la motivation en generale, et de la motivation a l'accomplissement en particulier. Les notions d'expectation, de valence et de motivation a l'accomplissement y sont particulierement developpees. La deuxieme est un approfondissement theorique des deux variables independantes principales (l'orientation motivationnelle vers la maitrise et vers la competition, et l'habilete percue en escalade), assorti de la validation d'outils destines a les mesurer. La troisieme partie propose 1 etude et 7 experimentations regroupees selon 4 themes: les croyances relatives a la nature de l'habilete motrice, le choix d'un niveau de difficulte de la tache, l'effort et la perseverance dans la tache, et la performance. Dans ce qu'ils ont d'essentiel, nos resultats montrent qu'avec un but de competition, la motivation est tributaire d'une perception favorable de son habilete par rapport a autrui. Ce processus peut entrainer des pis-aller quand l'habilete percue est faible: la selection de difficultes extremes, l'adoption de strategies de moindre effort ou le rejet de la situation. Par contraste, quelle que soit l'habilete percue, un but de maitrise entraine la selection d'une tache de defi personnel, et un investissement important et durable, particulierement pour ce type de difficulte. La consistance des resultats valide dans un contexte ecologique et avec une tache motrice d'escalade les hypotheses avancees par certaines theories socio-cognitives contemporaines, celles de nicholls (1989) en particulier, et consacre la valeur du paradigme expectation-valence pour expliquer le fonctionnement de la motivation humaine

A substantial gap exists between those who are considered experts on mental health (e.g., academics, mental health professionals) and those in charge of constructing mental health policies (e.g., legislators, Senators). This gap is in areas of both knowledge and professional relations. Mental health professionals are not adequately trained to engage in policy advocacy and reform efforts and have little to no policy advocacy training (Smith, Reynolds, & Rovnak, 2009). Policymakers lack necessary knowledge related to mental health for effective mental health policy construction (Corrigan, Druss, & Perlick, 2014; Lee, Smith, & Henry, 2013). As a result of this gap, mental health policies are ineffective, and many mental health professionals lack understanding and experience in the area of policy advocacy (Smith et al., 2009; Tanenbaum, 2005). This qualitative study aimed to contribute to filling this gap by exploring the perspectives of policymakers with the purpose of gaining a better understanding of the mental health policy construction and reform process. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perspectives and lived experiences of state-level, practicing policymakers regarding their decision-making processes related to mental health policy construction in efforts to reveal a clearer understanding of how to participate in effective policy reform.A phenomenological qualitative research design and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach was used to explore the lived experiences and perspectives of a total of eight state-level practicing policymakers surrounding the mental health policy construction process. After securing IRB approval, all eight participants participated in face-to-face individual, semi-structured interviews. The interviews were audio recorded and ranged from 45 to 90 minutes. Data was then analyzed using IPA data analysis methods. The final data analysis product included three super ordinate themes and related themes and subthemes.

This essay aims at understanding the experience of the use of ayahuasca, and similarities and differences between interview protocols and socio-cultural identities. The work is based on field studies conducted in the Peruvian Andes, in the village of Pisac September to November 2009. What has emerged is that the experience does not seem to be dependent on cultural manifestations as much as it is dependent on general human cognition. Theories have been applied on an empirical phenomenological descriptive study. Various brain activities, along with mental mechanisms contribute to a deeper understanding of the findings in the descriptive analysis.

It seems that the cultural differences, which I have classed as typological in the phenomenological study, mostly are expressions of meaning for the informants. Furthermore, I have argued that the typical mystical experience, or if you like religious experience, is an essentially biological phenomenon related to episodic memory dealing with experiences. The typological characteristics are products of the semantic memory and these characteristics are primarily linguistic and cultural phenomena. The socio-cultural identities express the basic experience of Ayahuasca and altered states of consciousness in fundamentally similar ways, because both groups share the same human cognition. Regarding these cognitive mechanisms, I have also argued that there are mechanisms such as ”Theory of mind” and ”Active detection device” which have been active in the experiences of ayahuasca.

