Tesis sobre el tema "Cognitive control processes"

L'objectif de la présente thèse de doctorat était d'étudier la relation entre le bilinguisme et le contrôle exécutif général. Les recherches sur le bilinguisme en psycholinguistique ont montré que la co-activation permanente des langues ainsi que la nécessité de s'adapter à l'environnement linguistique peuvent produire un renforcement des capacités de contrôle chez les bilingues. Toutefois, la nature des processus de contrôle impliqués reste controversée. Trois études ont examiné cette question au niveau neuronal chez des bilingues tardifs français-allemand. Différentes tâches expérimentales mettant en jeu un conflit cognitif ont été utilisées, les unes impliquant une composante linguistique (Stroop et amorçage négatif), et une autre impliquant une composante motrice (antisaccades). Les principaux résultats sont les suivants : (1) Renforcement des processus de gestion de conflits et d'inhibition chez les bilingues, (2) Interaction entre le cortex cingulaire antérieur et le cortex préfrontal dans le contrôle cognitif plus efficace chez les bilingues que chez les monolingues et (3) Modulation du contrôle exécutif par divers facteurs linguistiques individuels inhérents au bilinguisme. Prises dans leur ensemble, ces observations corroborent l'hypothèse d'une implication de processus de contrôle général dans le bilinguisme et révèlent des capacités d'adaptation neuroplastique en fonction des contraintes linguistiques
The present doctoral thesis aimed to study the relation between bilingualism and domain-general executive control. Psycholinguistic research on bilingualism has shown that the sustained co-activation of languages and the need to adapt to the linguistic environment lead to a reinforcement of control abilities in bilinguals. However, the nature of domain-general executive control involvement in multiple language use is a matter of debate. Three studies were conducted in order to investigate this issue at the neuronal level in French-German late bilinguals. Different experimental tasks involving a cognitive conflict were used, certain of them involving a linguistic component (Stroop and negative priming) and the other one involving a motoric component (antisaccade). The main findings collected in the present doctoral thesis showed (1) the behavioral and neurophysiological evidence of enhanced conflict monitoring and inhibition in bilinguals, (2) the more efficient dynamic interplay between the anterior cingulate cortex and the prefrontal cortex in executive control in bilinguals in comparison with monolinguals, and (3) a modulation of executive control by the individual linguistic factors inherent to bilingualism. Taken together, the present findings support psycholinguistic theories postulating domain-general control involvement in bilingualism and reveal the capacity of neuroplastic adaptation as a function of linguistic constraints

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

This thesis investigates three hypotheses in relation to the cognitive explanation of normal and problematic gambling behaviour. The "strong cognitive hypothesis" takes the view that if cognitive processes alone account for different levels of play, then the order of the events experienced during a task may be a good predictor of the levels of play. Four large scale experiments are presented focusing on the Illusion of Control, particularly the order effects originally observed by Langer and Roth (1975). Drawing on Hogarth and Einhom's (1992) belief adjustment model an adjusted methodology is employed making the paradigm resemble the real gambling decision making task more closely. The results of the Illusion of Control experiments suggest that the strong cognitive hypothesis can account for gambling in general, but there is no consistent support in favour of its role in explaining differential levels of play. Three questiormaire studies are then presented investigating the two alternative hypotheses assessed in this thesis. The "weak cognitive hypothesis" stipulates that an additional individual differences element is necessary to supplement the strong cognitive hypothesis in order to explain differential levels of gambling behaviour. Individual differences in the level of everyday general dissociation, the enjoyment and engagement in two forms of processing (Rational or Experiential, Epstein 1990), and in the extent to which heuristics and biases are used when making decisions are investigated. Factor analysis for the heuristics and biases investigation, particularly in relation to the understanding of the principle of randomness, reveals some evidence for the weak cogmtive hypothesis. Strongest evidence emerges in relation to the "integrative hypothesis" which stipulates that cognitive factors and processes are only important in relation to and interaction with other variables. The questioimaire studies investigate the role of erroneous beliefs and their relationship with the dissociation experienced within the gambling task. Using Structural Equation Modelling techniques, the results lead towards the generation of a new model of differential levels of gambling and the causal links between these variables and the loss of control are discussed.

A major challenge to achieving business process agility is the fragmentation of business processes, especially in organizations with semiautonomous business units. This fragmentation manifests itself in the form of diversified business processes performing similar activities. To address this challenge and achieve synergies across business units, processes should be integrated. Extant research on business process management has not paid much attention to such integration. Motivated by this concern, the primary objectives of my research are: “1) to understand how integration of similar business processes is achieved by semiautonomous business units and 2) to develop a process modeling support system that can help find similarities among business process models to aid process designers and to empirically evaluate its effectiveness in supporting process modeling activities.” I use a two-phased approach to address above objectives. In the first phase, I draw upon the analytic concept of frames of reference to develop a socio-cognitive process model to understand cognitive processes of stakeholders involved in the business process integration. This is done by analyzing the shifts in frame salience and frame congruence to enable the development of common-yet-tailorable business process. Data collection was conducted at ManCo, a Fortune 500 manufacturing company that had undertaken a process integration initiative in its multi-billion dollar supply chain across its five business units. Using qualitative data analysis, I identify four frame domains. Shifts in the frame salience and congruence highlight how, through a series of events, process stakeholders bring about integration. Frames domains identified in phase 1 highlight how individual business units’ perceptions differ. The use of diverse terminologies to refer to similar concepts added to the inability of process designers to reuse existing process models. These observations motivated the design research conducted in the second phase. I develop a prototype system, BPSimilar, which helps users to retrieve semantically similar process models. The approach to retrieve process models combines structural and semantic similarity-matching. The need for such a mechanism to speed up the model development was suggested by the case study. The effectiveness of BPSimilar for improving performance of users is evaluated in a qualitative study using verbal protocol analysis.

