Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Social Cognitive Reasoning'

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, 2012.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-139).
This thesis proposes a computational framework for understanding human Theory of Mind (ToM): our conception of others' mental states, how they relate to the world, and how they cause behavior. Humans use ToM to predict others' actions, given their mental states, but also to do the reverse: attribute mental states - beliefs, desires, intentions, knowledge, goals, preferences, emotions, and other thoughts - to explain others' behavior. The goal of this thesis is to provide a formal account of the knowledge and mechanisms that support these judgments. The thesis will argue for three central claims about human ToM. First, ToM is constructed around probabilistic, causal models of how agents' beliefs, desires and goals interact with their situation and perspective (which can differ from our own) to produce behavior. Second, the core content of ToM can be formalized using context-specific models of approximately rational planning, such as Markov decision processes (MDPs), partially observable MDPs (POMDPs), and Markov games. ToM reasoning will be formalized as rational probabilistic inference over these models of intentional (inter)action, termed Bayesian Theory of Mind (BToM). Third, hypotheses about the structure and content of ToM can be tested through a combination of computational modeling and behavioral experiments. An experimental paradigm for eliciting fine-grained ToM judgments will be proposed, based on comparing human inferences about the mental states and behavior of agents moving within simple two-dimensional scenarios with the inferences predicted by computational models. Three sets of experiments will be presented, investigating models of human goal inference (Chapter 2), joint belief-desire inference (Chapter 3), and inference of interactively-defined goals, such as chasing and fleeing (Chapter 4). BToM, as well as a selection of prominent alternative proposals from the social perception literature will be evaluated by their quantitative fit to behavioral data. Across the present experiments, the high accuracy of BToM, and its performance relative to alternative models, will demonstrate the difficulty of capturing human social judgments, and the success of BToM in meeting this challenge.
by Chris L. Baker.
Ph.D.

This thesis aimed partly to examine the effects of gender on conversation dynamics, partly to investigate whether interaction between participants with contrasting opinions promotes cognitive development on a moral task. Another objective was to explore whether particular conversational features of interaction would have any impact upon a pair’s joint response or on each child’s moral development. The conversations were coded with regard to simultaneous speech acts, psychosocial behaviour and types of justifications used. The results show no gender differences regarding psychosocial processes, but the boys used more negative interruptions, more overlaps and significantly proportionately more justifications in the form of assertions than the girls in the study. Gender differences were often more pronounced in same-gender as opposed to mixed-gender pairs, but children also altered their behaviour to accommodate to the gender of their conversational partner. Children who participated in the interaction phase of the study showed more overall progress on an eight-weeks delayed post-test than those who did not. However the only conversational feature that was related to the outcomes of conversation and development was the use of expiatory force justifications which were associated with a more advanced reply immediately after interaction as well as two weeks later.

Acceptance of emotional intelligence as a form of giftedness has been a very gradual process particularly when placed alongside more widely recognised forms of academic giftedness. This piece of research examines the incorporation of the gifted learning model Operation Houndstooth within the setting of a primary school environmental programme in order to meet the learning needs of a group emotionally gifted students. The project was initiated after observing the capacity of the New Zealand Enviro Schools programme as a learning vehicle to allow this group of gifted learners the opportunity to participate in a problem solving process within the Operation Houndstooth model. Houndstooth itself derives from the Enrichment Triad Model for learning and is the work of the American educational psychologist Joseph Renzulli. The Houndstooth model has been designed to extend the co-cognitive skills of each gifted learner. The programme itself was conducted within a primary school environment in which the researcher was employed as a teacher and the participants were members of the senior classes. The research was carried out as a qualitative study with a single-case study placed alongside action research. The completion of the project saw the emergence of a group of students who had developed their confidence as efficient communicators and capable problem solvers. The study argues for the development of gifted programmes that recognise emotional giftedness within the New Zealand primary school setting which incorporates Renzulli’s Houndstooth as a delivery model.

Behavioral economists have attempted to show that human iterated reasoning faculties discourage non-equilibrium, non-convergent game dynamics. But what if individuals iterating through each other's strategic intentions are instead driving complex collective dynamics? The results in this manuscript demonstrate that bounded "what you think I think you think" reasoning can cause sustained deviations from Nash equilibrium and other fixed-point solution concepts. Supporting my thesis are a series of six experiments, a revisitation of a classic game theory experiment, a variety of computational models, and an analysis of a real-world dataset with highly motivated agents. I also introduce two new games, the Mod Game and the Runway Game. By bridging human higher-level reasoning and animal collective behavior, this work challenges attitudes in economics that complex social dynamics can--or even should--be designed away.

Ce travail de thèse s’articule autour de trois études complémentaires. La première aborde la validation française d’un test rapide d’évaluation des fonctions supérieures: le Barrow Neurological Institute Screen for higher cerebral functions (B.N.I.S). Cette étude a permis de rendre disponible en langue française un outil rapide qui évalue les fonctions cognitives classiques mais aussi les capacités émotionnelles et sociocognitives, fonctions généralement non intégrées dans ce type de test. La seconde étude, menée auprès de participants présentant un Mild Cognitive Impairment (M.C.I), a ensuite permis de mettre en évidence la nécessité de prendre en compte l’évaluation émotionnelle. Les participants M.C.I présentent un profil spécifique au B.N.I.S., notamment aux subtests d’affectivité, d’orientation, de mémoire et d’auto-évaluation de la performance mnésique. Enfin, la troisième étude analyse les performances de reconnaissance faciale des émotions et de raisonnement social au cours du vieillissement normal, le Mild Cognitive Impairment et la démence de type Alzheimer (DTA) au stade débutant. Nous observons un déclin des capacités de reconnaissance faciale des émotions et de raisonnement social au cours du vieillissement normal qui s’accentue significativement au cours de la DTA. Un profil spécifique est retrouvé pour le M.C.I avec un déclin en raisonnement social mais des capacités de reconnaissance faciale émotionnelle comparables aux sujets âgés du groupe contrôle. L’évaluation des capacités émotionnelles devrait être davantage intégrée aux bilans neuropsychologiques afin de mieux orienter les modalités de prise en charge de la population vieillissante
This research presents three complementary studies: (1) the french validation of the Barrow Neurological Institute Screen for higher cerebral functions (B.N.I.S), developed by G. Prigatano in 1991. We have assessed 167 subjects from 15 to 84 years within a french population. The goal is :1) to promote a new short screening instrument dedicated to cognitive and emotional functions, usually emotional functions are not integrated in neuropsychological assessments ; (2) to apply the B.N.I.S to Mild Cognitive Impairment (M.C.I) subjects (N=39) in order to highlighted the importance of the emotional assessment in this type of population and found a specific profile at the substests named: affectivity, orientation, memory and self-assessment of the mnesic performance ; (3) to analyze, with more precision, the performance of emotional facial recognition and social reasoning during normal ageing (N=54), M.C.I (N=25) and Alzheimer disease (AD) at the early stage (N=17). A decline of sociocognitive capacities is observed during the ageing and seems to become more important during the course of M.C.I and the AD. A specific profile was found for each group. The assessment of emotional capacities seems relevant and should be more integrated into the neuropsychological assessments, in order to improve diagnosis and to propose the best modalities of care for the ageing population