The goal of this thesis was to reassess the relationship between the moving body and technology, and more specifically, to focus on recent perspectives in the performing arts which inscribe new manifestations and dynamics of cross-pollination between the somatic and technology. According to Dr. Andrea Davidson, 'Such research has rarely been formally identified with the specialised field of somatics' (2013, p.3). The thesis thus proposes to reflect on the experience and conception of the performative body in the link it entertains with technology. Investigating this relationship, it defines a new paradigm, that of an 'interfaced intercorporeality'. This paradigm is constructed with special attention to a different relationship revealed between the interface and the notion of a corporal potentiality or 'interval'. In particular, the thesis focuses on the concept of a 'collective body' based on this relationship and on practical research conducted within the framework of my research, along with the methodology that supported it. The research and creative work that are presented derive from experiments I conceived, conducted and participated in making. My analysis is thus based on direct experience. The relationship between the somatic and technology notably led me to focus on the notion of embodied cognition or 'bodily knowledge' and for this, to re-examine the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty. As a consequence, this return to the experiential also required revisiting definitions given by the Greeks concerning the aesthetic as a reference to sensation and the ability to perceive. The thesis approaches the body as the ground and basis for creating work, as well as for testing the effect(s) that technology has on it. Experiments conducted sought to develop greater sensory and perceptual awareness in order to invest the relationship of somatics/technology in a dimension that could potentially constitute a transformation of self, of one's relationship to others and to the world. Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological existentialism formed the basis for explorations made to forge links between the somatic and technology. However, it is important to clarify that my intention was not to make an analysis of phenomenology per se. It was rather referenced as a means to explain the framework of my research in relation to lived experience, sensation, and specifically, to my creative approach involving new technologies. Merleau-Ponty's methodology includes subjective, first-person accounts of 'lived experience'. Third-person accounts, or so-called 'objective' positions, are also included. These accounts are then shown to evolve towards an ecosystem of interaction and movement in order to experience and test the production of theory and practical experimentation involved in the methodology I adopted. The thesis incorporates knowledge from several disciplines, but principally from the field of dance and technology. Highlighting sensorial and perceptual phenomena related to the transformation of the body through technology and subjective experience, it takes into account an interdisciplinary perspective that is linked to this problematic. The thesis begins with an introduction to phenomenology in which the concepts and positions of Merleau-Ponty are outlined, including those of anti-dualism, the lived body, the ontology of the body, corporeality, intercorporeality and the flesh. Chapter 1 looks at the evolution of this philosophical movement throughout history and continues with a history of the body in phenomenology, an analysis of certain applications of phenomenology in the field of dance and subsequently, in the specific field of dance related to technology. Chapter 2 comprises a literature review. It also presents the bases of reductionist thinking, the proposition of a return to integrative thinking and issues concerning instrumentalisation, the double and the complexification of the self. It further examines the history of ideas surrounding the relationship between the body and technology, notions of the real-virtual-actual and a history and problematics of the interface. It concludes with a presentation of theories on the notions of potentiality, the interval and real-time. Chapter 3 presents my artistic background, an historical overview of the trends and principal ideas that have influenced my work, as well as an examination of the field of dance and technology from the point of view of its history and more recent developments. Chapter 4 is dedicated to an analysis of the research methodologies employed in the practical research for this thesis and identifies related issues. An analysis of problems encountered with existing methodologies notably highlights a need to invest in other methodological modes for practical research of an interdisciplinary nature. The chapter continues with a presentation of some of the methodologies currently used in the field of dance related to technology. The principles underpinning the specific creative research methodology I experimented with are then presented, proposing an adaptation of the aforementioned methodologies in order to respond to the dynamics of collective research of an empathic nature that are specific to my approach and also in order to invest in the link between the somatic and technology my project proposes. This proposition modestly attempts to respond to the lack of methodologies observed in the field of artistic practical research. A discussion of the experimentation involved in the practical research for the thesis is made in Chapter 5. Two creative experiments are analysed. Their aim was to investigate and develop a collective physical body composed of five dancers in constant contact, whose movement and relationships create what I call a 'collective sound body'. This collective entity produces sound in real-time which is simultaneously spatialised. The analysis takes into account the ways these two bodies are interdependent and constantly interrelated. Schematically, the first experiment served as a basis on which to found principles related to the collective body, while the second experiment developed them. The chapter further outlines creative strategies that were employed to test principles of self-organisation linked to sensation and stemming from the somatic techniques employed. It also returns to some of Merleau-Ponty's main concepts that were implemented and tested in performative experience: intercorporeality, the lived body, the dynamic of continual transformation and the principle of coexistence. Lastly, Merleau-Ponty's investigation of sensation and perception and his concept of sensory chiasms are related to the experiments' multisensory exploration and theme of intersubjectivity which are then proposed as leading to the possibility of intercorporeality. Chapter 6 forms the conclusion and seeks to identify new knowledge generated in the thesis. Essentially articulating another vision of the performative body as developed through its contact with technology, the findings, both practical and theoretical, bring to light a different understanding of the body rendered through a dissolution of psychophysical borders in the development of the performative model I called the 'collective body'. The thesis further proposes that the 'collective body' and its evolution as the 'collective sound body', open up the path to a new approach to interfaces and further, to what I propose as a theory of interfaced intercorporeality. This research aims to reintroduce the body and its specific intelligence in the understanding and building of relationships that can be renewed. The technology used in these experiments was considered as a physicality and the activator of a reconfiguration of sensory-perceptual processes that the thesis argues can lead to the final paradigm of 'interfaced intercorporeality' it proposes.