Positive affect is generally associated with improvements in cognitive abilities; however, few studies have addressed positive affect and its relation to specific cognitive control processes. Previous research suggests positive affect conditions are more flexible/distractible states, suggesting cognitive control processes are perhaps decreased in context maintenance and increased in conflict detection/resolution. To measure the cognitive control processes, specific components of the scalp-recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) called the cue slow wave (context maintenance), the N450 (conflict detection), and conflict SP (conflict resolution) were acquired in response to an affective single-trial, cued-Stroop task. Participants were presented with pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant images prior to Stroop instruction (i.e., respond to "color" or "word") and response. Participants had greater accuracy during the pleasant condition when given a longer delay for extra time to process the high conflict task, t(36) = 3.09, p = .004, 95% CI (0.07, 0.02) compared to the unpleasant condition. Additionally, the unpleasant condition resulted in greater context maintenance than pleasant (increased cue-related slow wave amplitude; t(40) = 2.38, p = .02). Unpleasant conditions were associated with greater conflict resolution processes (as measured by the conflict SP) with high conflict trials, t(40) = 2.55, p = .015; whereas pleasant did in congruent trials, t(40) = 2.707, p = .010. Findings suggest negative affective states increase participants' focus on the task in avoidance of the distracting unpleasant picture. Our findings lay the foundation for understanding the differences between state and trait affect on cognitive control processes.

The aim of this thesis is to understand some of the processes involved in the selection of appropriate tasks, and in the selection of correct responses to those tasks. The main focus of the following experiments will be on how interference and conflict occurs during these processes, either at the perceptual or action selection stages when switching task. It should be possible to demonstrate with increases to the number of attributes, the experience of tasks associated with non-target attributes, and in varying the number of trials before switching tasks, that task selection consists of several stages or processes, and that these processes do not necessarily interact. This will show that the switch cost is not an unitary cost associated with changing a single response-stimulus setting, task parameter, or an overall task set, but a composite of various costs associated with different task selection processes.

The field of telehealth has developed rapidly in recent years. It provides medical support particularly to those who are living in remote areas and in emergency cases. Although developments in both technology and practice have been rapid, there are still many gaps in our knowledge with regard to the effective application of telehealth. This study investigated human colour perception in telehealth, specifically the colour red as one of the key symptoms when diagnosing different pathologies. The quality of medical images is safety critical when transmitting the symptoms of pathologies in telehealth, as distorted or degraded colours may result in errors. The study focused on the use of digital images in teleconsultation, particularly on images showing cellulitis (bacterial skin infection) and conjunctivitis (red eye) as case studies, as both of these pathologies involve the colour red in their diagnosis. The study proposed and tested the use of an image quality scale, which represented the level of image resolution; a red colour scale, which represented the intensity of redness in an image; and a confidence scale, which represented the levels of confidence that telehealth users had when judging the colour red. The research involved a series of experiments using hypothetico-deductive and formal hypothesis testing with two groups of participants, medical doctors and non-medical participants. The experiments were conducted in collaboration with the local National Health Service (NHS) Accident and Emergency (A&E) department at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI). Medical experts in ophthalmology and dermatology were also involved in selecting and verifying the relevant images. The study found that doctors and non-doctors were consistent in the majority of the experiments. The accuracy of the participants was demonstrably higher when using a colour scale with pictures, more so for the non-doctor group than the doctor group. It also found that the level of accuracy for both doctors and nondoctors was higher when using red colour scale of three divisions than when using a scale of five divisions. This result was supported by previous studies, which used telehealth for diagnosing extreme cases. The study also found that when the image quality was poor the participants had higher error rates and less consistency in their answers. The study found poor correlation between accuracy, confidence and time for both participant groups. The study found that most participants in both doctor and non-doctor groups had high confidence most of the time, whether the accuracy was high or low. It was also found that medical background or clinical experience had no effect on the accuracy level across the experiment sets. In some cases, doctors with no or little experience had higher accuracy than those with greater experience. This result may have significant implications for the feasibility of involving non-doctors in the management of telehealth systems, especially in tasks not requiring medical skills, such as colour classification. This has the potential to provide a considerable saving in resources and costs for healthcare providers. An auto-evaluation system was introduced, and proposed for further study, in order to improve the current telehealth diagnostic protocol and to avoid or prevent errors by making red colour classification more objective and accurate.