The Threat Anticipation Model (Freeman, 2007) implicates social anxiety and reasoning biases in the formation and maintenance of persecutory delusions. Computerised packages, such as Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation (CBM-I) have been shown to improve social anxiety in psychosis (Turner et al., 2011). Similarly, the Maudsley Review Training Programme (MRTP) has improved reasoning biases associated with delusions (Waller et al.,2011). This study examined the use of both of these treatment packages in people with persecutory delusions. It was hypothesised that CBM-I would reduce social anxiety, but not reasoning biases and that the MRTP would reduce reasoning biases, but not social anxiety. It was also hypothesised that both packages would reduce paranoia. A single case series design with twelve participants from Early Intervention and Recovery services in Norfolk was used. Measures of social anxiety, paranoia and reasoning biases were taken during baseline, package and one-month follow up. Data were analysed according to Kazdin’s (2010) criteria and were inspected for clinical and reliable change. Complimentary analyses were also performed using Simulation Modeling Analysis (Borckardt, 2006) and inferential statistics. Results indicated mixed support for the first hypothesis and moderate support for all other study hypotheses. Paranoia reduced in line with reductions in social anxiety and/or reasoning biases in eight cases. In two cases, no improvement in social anxiety or reasoning biases corresponded with lack of improvement in paranoia. The remaining two cases contradicted any relationship between improved social anxiety, reasoning biases and paranoia. These findings support the Threat Anticipation Model (Freeman, 2007), suggesting that social anxiety and reasoning biases are distinct mechanisms in the formation of paranoia that have unique aetiology and treatment responses. Computerised therapy may help people who are unwilling to engage with services and reduce cost of provision.

Les travaux présentés dans cette thèse s'intéressent à l'intime relation entre la rationalité de l'homme et sa conscience de la mort. Ils utilisent conjointement deux théories, la Théorie de la Gestion de la Terreur, et la théorie Dual-Process de la pensée. La Théorie de la Gestion de la Terreur décrit les mécanismes qui se déclenchent lorsque des pensées liées à notre propre mort sont activées. De façon importante, ces mécanismes consomment des ressources mentales que la théorie Dual-Process identifie comme nécessaires à la pensée rationnelle. Sommes-nous dès lors capables de raisonner de manière rationnelle lorsque nous pensons à notre propre mort ? En d'autres termes, pouvons-nous utiliser correctement notre capacité analytique lorsque des pensées liées à notre propre mort sont conscientes ? Les personnes ayant de grandes capacités cognitives sont elles mieux armées pour penser à la mort ? Quel est le réel impact des pensées de mort sur notre raisonnement, mais aussi sur nos jugements et décisions ? Nous cherchons à répondre à ces questions dans différents domaines de la pensée : les inférences logiques, les décisions stratégiques, et le jugement moral. Différents protocoles expérimentaux sont mis en œuvre dans le but d'explorer de manière exhaustive l'influence des pensées de mort lorsque nous devons utiliser ces hautes fonctions cognitives. Les résultats mettent en lumière de sinistres, mais fascinants effets et ce sur toutes nos activités nécessitant des ressources cognitives. De manière générale, les participants qui ont pensé à leur propre mort semblent ne plus avoir accès à leurs ressources cognitives et montrent par conséquent des comportements moins élaborés, intuitifs et heuristiques, au détriment des règles normatives de raisonnement. Ces découvertes laissent apparaître un étrange paradoxe en termes d'évolution et d'adaptation puisque nos capacités analytiques semblent finalement nous servir à oublier ce qu'elles nous ont justement fait découvrir.

Bakgrund:Som yrkesverksam fysioterapeut inom primärvården finns det flera olika behandlingsmetoder för långvarig ländryggssmärta att välja mellan, men inga tydliga riktlinjer att följa. Grundat i det kliniska resonemanget tar fysioterapeuter beslut som påverkas och förändras i mötet med patienten. Då det finns lite forskning som undersökt hur fysioterapeuter utbildade inom Mekanisk diagnostik och terapi (MDT) beskriver sitt kliniska resonemang till patienter med långvarig ländryggssmärta syftar denna studie till att åskådliggöra fysioterapeuters syn på ämnet.    Syfte:Att undersöka hur fysioterapeuter beskriver sitt kliniska resonemang gällande användning av MDT till patienter med långvarig ländryggssmärta.    Metod:Kvalitativ semistrukturerad intervjustudie med induktiv ansats och deskriptiv design. Datainsamling skedde genom sex intervjuer. En kvalitativ innehållsanalys användes vid analys av materialet.    Resultat:Analysen genererade 22 underkategorier fördelade i sju kategorier. Informanterna beskrev sitt kliniska resonemang vid användning av MDT i form av sin syn på metoden, patientdelaktighet i undersökning, struktur och tydlighet, fynd som påverkar behandling, hypotestestning, patientansvar i behandling och värdering av egna förmågor.   Slutsats:Studiens resultat visade att informanterna beskrev sitt kliniska resonemang vid användning av MDT vid långvarig ländryggssmärta inom primärvården främst påverkades av biomekaniska fynd hos patienten. Psykologiska fynd beskrevs som sekundära faktorer att ta hänsyn till, och sociala faktorer beskrevs lite eller inte alls trots att de är viktiga att ta hänsyn till för att åstadkomma en beteendeförändring. Därmed har ett utvecklingsområde för MDT inom fysioterapi tydliggjorts då det finns evidens för att ett biopsykosocialt arbetssätt vid långvarig ländryggssmärta är att föredra.
Background: As a physiotherapist in primary care, there are several different treatment methods for persistent low back pain to choose from, but no clear guidelines to follow. Based on the clinical reasoning, physiotherapists take decisions that are affected and changed in the patient encounter. Since there is a lack of research that have investigated how physiotherapists educated in Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy (MDT) describe their clinical reasoning to patients with persistent low back pain, this study aims to illustrate the physiotherapists' view of the topic.   Aim: To explore how physiotherapists describe their clinical reasoning regarding the use of MDT for patients with persistent low back pain.   Method: A qualitative semi-structured interview study with an inductive approach and a descriptive design was conducted. The data collection included six interviews. A qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data.   Result: The analysis generated 22 subcategories divided into seven categories. The informants described their clinical reasoning when using MDT as their view of the method, patient participation in examination, structure and clarity, findings that affect treatment, hypothesis testing, patient responsibility in the treatment and evaluation of own abilities.   Conclusion: The study's results showed that the informants described their clinical reasoning when using MDT with persistent low back pain in primary care were mainly influenced by biomechanical findings with the patient. Psychological findings were described as secondary source to take into consideration, and social factors were described very little or not at all even though they are important to take into consideration in order to achieve a behavioral change. Thus, a development area for MDT in physiotherapy has been clarified as there is evidence that a biopsychosocial approach to persistent low back pain is preferable.