Un examen des principaux travaux liés aux effets dits de "facilitation sociale" (Zajonc, 1965) et de "social loating" (Latane, Williams et Harkins, 1979) montre que les systèmes d'explication censés rendre compte de l'influence exercée par la présence d'autrui sur les performances individuelles sont fondés sur une "conception extrinsèque" des rapports qu'entretient nécessairement le social, avec le fonctionnement humain. Cette conception, qui revient à attribuer au social, et, en l'occurrence, à la présence d'autrui, le seul statut de source externe de variation est discutée, cela, en référence à des travaux récents (Monteil, 1988, 1991) qui attestent, en effet, le poids des insertions sociales antérieures, et, du même coup, le poids de l'histoire sociale individuelle, sur la gestion cognitive des conditions sociales actuelles d'apprentissage. Ces travaux, qui permettent d'envisager une participation du social à l'élaboration des mécanismes et processus cognitifs eux-mêmes, invitent, notamment, à expliquer quels peuvent être les effets de mobilisation expérimentale des catégorisations et appartenances sociales sur les performances cognitives individuelles. Les résultats des 4 recherches réalisées à cette fin correspondent, pour l'esentiel, aux attentes ; ils invitent à prendre en compte les catégorisations et appartenance du sujet ainsi que leurs conditions d'activation ou de mobilisation pour rendre compte de l'influence exercée par autrui sur les performances individuelles. Ils résistent, comme ceux obtenus plus tôt par Monteil (1988, 1991), aux systèmes d'explication en vigueur dans les cadres de la facilitation et du social loafing. Ces résultats permettent, enfin, d'envisager les productions cognitives individuelles comme réglées, en partie, par l'activation ou la mobilisation, dans les insertions sociales spécifiques, de valeurs et de normes internalisées par les sujets au fil de leur histoire. Ce travail atteste, ainsi, la légitimité d'une orientation socio-cognitive de recherche visant à articuler dynamiques sociales et dynamiques cognitives
A review of the main dealing with "social facilitation" (zajonc 1965) and "social loafing" (latane, williams & harkins, 1979) reveal that explanatory systems supposed to give one an account of the influence of others' presence on individual performances are based on an "extrinsic conception" of the relationships existing between social dimension and human function. This conception, which attributes to the social dimension an, therefore, to the others' presence, the status of an external source of variation, is examined, this has to be referred to recent studies (monteil, 1988,1991) which attest that previous social insertions, and, son individual social histoiry, play an important part in the cognitive management of current social conditions of learning. Theses studies, which allow us to envision a participation of the social dimension to the elaboration of cognitive machanisms and processes, also invite us to explore what could be the effects of experimental mobilization of categorizations and social merberships on individual cognitive performances. The findings of our 4 studies confirmed our expectations. They lead one to take into account the subject's categorizations and memberships as well as their condition of activation or mobilization in order to show the influence exerted by others over individual performances. As prevously displayed by montell, our results resist to expanatory systems used in the framework of facilitation and social loefing. Finally, these results permit us to consider individual cognitive productions as being partly ruled by activation or mobilization, in specific social insertions, of values or norms internalized by the subject during his history. Thus, this work emphasizes the legitimacy of a socio-cognitive orientation aiming at articulating social dynamics and cognitive dynamics