A multitude of sensory inputs needs to be processed during sensorimotor integration. A crucial factor for detecting relevant information is its complexity, since information content can be conflicting at a perceptual level. This may be central to executive control processes, such as response inhibition. This EEG study aims to investigate the system neurophysiological mechanisms behind effects of perceptual conflict on response inhibition. We systematically modulated perceptual conflict by integrating a Global-local task with a Go/Nogo paradigm. The results show that conflicting perceptual information, in comparison to non-conflicting perceptual information, impairs response inhibition performance. This effect was evident regardless of whether the relevant information for response inhibition is displayed on the global, or local perceptual level. The neurophysiological data suggests that early perceptual/ attentional processing stages do not underlie these modulations. Rather, processes at the response selection level (P3), play a role in changed response inhibition performance. This conflict-related impairment of inhibitory processes is associated with activation differences in (inferior) parietal areas (BA7 and BA40) and not as commonly found in the medial prefrontal areas. This suggests that various functional neuroanatomical structures may mediate response inhibition and that the functional neuroanatomical structures involved depend on the complexity of sensory integration processes.

Dual Processing theory proposes that the ability to over ride associative (System 1) in favour of analytical (System 2) processed in deductive reasoning may depend on inhibitory control. The present study applies this association to a spatial reasoning task by adapting a mental rotation task to a multichoice format including System 1 (mirror) and System 2 (rotated image) responses. Fifty undergraduate volunteers from the University of Canterbury responded to a Stroop task as a measure of inhibitory control that was compared with System 1 and System 2 responding from a spatial and a deductive reasoning task. It was expected that people with weaker inhibitory potential would make more System 1 and fewer System 2 responses in both deductive and visual-spatial reasoning tasks. Contrary to expectation System 2 responding dominated for both tasks and correlations between both reasoning tasks and measures of inhibitory control were non-significant. The differing idiosyncratic demands of each task may have obscured any common variables associated with inhibitory control. This research initiated a test for the presence of System 1 and System 2 in spatial reasoning.

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

Lorsqu’une représentation accède à la conscience, ce n’est pas simplement une représentation « objective », mais plutôt une interprétation subjective. Cette interprétation reflète la combinaison de nos connaissances sur le monde avec les données de notre environnement. Il est intéressant de comprendre comment ces interprétations se modifient lorsque l’on est confronté à des incohérences entre nos connaissances et les données. Dans cette thèse, nous avons étudié ces incohérences dans l’environnement et dans le comportement des individus.Dans une première série d’études, nous avons étudié l’apprentissage de régularités dans l’environnement ainsi que les relations entre ce processus et la conscience d’accès. La première étude porte sur les réponses cérébrales associées à la détection de régularités auditives chez des patients épileptiques implantés. La seconde porte sur la mise en place de stratégies lorsque l’on est confronté à de fréquents conflits, conscients ou non. Dans une seconde série d’études, nous avons étudié comment les sujets traitent les incohérences dans leur propre comportement, dans le cadre de la théorie de la dissonance cognitive, en utilisant le paradigme du choix libre. Nous avons identifié un rôle crucial de la mémoire grâce à une étude comportementale et une étude en IRM fonctionnelle.Les résultats de ces quatre études sont discutés dans ce manuscrit autour de deux questions clés. Tout d’abord, ces résultats mettent en évidence l’existence de processus utilisant des stimuli conscients, mais qui ne sont pas conscients eux-mêmes. Ensuite, nous discutons pourquoi l’on tend à chercher de la cohérence, dans notre environnement et dans notre comportement
When we perceive a word, a picture or a sound, we do not access an ‘objective’ representation of them. Rather we gain immediate access to a subjective interpretation. This interpretation reflects the combination of our prior knowledge about the world with data sampled in the environment. An interesting issue is to understand how we deal with inconsistencies between our prior knowledge and the data from the environment. During this PhD, responses to inconsistencies both in the environment and in subjects’ own behavior were explored. The first series of studies address how subjects process regularities in the environment and how these processes relate to conscious access. To do so, two levels of auditory regularities were studied in epileptic patients implanted with intracranial electrodes. In a second experiment, we used a paradigm derived from the Stroop task to test responses to frequent conscious or unconscious conflicts. Behavioral measures and scalp EEG were used to assess changes in subjects’ strategy when processing trials conflicting with current expectations. In the second series of studies, we analyzed how subjects adapt their interpretations when confronted with inconsistencies in their own behavior, using the framework of cognitive dissonance. The implication of explicit memory was tested in a behavioral experiment and in an fMRI study. The results of these four studies are discussed around two main issues. First, these results highlight the existence of processes which rely on conscious stimuli but are not conscious themselves. Second, we examine what could explain our tendency to constantly seek consistency both in the external world and in our own behavior