Paper one: The attitudes and reasoning of abusive behaviour in adolescents who have been exposed to domestic abuse Exposure to domestic abuse in childhood can go on to negatively affect every aspect of that individual’s life. During adolescence, the impact of exposure to domestic abuse may go beyond the borders of the family and the individual, and affect the development of intimate relationships. This study explores the attitudes and reasoning of eleven young people who have been exposed to domestic abuse and are displaying perpetrator behaviours. Results reveal a complex interaction between experiences and skill deficits at a crucial time of identity formation, resulting in the formation and maintenance of destructive attitudes and contradictory reasoning about abusive behaviour. The direct implications of this study, suggestions for further research, and for Educational Psychology Services are discussed. Paper two: An evaluation of an intervention for adolescents who have been exposed to domestic abuse and are displaying perpetrator behaviours Where domestic violence occurs, children and young people are likely to have been exposed to such abuse. Evidence suggests that this is likely to have a detrimental impact on them. There is an acute gap in provision for such individuals, despite evidence suggesting a link between exposure to domestic abuse in childhood, and involvement in abusive dating relationships in late adolescence and adulthood. There has been little research testing the effectiveness of intervention programmes which aim to reduce this risk. In this study a before and after design was used to evaluate a cognitive-behavioural intervention programme for young people who have been exposed to domestic abuse and are displaying abusive behaviours. This evaluation was based on the views of the young people on this programme. Results indicate that certain elements of the programme were more successful in achieving the programme aims. Considerations for the development of further programmes which target this client group are discussed.

La majorité des recherches en sciences cognitives suppose que la fonction du raisonnement humain est d'aider l'individu à avoir de meilleures croyances et à prendre de meilleures décisions, en particulier grâce à des mécanismes mentaux d'inférences logiques. En 2011, Dan Sperber et Hugo Mercier ont proposé une vision alternative du raisonnement humain. La fonction du raisonnement serait argumentative : le raisonnement serait ce qui permet aux individus de produire et d'évaluer des arguments en contextes dialogiques. Cette thèse a d'une part pour objectif de proposer une comparaison théorique entre les théories standards du raisonnement et la théorie argumentative du raisonnement. D'autre part, elle apporte un soutien empirique a la théorie argumentative à travers différents paradigmes expérimentaux (i.e., résolution de problème individuelle, production et évaluation d'arguments individuelles, résolution de problème et échange d'arguments en groupe). Cette thèse défend non seulement la valeur explicative de la théorie argumentative du raisonnement, mais caractérise également les mécanismes cognitifs du raisonnement humain, de part leurs fonctions, leurs biais, et les contextes qui les déclenchent
Most research in cognitive science assumes that the function of human reasoning is to help individual to improve their beliefs and make better decisions, in particular through mental mechanisms of logical inference. In 2011, Dan Sperber and Hugo Mercier put forward an alternative view of human reasoning. The function of reasoning would be argumentative: reasoning would be what enables individuals to produce and evaluate arguments in dialogical contexts. This PhD thesis aims at proposing a theoretical comparison between standard theories of reasoning and the argumentative theory of reasoning. Furthermore, it provides empirical support for the latter by using different experimental paradigms (i.e., individual problem solving, production and evaluation of arguments in solitary contexts, problem solving and arguments exchange in group). This thesis not only defends the explanatory value of the argumentative theory but also characterizes the cognitive mechanisms of human reasoning by their functions, their biases, and their triggering contexts

The purpose of this study was to investigate how associative and inductive reasoning processes develop over trials in feature positive (FP) and feature negative (FN) discrimination learning. Younger and older adults completed initial and transfer tasks with either consistent or inconsistent transfer. Participants articulated a rule on every trial. The measure of discrimination learning was the number of trials it took participants to articulate the exact rule. In the initial task, older adults articulated the rule more slowly than younger adults in FP discrimination and took marginally more trials to articulate the rule in FN discrimination than younger adults. Age differences were greater in FP discrimination than in FN discrimination learning because younger adults performed well in FP discrimination learning. In the transfer task, older adults articulated the FP rule more slowly than younger adults and both groups articulated the rule more quickly with consistent than inconsistent transfer. Older adults articulated the FN rule slower than older adults. The differences in trials to articulate the FN rule for the two groups were somewhat larger for inconsistent transfer than consistent transfer. Discrimination learning was explained in terms of associative and inductive reasoning processes reasonably well. The measure of associative processes was forgotten responses, whereas the measures of inductive reasoning processes were irrelevant cue shifts and perseverations. In FP discrimination learning in the initial task, older adults had a greater proportion of forgotten responses, irrelevant cue shifts, and marginally more perseverations than younger adults. Therefore, older adults had more difficulty with associative and inductive reasoning processes than younger adults in FP discrimination. In FN discrimination, older adults had a greater proportion of forgotten responses than younger adults. Older and younger adults had a similar number of irrelevant cue shifts and perseverations. Therefore, in FN discrimination older adults had more difficulty with associative processes than younger adults. Both groups had difficulty with inductive reasoning processes. In FP discrimination in the transfer task, older adults had a greater proportion of forgotten responses, irrelevant cue shifts, and perseverations than younger adults, and these proportions were similar in consistent and inconsistent transfer. Therefore, in FP discrimination older adults had more difficulty than younger adults with both associative and inductive reasoning processes. Both processes were similar with regards to consistent and inconsistent transfer. In FN discrimination, older adults had a greater proportion of forgotten responses than younger adults, and the proportion of forgotten responses was greater in inconsistent than in consistent transfer. Both groups made a similar number of irrelevant cue shifts, and there was a marginal difference in consistent and inconsistent transfer for this measure with a greater number in inconsistent transfer. Older adults had a greater proportion of perseverations than younger adults. However, there were no differences in the number of perseverations for consistent and inconsistent transfer. Thus, older adults had difficulty with associative and inductive reasoning processes. Younger adults' inductive reasoning skills improved. The associative and inductive reasoning processes in FN discrimination were not as efficient in inconsistent transfer as in consistent transfer.