This dissertation engages with contemporary interpretations of Nietzsche and Heidegger on the issue of self-knowing with respect to the notions of honesty and authenticity. Accounting for the two philosophers' developing conceptions of these notions allows a response to interpreters who conceive the activity of self-knowing as a primarily personal problem. The alternative accounts proposed take as a point of departure transitional texts that reveal both thinkers to be engaged in processes of revision. The reading of honesty in Chapters 1 and 2 revolves around Nietzsche's groundwork on prejudice in Morgenröthe (1880-81), where he first problematizes the moral-historical forces entailed in actuating the 'will to truth'. The reading of authenticity in Chapters 3 and 4 revolves around Heidegger's lectures on what motivates one's thinking in Was heißt Denken? (1951-52). The lectures call into question his previous formal suppositions on what calls forth one's 'will-to-have-a-conscience', in an interpretation of Parmenides on the issue of thought's linguistic determination, discussed further in the context of Unterwegs zur Sprache (1950-59). Chapter 5 shows how Heidegger's confrontation with Nietzsche contributed to his ongoing revisions to the notion of authenticity, and to the attending conceptions of critique and its authority. Particular attention is given to the specific purposes to which distinct Nietzschean foils are put near the confrontation's beginning--in Heidegger's lectures on Nietzsche's second Unzeitgemässe Betrachtung (1938), and in the monograph entitled Besinnung (1939) which they prepare--and near its end, in the interpretation of Also Sprach Zarathustra (1883-85) presented in the first half of Was heißt Denken? Chapter 6 recapitulates the developments traced from the vantage point of the retrospective texts Die Zollikoner Seminare (1959-72) and the fifth Book of Die fröhliche Wissenschaft (1887). Closing remarks are made in relation to recent empirical research on the socio-environmental structures involved in determining self-identity.

This research into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) presents the results of 60 first-person psycho-phenomenological interviews with 30 New Zealand women. The participants were recruited from the Canterbury and Wellington regions, 10 had recovered. Taking a non-dual, non-reductive embodied approach, the phenomenological data was analysed semiotically, using a graph-theoretical cluster analysis to elucidate the large number of resulting categories, and interpreted through the enactive approach to cognitive science. The initial result of the analysis is a comprehensive exploration of the experience of CFS which develops subject-specific categories of experience and explores the relation of the illness to universal categories of experience, including self, ‘energy’, action, and being-able-to-do. Transformations of the self surrounding being-able-to-do and not-being-able-to-do were shown to elucidate the illness process. It is proposed that the concept ‘energy’ in the participants’ discourse is equivalent to the Mahayana Buddhist concept of ‘contact’. This characterises CFS as a breakdown of contact. Narrative content from the recovered interviewees reflects a reestablishment of contact. The hypothesis that CFS is a disorder of action is investigated in detail. A general model for the phenomenology and functional architecture of action is proposed. This model is a recursive loop involving felt meaning, contact, action, and perception and appears to be phenomenologically supported. It is proposed that the CFS illness process is a dynamical decompensation of the subject’s action loop caused by a breakdown in the process of contact. On this basis, a new interpretation of neurological findings in relation to CFS becomes possible. A neurological phenomenon that correlates with the illness and involves a brain region that has a similar structure to the action model’s recursive loop is identified in previous research results and compared with the action model and the results of this research. This correspondence may identify the brain regions involved in the illness process, which may provide an objective diagnostic test for the condition and approaches to treatment. The implications of this model for cognitive science and CFS should be investigated through neurophenomenological research since the model stands to shed considerable light on the nature of consciousness, contact and agency. Phenomenologically based treatments are proposed, along with suggestions for future research on CFS. The research may clarify the diagnostic criteria for CFS and guide management and treatment programmes, particularly multidimensional and interdisciplinary approaches. Category theory is proposed as a foundation for a mathematisation of phenomenology.

In this work, what we set out to argue corresponds to an attempt to integrate the conceptual framework that structures the Husserlian genetic theory of perception – and thus the articulation of the various forms of passive synthesis characterising it – with the framework of the debate concerning “Cognitive Penetration”.