Est-ce que des stimuli non conscients peuvent modifier des processus classiquement considérés comme conscients ? Cette question est d’un intérêt particulier dans la schizophrénie où il existe à la fois des anomalies de processus implicites et des anomalies de processus conscients, comme par exemple, initier une stratégie ou se sentir en contrôle de son action. Pour réaliser des études chez les patients, nous devions savoir dans quelle mesure le choix d’une stratégie ou le sentiment de contrôler son action sont soumis à des influences non conscientes. Nous avons réalisé deux études chez le sujet sain montrant qu’un stimulus non conscient peut influencer la préparation d’une stratégie. Cependant, il existe des limites à ces influences non conscientes : le traitement du stimulus non conscient ne doit pas être interrompu trop tôt, et des filtres attentionnels le modulent. Notre troisième étude a analysé l’effet de distorsions subliminales du retour haptique (tactile et kinesthésique) sur l’adaptation motrice et sur le sentiment conscient de contrôler son action. Nous avons montré que le sentiment de contrôler l’action était modulé par des distorsions du retour haptique, même quand celui-ci est subliminaire. Les influences non conscientes ont un impact sur les processus habituellement conscients, dans des circonstances limitées et contrôlées
Do unconscious stimuli modify processes that are typically associated with consciousness? This question is of particular interest in schizophrenia in which there is both impairments of implicit processes and abnormalities of conscious processes. For instance patients have difficulties to initiate a strategy or to feel in control of their actions. For this purpose, we wanted to know to what extent the choice of a task set or the feeling of control over the action could be influenced by unconscious cues. We conducted two studies in healthy subjects showing that unconscious stimuli can influence the preparation of a task set. However, we have shown that there are limitations to these unconscious influences: the processing of unconscious stimuli must be uninterrupted for some time, and it is modulated by attentional mechanisms. Our third study analyzed the effect of subliminal distortions of the haptic feedback (tactile and kinesthetic) on motor adaptation and on the conscious sense of control over the action. We have shown that the feeling of control was modulated by subliminal distortions of the haptic feedback. Unconscious influences have an impact on conscious processes, but in limited and controlled circumstances

L'effet du vieillissement sur les fonctions cognitives de haut niveau demeure encore relativement incompris. Cette recherche vise à mieux comprendre les différences interindividuelles de performances entre les individus jeunes et âgés par l'étude des processus de contrôle attentionnel mis en jeu dans les tâches de commutation attentionnelle. Dans un premier temps, deux tâches d'alternance de type séries alternées ont été administrées à des adultes jeunes et âgés. Les résultats n'indiquent pas d'effet de l'âge sur les coûts d'alternance mesurés mais en revanche un coût d'alternance asymétrique (étude 1) et des coûts d'alternance locaux et globaux différents selon les individus (étude 1 et 2). Dans un second temps, un travail de modélisation du fonctionnement cognitif à l'aide de l'architecture cognitive ACT-R a été réalisé. Il permet de tester la plausibilité des hypothèses de diminution de la vitesse de traitement (VT) et de diminution de la capacité de la mémoire de travail (CMT), à pouvoir reproduire les différences de performances entre jeunes et âgés. Les résultats des tests d'hypothèse pour les deux études réalisées indiquent que ces hypothèses ne reproduisent pas assez les effets empiriquement observés ce qui suppose que les hypothèses de diminution de la VT ou de la CMT sont insuffisantes pour expliquer les différences de performances individuelles observées. Cette étude met en évidence l'intérêt de la modélisation cognitive computationnelle dans la compréhension des processus sous-jacent le fonctionnement cognitif humain.