Stereotype threat is the fear that a person's behavior or performance will confirm an existing stereotype of a group with which that person identifies. The purpose of this study was to look at the effect of instruction and emphasis on the female performance on an analytical reasoning task. This study tested undergraduate students taking a psychology course from California State University at San Bernardino. In this thesis, the task was framed as either an analytical reasoning task, a creative reasoning task, or there was no framing present. This study found that performance did differ as a result of instruction type, with creative instruction yielding higher scores. Varying instruction type performance can improve performance on an analytical reasoning task.

Que cela soit par des automates puis par des robots, l'Homme a été fasciné par des machines pouvant exécuter des tâches pour lui, dans de nombreux domaines, comme l'industrie ou les services : c'est ce dernier domaine qui nous sert de contexte. Ainsi, nous avons utilisé une approche développementale, où le robot se doit d'apprendre de nouvelles tâches au cours de sa vie. Inspiré par des théories sur le développement de l'enfant, nous avons extrait les concepts intéressants pour les implémenter sur une plateforme robotique humanoïde : l'iCub. L'acquisition du langage est une première étape, où la capacité à classifier les mots, de classes ouvertes et de classes fermées permet d'obtenir une syntaxe qui aide l'enfant à construire le lien entre une phrase et son sens. Cette méthode a été implémentée grâce à un réseau de neurones récurrents, utilisant une base de données fournit par l'humain en interagissant avec le robot. La maîtrise du langage permet à l'enfant de participer à des actions plus complexes, en particulier des tâches collaboratives où la parole est requise de négocier le mode d'apprentissage sur plusieurs modalités. Implémenté sur l'iCub et le Nao, cela permet un apprentissage en temps réel et de réaliser un plan partagé. Enfin, nous avons étudié le fonctionnement de la mémoire autobiographique, cruciale pour se remémorer des épisodes passés de sa vie, d'en tirer des prédictions et de les appliquer dans le futur. En recréant cette mémoire en SQL et formatant les données en PDDL, l'iCub est alors capable de raisonner en fonction de sa propre expérience, lui permettant ainsi de résoudre le problème des Tours d'Hanoi sans jamais l'avoir visualisé avant
From automata to robots, the Human has always been fascinated by machines which could execute tasks for him, in several domains like industry or services. Indeed, we have used a developmental approach, where the robot has to learn new tasks during his life. Inspired by theories in child development, we have extracted the interesting concepts to implement them on a humanoid robotic platform : the iCub. Language acquisition is a first step, where the capacity to classify closed and opened class words allows to obtain a syntax which help the children to make the link between a sentence and its meaning. This method has been implemented with a recurrent neural network, using a database provided from the human by interaction with the robot. The control of the language allows the children to participate in more complex actions, in particular cooperative tasks, where speech is required to negotiate the learning mode within several modalities. Implemented on the iCub and the Nao, this allows a real-time learning and to realize a shared plan. Eventually, we have studied the functioning of the autobiographical memory, crucial toremember episodes of his life, to extract predictions from and to apply them in the future. By recreating this memory in SQL, and by formatting the data in PDDL, the iCub is then capable of reasoning in function of his own experience, allowing him to solve the Tower of Hanoi problem without knowing the solution before

Thesis (Ph.D)--Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010.
Committee Chair: Jack Feldman; Committee Member: Lawrence R. James; Committee Member: Nathan Bennett; Committee Member: Richard Catrambone; Committee Member: Susan E. Embretson. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

This thesis examines attentional and cognitive biases for particular facial expressions in delusion-prone and deluded individuals. The exploration of cognitive biases in delusion-prone individuals provides one means of elucidating psychological processes that might be involved in the genesis of delusions. Chapter 1 provides a brief review of the continuum approach to schizophrenia, and outlines recent theoretical conceptualisations of delusions. The study of schizophrenia phenomena at the symptom level has become a popular method of inquiry, given the heterogeneous phenotypic expression of schizophrenia, and the uncertainty surrounding the existence of a core neuropathology. Delusions are one of the most commonly experienced symptoms of schizophrenia, and have traditionally been regarded as fixed, false beliefs that are pathognomonic of an organic disease process. However, recent phenomenological evidence of delusional ideation in the general population has led to the conceptualisation of delusions as multi-dimensional entities, lying at the extreme end of a continuum from normal through to maladaptive beliefs. Recent investigations of the information processing abnormalities in deluded individuals are reviewed in Chapter 2. This strand of research has revealed evidence of various biases in social cognition, particularly in relation to threat-related material, in deluded individuals. These biases are evident in probabilistic reasoning, attribution style, and attention, but there has been relatively little investigation of cognitive aberrations in delusion-prone individuals. In the present thesis, social-cognitive biases were examined in relation to a standard series of faces that included threat-related (anger, fear) and non-threatening (happy, sad) expressions, in both delusion-prone and clinically deluded individuals. Chapters 3 and 4 present the results of behavioural (RT, affect recognition accuracy) and visual scanpath investigations in healthy participants assessed for level of delusion- proneness. The results indicate that delusion-prone individuals are slower at processing angry faces, and show a general (rather than emotion-specific) impairment in facial affect recognition, compared to non-prone healthy controls. Visual scanpath studies show that healthy individuals tend to direct more foveal fixations to the feature areas (eyes, nose, mouth) of threat-related facial expressions (anger, fear). By contrast, delusion-prone individuals exhibit reduced foveal attention to threat-related faces, combined with �extended� scanpaths, that may be interpreted as an attentional pattern of �vigilance-avoidance� for social threat. Chapters 5 and 6 extend the work presented in Chapters 3 and 4, by investigating the presence of similar behavioural and attentional biases in deluded schizophrenia, compared to healthy control and non-deluded schizophrenia groups. Deluded schizophrenia subjects exhibited a similar delay in processing angry faces, compared to non-prone control participants, while both deluded and non-deluded schizophrenia groups displayed a generalised affect recognition deficit. Visual scanpath investigations revealed a similar style of avoiding a broader range of negative (anger, fear, sad) faces in deluded schizophrenia, as well as a common pattern of fewer fixations with shorter duration, and reduced attention to facial features of all faces in both deluded and non-deluded schizophrenia. The examination of inferential biases for emotions displayed in facial expressions is presented in Chapter 7 in a study of causal attributional style. The results of this study provide some support for a �self-serving� bias in deluded schizophrenia, as well as evidence for an inability to appreciate situational cues when making causal judgements in both delusion-prone and deluded schizophrenia. A theoretical integration of the current findings is presented in Chapter 8, with regard to the implications for cognitive theories of delusions, and neurobiological models of schizophrenia phenomena, more generally. Visual attention biases for threat-related facial expressions in delusion-prone and deluded schizophrenia are consistent with proposals of neural dysconnectivity between frontal-limbic networks, while attributional biases and impaired facial expression perception may reflect dysfunction in a broader �social brain� network encompassing these and medial temporal lobe regions. Strong evidence for attentional biases and affect recognition deficits in delusion-prone individuals implicates their role in the development of delusional beliefs, but the weaker evidence for attributional biases in delusion-prone individuals suggests that inferential biases about others� emotions may be relevant only to the maintenance of delusional beliefs (or that attributional biases for others� emotional states may reflect other, trait-linked difficulties related to mentalising ability). In summary, the work presented in this thesis demonstrates the utility of adopting a single-symptom approach to schizophrenia within the continuum framework, and attests to the importance of further investigations of aberrant social cognition in relation to the development of delusions.