A capacidade de adaptação das respostas posturais automáticas de acordo com informações do contexto indica uma interação entre dois níveis de controle, em que o processamento cognitivo de alta ordem das características de uma perturbação iminente seria capaz de modular o controle postural em níveis inferiores do sistema sensoriomotor. Os estudos aqui propostos procuram responder quais informações sobre as características da perturbação são utilizadas pelo central set para modular as respostas posturais automáticas. A tarefa estudada consistiu na recuperação do equilíbrio da postura ereta em resposta à translação da base de suporte. No Experimento 1, foi avaliada a influência de dicas visuais sobre a amplitude de deslocamento da base de suporte em sequências repetitivas ou aleatórias de perturbação. No Experimento 2, a dica de amplitude de deslocamento foi dada por meio da sequência de perturbações, comparando-se tentativas repetidas em bloco, em sequência conhecida e em sequência aleatória. No Experimento 3, foi avaliado o efeito de incerteza tanto da amplitude da perturbação quanto do tempo de aplicação da perturbação. O Experimento 4 teve como propósito avaliar a interação entre dica temporal e tarefa cognitiva concomitante à recuperação do equilíbrio. Os resultados mostram que (a) informações prévias sobre a magnitude da perturbação postural parecem ser incapazes de modular respostas posturais automáticas; (b) modulação de respostas posturais automáticas a partir de uma sequência repetitiva de perturbações aparentemente está associada à adaptação do sistema sensoriomotor e não à participação de processamento cognitivo das características físicas da perturbação iminente; (c) previsibilidade temporal da perturbação postural induz uma otimização das respostas posturais automáticas; e (d) a execução de tarefa cognitiva no momento da perturbação inibe o ganho de estabilidade de respostas posturais automáticas conferido pela dica temporal. Como conclusão, parece haver uma limitação do processamento cognitivo em modular respostas posturais automáticas. Considerando-se que o conceito de central set expressa a noção de que processamento cognitivo de dicas contextuais é capaz de otimizar respostas posturais automáticas, nossos resultados sugerem a necessidade da revisão deste conceito amplamente empregado na literatura de controle postural
Adaptability of automatic postural responses according to context information indicates an interaction between two levels of control, in which the high-order cognitive processing of the perturbation characteristics would be able to modulate postural control in lower levels of the sensorimotor system. The studies proposed here intended to scrutinize what cues about the perturbation characteristics are used by the central set to modulate the automatic postural responses. The task studied consisted in the recovery of postural equilibrium in response to a posterior translation of the support base. In Experiment 1, it was evaluated the effect of precueing the displacement amplitude of the supporting base in repetitive or random perturbation sequences. In Experiment 2, precueing of the support base displacement was provided by the sequence of perturbations, comparing repetitive trials, known sequence and random sequence. In Experiment 3, we evaluated the effect of uncertainty about amplitude and time of perturbation. Experiment 4 aimed to evaluate the interaction of temporal precueing and a concurrent cognitive task on body equilibrium recovery. Results show that (a) previous information about perturbation magnitude seems to be unable to modulate automatic postural responses; (b) modulation of automatic postural responses from a repetitive sequence of perturbations is apparently associated with an adaptation of the sensorimotor system rather than to the participation of cognitive processing of the perturbation characteristics; (c) temporal predictability of the postural perturbation induces optimization of automatic postural responses; and (d) cognitive task execution at the time of the perturbation inhibits the gain of automatic postural responses stability provided by temporal precueing. As a conclusion, there seems to be a limitation of cognitive processing to modulate automatic postural responses. Considering that the concept of central set expresses the notion that cognitive processing of a contextual precue is able to optimize automatic postural responses, our results suggest the need for revision of this conceptualization widely used in the postural control literature

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar se o treino de meditação da atenção focada promoveria melhoras em variáveis emocionais e cognitivas. Foram realizadas duas intervenções de diferentes durações, as quais foram avaliadas antes e depois através de um paradigma experimental que permitiu analisar a interferência emocional e o controle cognitivo, assim como de medidas de autorrelato avaliando variáveis de ansiedade, afeto, dificuldades de regulação emocional e atenção concentrada. A primeira intervenção compreendeu um ensaio randomizado de seis semanas, com encontros semanais e com dois grupos controle - relaxamento progressivo e lista de espera. A segunda compreendeu um ensaio de cinco dias consecutivos, com apenas um grupo controle de lista de espera. Os resultados de ambas intervenções indicaram que a meditação da atenção focada pode ajudar na modulação da interferência emocional, no controle cognitivo, assim como na melhora de aspectos emocionais, tal como redução de ansiedade e afeto negativo, e melhora na atenção concentrada. Além disso, estes resultados foram superiores àqueles observados nos grupos controle. Ressalta-se que apesar de complementares, os achados da intervenção mais curta foram menos robustos, indicando que um treino curto já pode produzir mudanças, mas que estas ganham maior magnitude à medida que o tempo de prática aumenta. Discute-se o papel da interrelação entre as variáveis investigadas para a regulação emocional, sugerindo-se que a meditação pode ser caracterizada como um tipo particular de estratégia regulatória.
The present work aimed to evaluate whether a focused attention meditation training would promote enhancements in emotional and cognitive variables. Two interventions with distinct durations were carried out, which were evaluated before and afterwards through an experimental paradigm that allowed the analysis of emotion intereference and cognitive control, as well self-report measures assessing variables such as anxiety, affect, difficulties in emotion regulation, and concentrated attention. The first intervention comprised of a six-week randomized trial, with weekly meetings and two control groups - progressive relaxation and wait list control. The second comprised a five-consecutive-day randomized trial, with only a wait list control group. Results from both interventions indicated that focused attention meditation can help modulating emotion interference, enhance cognitive control, as well as improve emotional aspects, such as reducing anxiety, negative affect, and increasing concentrated attention. In addition, these findings were superior to those observed in the control groups. We highlight that despite being complementary, the results from the short intervention were less robust, indicating that a short-term training can already promote some changes, but that the extent of their magnitude seems to be related to the amount of practice. We discuss the role of the interrelationship between the investigated variables for emotion regulation, suggesting that meditation can be considered a particular type of regulatory strategy.

L'objectif de cette thèse a été d'investiguer la question de la généralité et de l'automatisation des processus de contrôle inhibiteur au fil du développement cognitif. Cette question a été approchée par différentes études expérimentales menées chez l'enfant, chez l'adolescent et chez l'adulte. Trois études ont porté sur la généralité des processus de contrôle inhibiteur agissant dans des tâches appartenant à des domaines cognitifs différents. Dans la première, nous avons voulu répondre à deux problématiques liées aux divergences présentes dans la littérature sur le développement du contrôle inhibiteur dans des contextes émotionnels. Le but de cette étude était de déterminer (a) si le contrôle inhibiteur froid (dans des contextes affectivement neutres) et le contrôle inhibiteur chaud (dans des contextes émotionnellement chargés) suivent un pattern développemental identique, particulièrement à l'adolescence et (b) le degré de spécificité de ces deux types de contrôle inhibiteur au fil du développement. Pour cela, nous avons comparé les performances d'enfants de 10 ans, d'adolescents de 13 ans et de jeunes adultes de 21 ans à une tâche de Stroop couleur-mot affectivement neutre et une tâche de Stroop émotionnel. Dans une deuxième étude, nous avons testé auprès d'un groupe d'enfants de 9 ans si les processus inhibiteurs impliqués dans une tâche classique piagétienne de conservation du nombre (i.e., domaine logico-mathématique) étaient identiques ou partiellement identiques à ceux impliqués dans la résolution de la tâche neuropsychologique classique de Stroop couleur-mot (i.e., domaine verbal). Dans une troisième étude, nous avons testé auprès d'un groupe d'enfants de 10 ans et d'un groupe de jeunes adultes de 20 ans la transférabilité des processus inhibiteurs entre une tâche de discrimination de lettres en miroir (dont il a récemment été démontré qu'elle nécessite l'inhibition) et une tâche classique de Stroop couleur-mot, afin de déterminer (a) si la mise en place de mécanismes inhibiteurs impliqués dans la résolution d'un conflit à un niveau perceptif très précoce (la reconnaissance visuelle de symboles) peut faciliter la résolution d'un conflit à un niveau de traitement beaucoup plus tardif (niveau sémantique et moteur), et (b) si l'âge affecte cette transférabilité. Ensuite nous nous sommes intéressés à l'automaticité des processus de contrôle inhibiteur, testant si le contrôle inhibiteur peut fonctionner de manière totalement inconsciente sur des conflits provoqués par deux stimuli subliminaux interférents. Pour cela, nous avons conçu un paradigme d'amorçage composé d'essais dans lesquels un item de Stroop inversé subliminal précédait un item de Stroop visible. Le but de ce paradigme était de vérifier la présence d'un effet d'adaptation de conflit et d'un effet d'amorçage négatif du stimulus subliminal sur le stimulus visible, deux effets rapportés dans les études utilisant des stimuli visibles et suggérant un transfert des processus de contrôle de l'amorce à la cible. Enfin dans une cinquième étude nous avons cherché à savoir si les différences interindividuelles en termes de contrôle inhibiteur découlent en partie des processus prénataux, sur base de l'analyse de la forme sulcale du cortex, considérée comme une caractéristique qualitative de l'anatomie cérébrale déterminée pendant la vie fœtale et stable au cours du développement. En utilisant l'imagerie par résonance magnétique anatomique, nous avons analysé les corrélations entre les performances à une tâche de Stroop couleur-mot et la forme sulcale de deux régions clefs du réseau neuronal du contrôle inhibiteur, le cortex cingulaire antérieur dorsal et le sillon frontal inférieur (qui limite le gyrus frontal inférieur), chez un groupe d'enfants de 10 ans et un groupe d'adultes de 22 ans. En conclusion, cette thèse apporte un nouvel éclairage à la question de la généralité et de l'automatisation des processus d'inhibition exécutive dans une perspective développementale
The objective of this thesis was to investigate the question of the domain-generality of inhibitory control and its automatization throughout development. This question has been approached by various experimental studies in children, adolescents and adults. Three studies have focused on the generality of control processes operating in tasks belonging to different cognitive domains. In the first study, we wanted to answer two questions related to the discrepancies found in the literature on the development of inhibitory control in affectively charged contexts. The aim of this study was to determine (a) whether cool inhibition (control processes in emotionally neutral contexts) and hot inhibition (control processes in emotionally charged contexts) follow the same developmental pattern, and (b) the degree of specificity of these two types of inhibitory control throughout development. We thus compared the performance of 10-year-olds, 13-year-olds and 21-year-olds to an emotionally neutral color-word Stroop task and an emotional Stroop task. In a second study on 9-year-old children, we tested whether the inhibitory processes involved in a classical Piagetian conservation task (i.e., logico-mathematical domain) were identical or partially identical to those involved in the resolution of the classical neuropsychological color-word Stroop task (i.e., verbal domain). In a third study, we tested on a group of 10-year-old children and a group of 20-year-old young adults the transferability of inhibitory processes between a mirror letters discrimination task (that has recently been shown to require inhibition) and a color-word Stroop task, to determine (a) whether the resolution of a conflict at an early perceptual stage of the processing stream (recognition of visual symbols) can facilitate the resolution of a conflict arising at a much later stage (semantic and motor levels), and (b) if age affects this transferability. Then we looked at the automaticity of the inhibition processes by testing whether inhibitory control can operate completely unconsciously on conflicts arising between two subliminal interfering stimuli. To this end, we designed a priming paradigm consisting of trials in which a subliminal reverse Stroop item preceded a visible Stroop item. The aim of this paradigm was to verify the presence of a conflict adaptation effect and a negative priming effect produced by the subliminal items on the visible items. These two effects are commonly reported in studies using visible stimuli and suggest a transfer of control processes from the prime to the probe. Finally, in a fifth study, we investigated whether inter-individual differences in inhibitory control are in part due to prenatal processes, based on the analysis of the sulcal pattern, considered as a qualitative feature of the cerebral anatomy that is determined during fetal life and is stable during development. Using anatomical magnetic resonance imaging, we analyzed the correlations between the performance on a color-word Stroop task and the sulcal pattern of two key regions of the inhibitory control neural network, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the inferior frontal sulcus (which limits the lower frontal gyrus) in a group of 10-year-old children and in a group of 22-year-old adults. In conclusion, this thesis sheds new light on the question of the generality and the automatization of the inhibitory control processes from a developmental perspective