Emotional reasoning is emotionally-based cognition operating on subjective terms, independent of rationality, and using feelings as criteria. In Study 1, 113 participants, 29 men and 84 women, focussed either on their feelings or on the reasons for their choices as they made a series of decisions in a card-playing game. Contrary to predictions, participants who focussed on their feelings were less likely to make optimal decisions in the game. This study thus provided no evidence that emotional reasoning can reach optimal conclusions. In a second study, 96 participants, 35 men and 61 women, made a series of decisions to cooperate or compete with an unseen partner in a Prisoner's Dilemma game. Participants who focussed on their feelings were less likely to compete than participants who focussed on reasons for making each decision, so that they did less well in the short term, but significantly better over the long term, than participants in the Reasons condition. Participants who described themselves as highly rational were also less likely to do well in the game. This study demonstrates that emotional reasoning can be more effective than rational decision-making.

Le raisonnement sociomoral (RSM) est une habileté essentielle durant l’adolescence, car elle guide les décisions sociales, facilitant le fonctionnement social. Quelques facteurs sociocognitifs et socioémotionnels semblent favoriser l’évolution du RSM, cependant leur contribution particulière reste nébuleuse, car ils ont été étudiés de façon isolée. Cette étude explore les habiletés associées au RSM mature chez les adolescents en santé, ainsi que la contribution spécifique des fonctions exécutives, en utilisant un outil écologiquement valide pour cette population. Nous avons détecté quatre contributeurs indépendants du RSM mature : l’âge, l’intelligence, la flexibilité cognitive et la fluence verbale, ainsi que des différences de genre concernant la maturité du RSM et la prise de décision sociomorale. Les résultats de cette étude contribuent à améliorer la compréhension du développement moral à l’adolescence et soulignent l’importance d’utiliser des outils écologiquement valides pour mesurer les habiletés sociales.
Sociomoral reasoning (SMR) is an important skill during adolescence because it guides social decisions, facilitating social functioning. A number of sociocognitive and socioemotional factors are likely to underlie the evolution of SMR abilities; however their relative contribution remains unclear given that to date their roles have typically been explored in isolation. This study explores the underpinnings of SMR maturity in typically developing adolescents and the specific contribution of executive functions using an ecologically valid tool for assessment in the adolescent population. We detected four independent contributors of SMR maturity in healthy adolescence: age, intelligence, cognitive flexibility and verbal fluency, as well as gender differences in SMR maturity and sociomoral decision-making. Taken together, the findings of this study contribute to better understanding moral development during adolescence and highlight the importance of using ecologically valid tools to measure social skills.

L’être humain évolue quotidiennement au cœur d’un monde social hautement complexe auquel il est singulièrement adapté d’un point de vue évolutif. L’individu qui navigue de façon adéquate, parmi les situations et les interactions sociales, y parvient grâce à une machinerie cognitive sophistiquée et spécialisée connue sous le terme de « cognition sociale », composée d’un ensemble de fonctions acquises durant le développement et permettant la perception, le traitement, l’interprétation et la réaction à des stimuli sociaux dynamiques et nuancés. Le développement social serait sous-tendu par le fonctionnement cognitif global (p. ex. le fonctionnement intellectuel, le langage, la mémoire, l’attention, les habiletés visuoperceptuelles), ainsi que par des habiletés sociocognitives spécifiques (p. ex. la théorie de l’esprit, l’empathie, la reconnaissance des émotions faciales, la prise de perspective, l’attribution d’intentions, le raisonnement moral), le tout assuré par un ensemble de structures et réseaux neuronaux connu sous le terme « cerveau social ». Malgré les connaissances empiriques suggérant une association entre les facteurs neuronaux, cognitifs et environnementaux du développement social, notre compréhension des interactions dynamiques et complexes entre les habiletés sociocognitives, l’influence externe de facteurs environnementaux, ainsi que leurs impacts individuels et combinés sur le développement social typique demeure préliminaire. L’objectif général de cette thèse était d’étudier deux corrélats principaux qui sous-tendent la compétence sociale durant le développement, soient la cognition sociale et le comportement social. Le modèle SOCIAL (Beauchamp & Anderson, 2010) est utilisé comme cadre théorique et empirique pour explorer de multiples facettes du développement de la compétence sociale et des liens entre les habiletés sociocognitives (p.ex. le raisonnement moral et la prise de perspective) et le comportement social global. La première étude explore la contribution des aspects cognitifs (théorie de l’esprit) et affectifs (empathie) de la prise de perspective au raisonnement moral et au comportement social des enfants et des adolescents neurotypiques. Un outil novateur d’évaluation du raisonnement moral, le Socio-Moral Reasoning Aptitude Level (So-Moral), fut utilisé pour rehausser la valeur écologique du construit. Ainsi, des dilemmes sociomoraux quotidiens ont été présentés aux participants, qui ont également complété des mesures de théorie de l’esprit, d’empathie, et de comportement social. Les résultats suggèrent que les aspects cognitifs (théorie de l’esprit) et affectifs (empathie) de la prise de perspective contribuent conjointement à prédire la maturité morale chez les enfants, mais pas chez les adolescents. Par ailleurs, certaines lacunes au plan du raisonnement moral seraient associées à des instances plus fréquentes de comportements externalisés, mais aucun lien entre la maturité morale et les comportements prosociaux n’a été détecté. La théorie de l’esprit contribuerait de manière significative à la maturité du raisonnement moral chez les enfants, suggérant l’importance d’une évaluation cognitive d’une situation sociomorale. Comme les facteurs prédictifs du raisonnement moral différeraient chez les enfants et les adolescents, il est possible que des mécanismes sous-jacents distincts soient impliqués. La deuxième étude documente l’association entre les facteurs externes, tels qu’opérationnalisés par le temps hebdomadaire passé à jouer à des jeux vidéo, et le comportement social. Cette étude vise également à comprendre les liens entre l’usage des jeux vidéo, la cognition sociale et l’adaptation sociale chez des enfants du primaire. L’étude révèle que les enfants qui passent moins de temps à jouer à des jeux vidéo par semaine tendent à exhiber plus de comportements prosociaux. Toutefois, aucun lien n’a été identifié entre la fréquence d’usage de jeux vidéo et les comportements mésadaptés. Il est donc possible que les interactions sociales complexes, réelles et face-à-face soient particulièrement importantes au développement des compétences sociales chez les enfants. De façon globale, les données de la thèse contribuent à établir un portrait plus complet des relations complexes et dynamiques entre la cognition sociale, les expériences sociales et le comportement social lors du développement typique. Les résultats offrent des pistes novatrices quant à l’approfondissement des connaissances théoriques, empiriques et cliniques au sujet du développement social, et fournissent des fondements empiriques pour soutenir l’élaboration de programmes d’intervention et d’outils d’évaluation de la cognition et de la compétence sociale.
Humans are characterized by species-specific social skills and interactions, which direct much of their behaviors, dictate thought processes and form the foundations of human consciousness and reality. These social abilities are highly complex and intricate, involving a large range of developmentally acquired skills allowing the perception, processing, interpretation and response to dynamic social stimuli. The fine-tuning of these diverse abilities across the lifespan contributes to an individual’s social competence, allowing the navigation of the social world. Smooth and adaptive social development is supported by core cognitive functions (e.g. intellectual ability, language, memory, attention, visual-perceptive skills), as well as by specific skills (e.g. theory of mind, empathy, emotion recognition, perspective taking, intent attribution, moral reasoning) referred to under the umbrella of “social cognition” and subsumed by neural structures and networks of the “social brain”. Despite strong evidence supporting the associations between neural, cognitive and social functioning, much remains to be learned about the interplay between socio-cognitive abilities during development, the external influence of environmental factors, as well as their individual and additive impact on social behavior. The main objective of this dissertation was to study two manifestations of social competence in typical development, namely, social cognition and social behavior. The SOCIAL model (Beauchamp & Anderson, 2010) is used as the theoretical and empirical framework providing fertile ground for the investigation of multiple facets of the development of social competence and a better understanding of the global interplay of socio-cognitive skills (e.g., moral reasoning and perspective taking) and social behavior more broadly. The first study explores the contribution of cognitive (theory of mind) and affective (empathy) aspects of perspective taking to moral reasoning and social behavior in typically developing children and adolescents. An innovative neuropsychological tool for assessing moral reasoning, the Socio-Moral Reasoning Aptitude Level (So-Moral), was used to enhance the ecological value of the construct. Everyday socio-moral reasoning dilemmas were presented to children and adolescents to evaluate their moral maturity, and assessments of theory of mind, empathy and social behavior were also completed. Jointly, both aspects of perspective taking (theory of mind and empathy) predicted moral reasoning maturity in children, but not in adolescents. Poorer moral reasoning skills were associated with more externalizing behavior problems across the age span, but no associations were found with respect to prosocial behavior. Theory of mind skills were independent predictors of moral reasoning, suggesting that a cognitive understanding of the situation may be especially useful when children are asked to reason about a moral conflict. Contributing factors to moral reasoning differed in children and adolescents, suggesting differential underlying mechanisms. The second study investigates the contribution of external influences, as operationalized by time spent playing video games, to social behavior. A secondary objective was to add to the growing body of literature exploring associations between video game playing, social cognition and social behavior, in an age group less frequently focused on (elementary school-aged children). The main results of the study indicate that children who spend less time per week playing video games have greater prosocial tendencies, but no association was found with behavior problems. Findings highlight the possibility that real-life, complex, and nuanced social interactions outside screen-based play may be central to fostering social competence skills in children. Overall, the results of the studies presented in this dissertation contribute to building a more comprehensive picture of the complex interplay between social cognition, social experience and social competence during typical development. Findings offer new avenues for improving theoretical, empirical and clinical knowledge of social development and provide an empirical basis for the development of social skills intervention programs as well as social cognition assessment tools.

Tese de doutoramento em Psicologia (Psicologia Social), apresentada à Universidade de Lisboa através da Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação, 2004
I present a dual-process approach to judgment under uncertainty that is capable of retaining the explanatory power of the heuristics and biases research program (e.g., Tversky, Slovic, & Khaneman, 1982) but also able to delineate the conditions underlying a more systematic mode of reasoning based on deliberate, rule-based inductive reasoning (e.g., Fong, Krantz & Nisbett, 1986). Specifically, it is assumed that inductive reasoning is based on two different information-processing modes, a heuristic and a systematic mode. These modes are instances of two broadly defined cognitive systems, the associative system and the rule-based system (Sloman,1996). Heuristic reasoning is largely automatic, based on associative principles of similarity and temporal contiguity; it is effortless, and often unintentional. Systematic reasoning is rule-based; it is effortful and intentional. It is further claimed that the two reasoning modes provide independent contributions to judgment under uncertainty. Accordingly, it is hypothesized that variables traditionally associated with controlled processing should produce process dissociations by affecting systematic reasoning while leaving heuristic reasoning largely invariant. However, variables traditionally associated with automatic processing should produce the inverse kind of dissociation (i.e., affect heuristic reasoning but leave systematic reasoning largely unchanged). (...)
Uma análise compreensiva do julgamento indutivo humano deveria dar conta da inferência humana, na sua multiplicidade, independentemente da sua conformidade com modelos normativos. No presente trabalho propõe-se uma abordagem dualista do julgamento na incerteza que procura justamente articular a investigação em heurísticas e enviesamentos (Tversky, Slovic, & Kahneman, 1982) com o julgamento indutivo baseado em regras (e.g., Nisbett, Krantz, Jepson & Kunda, 1983). Concretamente, investiga-se a hipótese do raciocínio indutivo poder ser melhor compreendido através de um modelo que postule dois modos ou sistemas distintos de processar a informação. Um modo ou sistema de processamento rápido e automático, que não usa recursos, cognitivos gerais, denominado raciocínio heurístico; e um modo ou sistema de processamento, consciente, normalmente dependente da motivação e da capacidade cognitiva da pessoa, denominado raciocínio sistemático (para consulta de modelos dualistas formalmente semelhantes ver, por exemplo, Abelson, 1994; Mackie & Trope, 1999; Sloman, 1996; E. R. Smith and DeCoster, 1999). No presente trabalho, parte-se da pressuposição de que estes dois modos de processamento de informação contribuem de forma independente para o julgamento na incerteza. O julgamento heurístico é, como referido, largamente automático, baseia-se em princípios associativos de semelhança e contiguidade espaço-tempo, envolve reduzido esforço cognitivo e é, muitas vezes, não intencional. O julgamento sistemático baseia-se na representação simbólica e aplicação de regras relativamente abstractas, envolve esforço cognitivo, e está sob controlo consciente. Assim, prediz-se que variáveis tradicionalmente associadas ao processamento controlado (e.g., diminuição dos recursos cognitivos) deverão levar a dissociações dos dois modos de julgamento, afectando o julgamento sistemático mas não o julgamento heurístico. Por outro lado, variáveis tradicionalmente associadas ao processamento automático (e.g., primação de procedimento) deverão produzir dissociações inversas, isto é, afectar o julgamento heurístico, e não o julgamento sistemático. A maneira de testar estas predições foi mostrar a existência de dissociações entre os dois sistemas de processamento. O pressuposto subjacente à demonstração de uma dissociação é o de que se se obtiverem duas medidas (uma referente ao raciocínio sistemático e a outra referente ao raciocínio heurístico), e se uma mesma variável independente afectar diferencialmente estas medidas ou variáveis dependentes (i.e., afecta uma delas sem afectar a outra) é razoável supor que estas medidas se referem a sistemas de processamento de informação independentes entre si. (...)