The present auditing environment involves increasing audit costs and potential legal liability. Increasing audit costs mandate methods to make the audit more efficient, while the credibility of audited financial statements depends on audit effectiveness. Internal accounting control evaluation impacts both the efficiency and effectiveness of the audit process since this judgment establishes a basis for determining the timing, nature and amount of auditing procedures to be performed. Results of previous research, however, have indicated that variance does exist in auditors' evaluations of internal controls. While individual differences have been given as an explanation of the variance, no research has successfully isolated which individual differences relate to differences in judgment. This study examined the possibility that cognitive style, defined as the mode of processing which individuals use in their perceptual activities, was an individual difference which could explain some of the variance in internal control judgments. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was used to measure the cognitive style of auditors. A second instrument, an audit judgment case, was prepared by the researcher to elicit (1) an auditor's estimate of the reliability of internal controls in a computerized payroll application, and (2) his assessment of the perceived relevance of case information to his reliability judgment. Ninety auditors attending training sessions held by six Dallas CPA firms completed the MBTI and case description. These instruments were administered by the researcher during the Summer of 1984. The participants were primarily senior-level auditors with three years' experience. The statistical methods used in this study included the t-test and ANOVA. Results of the study indicated lack of consensus in the internal control reliability estimates of the participants. Differences were noted in the information the sensing and intuitive types identified as important to their reliability estimates. The number of cues identified as important by the participants was not significantly related to their perceptual mode (sensing or intuitive) or to their internal control reliability judgment.

The experiments reported in this thesis were conducted to examine the effects of executive-control and associative-learning processes on performance in conventional executive-control paradigms. For this purpose, I developed comparative task-switching and response-inhibition paradigms, which were used to assess the performance of pigeons, whose behaviour is presumably based purely on associative processes, and of humans, whose behaviour may be guided by executive control and by associative processes. Pigeons were able to perform accurately in the comparative paradigms; hence, associative-learning processes are sufficient to account for successful performance. However, some task-specific effects that can be attributed to executive-control processes, and which were found in humans applying executive control, were absent or greatly reduced in pigeons. Those effects either reflect the mental operations that are performed to ensure that a specific set of stimulus-response-contingencies is applied and any contingencies belonging to a different set are suppressed, or reflect mental preparations for the possibility that the requirement to execute a certain response suddenly changes. In particular, in Chapter 3, it is shown that the benefits of repeatedly applying the same set of stimulus-response contingencies (or, in reverse, the costs of switching from one set to another) do not apply when Pavlovian processes dominate learning, which is likely the case for pigeons. Furthermore, as shown in Chapters 4 and 5, the behavioural effects of preparing for an unpredicted change in response requirements appeared to be absent when behaviour was based purely on associative processes. Instead, associatively mediated performance was primarily influenced by the stimulus-response contingencies that were effective in each paradigm. Repeating the same response in consecutive trials facilitated the performance of pigeons and associatively learning human participants in the task-switching paradigms, and performing a particular Go response increased the pigeons' likelihood of executing that response in the following trial in two response-inhibition paradigms. In summary, any behavioural effects that can be observed at the level of abstract task requirements reflect the influence of executive-control processes, both in task-switching paradigms and in response-inhibition paradigms.