We examined the spatiotemporal dynamics underlying the processing of a false belief task using magnetoencephalography (MEG). Twenty adults performed a false belief task adapted for MEG. Regions of interest were selected based on source analyses on the contrast between false and true belief, and MEG source time-course reconstructions were generated and analyzed to determine the temporal architecture of neural activations specific to false belief reasoning. We found frontal, temporal and parietal regions to activate during false belief processing, confirming prior findings. We also extend previous findings by adding information about the temporal profile of neural activity during theory of mind processing, an area lacking in the literature. We found that increased frontal activity began at 100 ms bilaterally, followed by parietal regions from 200 to 330 ms and temporal regions at 350 ms, at which point frontal activity became lateralized to the right hemisphere.

Il est reconnu que le développement social des enfants et des adolescents est soutenu par l’évolution des capacités cognitives et sociocognitives en interaction avec les expériences relationnelles quotidiennes. Ce développement offrirait une compréhension de plus en plus vaste du monde social et culturel, permettant aux individus de s’intégrer à la société en tant que citoyen autonome et responsable au début de l’âge adulte. Malgré la validité de ce portrait global, il reste beaucoup à comprendre sur l’influence entre les capacités cognitives (ex. : fonctions exécutives) et sociocognitives (ex. : raisonnement moral (RM), théorie de l’esprit (TdE), reconnaissance des émotions) durant le développement, ainsi que sur leur impact individuel et additif sur le comportement social. Encore moins d’informations existent sur ces interactions dans le cadre du développement atypique, comme celui des jeunes présentant des troubles neurodéveloppementaux. L’objectif général de cette thèse est donc d’explorer les interrelations entre les différentes composantes du fonctionnement exécutif (FE) et de la cognition sociale chez les jeunes et leur contribution à l’adaptation sociale. Le but des travaux est aussi d’observer les effets potentiels d’un développement déficitaire de ces fonctions dans le contexte d’un trouble neurodéveloppemental, le Syndrome de Gilles de la Tourette (SGT). Cette thèse est composée de trois articles empiriques concernant trois études qui abordent ces objectifs généraux. Les deux premières études explorent le FE, la cognition sociale et les tendances d’interaction sociale chez des enfants neurotypiques de 6 à 12 ans. La première étude, centrée sur les interrelations entre les capacités cognitives et sociocognitives, montre que la maturité du RM est associée positivement au FE, à la reconnaissance des émotions et à la TdE. Le FE et la cognition sociale contribueraient de manière significative à la maturité du RM et joueraient un rôle médiateur dans la relation entre l’âge et le RM. La deuxième étude, plus centrée sur les tendances comportementales dans la vie quotidienne, montre que le FE quotidien joue un rôle médiateur qui expliquerait partiellement le lien entre l’empathie et les tendances prosociales des enfants et complètement le lien avec leurs tendances agressives. La troisième étude montre pour la première fois l’existence d’un fonctionnement plus pauvre de la TdE chez les jeunes ayant le SGT. Ces jeunes présentent également un moins bon FE quotidien et plus de difficultés et comportementales, notamment au niveau des aspects sociaux. Cette étude révèle des liens entre le RM des jeunes atteints du SGT et leur flexibilité cognitive, fluence verbale et FE quotidien, de même qu’avec la sévérité de leurs tics et leurs difficultés sociales. Les difficultés de comportement sont expliquées en grande partie par la sévérité des tics, le FE et la cognition sociale. Ensemble, les données des études présentées dans cette thèse contribuent à établir un portrait plus détaillé des relations réciproques entre le FE, la cognition sociale et l’adaptation sociale, lors du développement typique et atypique. Les résultats offrent de nouvelles pistes pour la compréhension clinique des difficultés d’adaptation sociale précoce et suggère un fondement empirique pour l’élaboration de programmes d’intervention sur les compétences sociales.
It is recognized that the social development of children and youth is supported by improvements in their cognitive and social cognitive abilities, which are driven by everyday interpersonal experiences. This development provides a broader understanding of the social and cultural world, allowing individuals to become integrated members of society and autonomous and responsible citizens in early adulthood. Despite the validity of this overall picture, there is still much to be learned about the mutual influence between cognitive (e.g.,executive functions) and socio-cognitive abilities (e.g., theory of mind, moral reasoning, emotion recognition) during development, as well as their individual and additive impact on social behavior. Even less is known about these interactions in the context of atypical development, such as in youth with neurodevelopmental disorders. The main objective of this thesis is to explore the reciprocal associations between different components of executive functioning (EF) and social cognition in youth and their contribution to social adaptation. We also aimed to observe the potential effects of impaired development of these functions in a neurodevelopmental disorder, Tourette’s Syndrome (TS). This thesis is composed of three empirical articles pertaining to three studies that address these main objectives. The first two studies explore EF, social cognition and social interaction patterns among neurotypical children aged 6 to 12 years. The first study focuses on the interrelations between cognitive and social cognitive abilities, showing that moral reasoning (MR) maturity is positively associated with EF, emotion recognition and theory of mind. EF and social cognition contribute significantly to the MR maturity and play a mediating role in the relationship between age and MR. The second study, which focuses more on behavioral patterns in everyday life, shows that everyday EF plays a mediating role that partly explains the link between empathy and prosocial tendencies in children and completely explains the link with their aggressive tendencies. The third study shows for the first time that theory of mind skills are poorer among youth with TS, and they have reduced everyday EF and more emotional and behavioral difficulties, particularly in the social domain. This study also reveals links between the MR skills of youth with TS and their cognitive flexibility, verbal fluency, everyday EF, tic severity and social difficulties. Social difficulties in this group are largely explained by tic severity, EFand social cognition. Overall, the results of the studies presented in this thesis contribute to building a more comprehensive picture of the interrelationship between EF, social cognition and social adaptation during typical and atypical development. The findings offer new avenues for improving our clinical understanding of early social adjustment difficulties and provide an empirical basis for the development of social skills intervention programs.

Tese de doutoramento em Psicologia Aplicada
Atualmente, a ciência da expertise é unânime em admitir que, subjacente ao superior rendimento dos peritos, está a capacidade deste conjunto de indivíduos, para dentro do seu domínio de especialização, discriminarem e processarem informação relevante de forma mais eficiente do que aqueles que o não são. Não obstante, quando se trata de explicar porque é que tal acontece, são notórias cissões filosóficas, teóricas e epistemológicas profundas que se prolongam desde a literatura dos Fatores Humanos e Engenharia Cognitiva à própria Psicologia do Desporto. Assim, através do esclarecimento das diferentes propostas, o objetivo inicial desta tese prendeu-se, por um lado, com a circunscrição do espaço concetual do constructo de “consciência da situação” e subsequente argumentação de que, quando considerado em relação dialética com a estrutura percetiva e cognitiva dos sujeitos, o mesmo poderá servir para que se encontre uma resposta mais unânime e satisfatória para a descrição do desempenho percetivo e cognitivo superior. Paralelamente, procurou-se perceber que métodos são mais adequados na sua avaliação e verificar de que forma a análise cognitiva de tarefas (i.e., o protocolo de eliciação de conhecimentos) respondia em contexto aplicado. Em contraponto com a ideia de base que a define enquanto “competência” (cf. Smith & Hancock, 1995), os resultados do primeiro estudo indicam, por um lado, a prevalência de uma visão da consciência da situação enquanto “estado de conhecimento” acerca dos fatores relevantes da tarefa (Endsley, 1995a) e, por outro, que os métodos usados na sua avaliação recorrem, sobretudo, à sua testagem contra a resposta de peritos (através de prévia análise cognitiva de tarefas). Já num segundo estudo, exploratório e no qual se eliciou o conhecimento de peritos num conjunto de situações táticas simples, verificou-se que os mesmos tendem a ra dicar a organização da informação acerca dos objetivos e comportamentos táticos, recursos individuais e/ou coletivos e indicadores de atenção, no conhecimento estratégico que desenvolveram acerca do jogo de futebol. Por ser pioneira em termos concetuais, de método e de contexto de realização (os trabalhos foram realizados em contexto de empresa/clube), esta tese oferece uma boa oportunidade de reflexão acerca dos temas que aborda e ensaia algumas sugestões práticas de otimização do recrutamento, avaliação do desempenho e treino de jogadores de futebol.
Nowadays, and particularly when compared to non-experts, the science of expertise unanimously admits that underlying experts’ superior performance is their efficiency to discriminate and process relevant information within their realm of expertise. Notwithstanding, some deep philosophical, theoretical and epistemological divisions, which are present both on Human Factors and Cognitive Engineering and Sport Psychology scientific literature, arise when the nature of such differences is questioned. By reviewing the different theories, the initial goal of this thesis was to circumscribe the conceptual space of “situation awareness”. Then, and as long as a dialectical relationship between this former construct and individual perceptive and cognitive structure is assumed, it was argued that it can serve the purpose of finding a more unanimous and satisfactory response to superior perceptive and cognitive performance. At the same time, the adequacy of its assessment methods was examined and cognitive task analysis procedures (i.e., knowledge elicitation protocol) were tested in an applied setting. Unlike the fundamental idea that defines situation awareness as a “competence” (cf. Smith & Hancock 1995), the results from the first study stress the prevalence of a definition of this construct as a “state of knowledge” concerning the relevant operational elements of a task (Endsley, 1995). They also show that the methods used in its assessment are mostly based in experts’ answers (collected through a previous cognitive task analysis). In a second study, exploratory in its nature, experts’ knowledge for a set of simple tactical situations was elicited and it was found that they tend to ground the assessment of tactical goals and behaviors, individual and/or collective resources, and attentional clues in the knowledge of football strategy that they have developed throughout their careers. Considering that this was a pioneering effort in conceptual, methodological, and contextual (the scientific work was conducted in a football club/enterprise) terms, this thesis provides a good opportunity to reflect about expertise and situation awareness, with some practical suggestions being made in what concerns the recruitment, performance assessment and tactical training of football players.
Este estudo foi financiado pela Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia e pelo Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior através de fundos nacionais, cofinanciados pelo FEDER através do programa COMPETE2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653) e pela Futebol Clube do Porto – Futebol SAD; código da bolsa: SFRH/BDE/99090/2013

This research explores the influence of the decision-making process on the internationalization, specifically the speed of internationalization process. The objective of this study consists in perceiving the influence of managerial cognition through the process of decision-making (perception, options, evaluation and final choice) on small ventures’ speed of internationalization. The managerial cognition is investigated at the light of the Dual-Process Theory, that consists in the existence of two cognitive systems, the experiential cognitive system (System 1) and the analytic cognitive system (System 2). The speed of internationalization is analyzed through two different dimensions, earliness or speed of pre-internationalization and acceleration or speed of post-internationalization. Grounded upon interviews with five managers of international small ventures, it was found that companies that internationalize earlier are managed by decision-makers who have higher levels of experiential cognitive reasoning during the first and subsequent internationalizations while companies that internationalize later are managed by decision-makers who have higher levels of analytic cognitive reasoning during the first and subsequent internationalizations. International experience was found to influence the acceleration of companies.
Esta investigação explora a influência do processo de tomada de decisão no processo de internacionalização, especificamente na velocidade de internacionalização. O objetivo deste estudo consiste em compreender a influência da cognição do gestor através do seu processo de tomada de decisão (perceção, opções, avaliação e escolha final) na velocidade de internacionalização de pequenas empresas. A cognição do gestor é investigada à luz da Teoria do Processamento Dual, que defende a existência de dois sistemas cognitivos, o sistema experiencial (Sistema 1) e o sistema analítico (Sistema 2). A velocidade de internacionalização é analisada sob duas dimensões, precocidade ou pré-internacionalização e aceleração ou pós-internacionalização. Baseada em entrevistas a 5 gestores de pequenas empresas, foi descoberto que as empresas que se internacionalizaram cedo, têm gestores que possuem níveis mais elevados de raciocínio experiencial, tanto na primeira internacionalização como em internacionalizações seguintes, enquanto que empresas que se internacionalizaram mais tarde após a sua fundação são geridas por gestores que demonstraram níveis mais elevados de raciocínio analítico, tanto na primeira internacionalização como nas seguintes. A experiência internacional tem, igualmente, influência na aceleração das empresas.