L’addiction aux drogues est une pathologie psychiatrique chronique qui se caractérise par une prise et une recherche compulsive de drogue malgré des conséquences négatives. Ces dernières années il a été établi que les processus cognitifs (impulsivité, flexibilité comportementale, mémoire de travail, …) jouent un rôle majeur dans cette pathologie. En effet, d’un côté la présence de déficits cognitifs semble être un facteur favorisant le développement et la mise en place de l’addiction, et de l’autre la consommation répétée de drogue induirait des déficits cognitifs. L’objectif de ce travail de thèse a consisté en l’étude des interactions bidirectionnelles existantes entre l’addiction et les processus cognitifs. Dans la première partie de ce travail, nous nous sommes intéressés à la mise en place d’une nouvelle procédure d’étude de l’impulsivité de choix chez le rat permettant d’améliorer les procédures de Delay Discounting déjà existantes. Notre procédure peut représenter un nouvel outil permettant de faciliter la compréhension des processus neurobiologiques sous-jacents à la prise de décision et les conséquences de la prise de drogue sur celle-ci. La seconde partie de ce travail a consisté en l’étude des effets d’un exercice cognitif sur le comportement d’auto-administration de cocaïne chez le rat. De façon surprenante, nous avons mis en évidence que la pratique d’un effort cognitif avant une session d’auto-administration de cocaïne augmente la consommation de drogue. Ainsi, il semblerait que chez le rat comme chez l’Homme, l’effort cognitif peut induire l’apparition d’une « fatigue mentale » ayant des effets néfastes sur l’addiction
Drug addiction is a chronic psychiatric disorder characterized by compulsive drug seeking and drug taking in spite of negative consequences. In the last years, it has been clearly shown that cognitive processes (impulsivity, behavioral flexibility, working memory, etc.) play a major role in this disorder. In fact, on the one hand, cognitive deficits appear to be risk factors for the development and maintenance of addiction and, on the other hand, repeated drug taking induces cognitive deficits. The objective of this thesis has been to investigate the bidirectional interactions between addiction and cognitive processes. In the first part of this work, we have been worked at developing a new procedure to study choice impulsivity in rats allowing improving existing Delay Discounting procedures. Our procedure could represent a new tool to gain insights into neurobiological processes underlying decision-making and the consequences of drugs on it. The second part of my thesis has consisted in investigating the effects of cognitive exercise on cocaine self-administration in rats. Surprisingly, we found that making a cognitive effort before a cocaine self-administration session increases drug consumption. Therefore, it appears that similarly to what described in humans, in rats, cognitive effort could induce a sort of “mental fatigue” that has negative effects on addiction

En la actualidad, la Internet de las Cosas (Internet of Things, IoT) es una tecnología esencial para la próxima generación de sistemas inalámbricos. La conectividad es la base de IoT, y el tipo de acceso requerido dependerá de la naturaleza de la aplicación. Uno de los principales facilitadores del entorno IoT es la comunicación machine-to-machine (M2M) y, en particular, su enorme potencial para ofrecer conectividad ubicua entre dispositivos inteligentes. Las redes celulares son la elección natural para las aplicaciones emergentes de IoT y M2M. Un desafío importante en las redes celulares es conseguir que la red sea capaz de manejar escenarios de acceso masivo en los que numerosos dispositivos utilizan comunicaciones M2M. Por otro lado, los sistemas celulares han experimentado un tremendo desarrollo en las últimas décadas: incorporan tecnología sofisticada y nuevos algoritmos para ofrecer una amplia gama de servicios. El modelado y análisis del rendimiento de estas redes multiservicio es también una tarea desafiante que podría requerir un gran esfuerzo computacional. Para abordar los desafíos anteriores, nos centramos en primer lugar en el diseño y la evaluación de las prestaciones de nuevos mecanismos de control de acceso para hacer frente a las comunicaciones masivas M2M en redes celulares. Posteriormente nos ocupamos de la evaluación de prestaciones de redes multiservicio y proponemos una nueva técnica analítica que ofrece precisión y eficiencia computacional. Nuestro principal objetivo es proporcionar soluciones para aliviar la congestión en la red de acceso radio cuando un gran número de dispositivos M2M intentan conectarse a la red. Consideramos los siguientes tipos de escenarios: (i) los dispositivos M2M se conectan directamente a las estaciones base celulares, y (ii) forman grupos y los datos se envían a concentradores de tráfico (gateways) que les proporcionan acceso a la infraestructura. En el primer escenario, dado que el número de dispositivos añadidos a la red aumenta continuamente, esta debería ser capaz de manejar el considerable incremento en las solicitudes de acceso. El 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) ha propuesto el access class barring (ACB) como una solución práctica para el control de congestión en la red de acceso radio y la red troncal. El ajuste correcto de los parámetros de ACB de acuerdo con la intensidad del tráfico es crítico, pero cómo hacerlo de forma dinámica y autónoma es un problema complejo cuya solución no está recogida en las especificaciones del 3GPP. Esta tesis doctoral contribuye al análisis del rendimiento y al diseño de nuevos algoritmos que implementen efectivamente este mecanismo, y así superar los desafíos introducidos por las comunicaciones masivas M2M. En el segundo escenario, dado que la heterogeneidad de los dispositivos IoT y las arquitecturas celulares basadas en hardware imponen desafíos aún mayores para permitir una comunicación flexible y eficiente en los sistemas inalámbricos 5G, esta tesis doctoral también contribuye al diseño de software-defined gateways (SD-GWs) en una nueva arquitectura propuesta para redes inalámbricas definidas por software que se denomina SoftAir. Esto permite manejar tanto un gran número de dispositivos como el volumen de datos que estarán vertiendo en la red. Otra contribución de esta tesis doctoral es la propuesta de una técnica novedosa para el análisis de prestaciones de redes multiservicio de alta capacidad que se basa en un nuevo enfoque del modelizado analítico de sistemas que operan a diferentes escalas temporales. Este enfoque utiliza el análisis del transitorio de una serie de subcadenas absorbentes y lo denominamos absorbing Markov chain approximation (AMCA). Nuestros resultados muestran que para un coste computacional dado, AMCA calcula los parámetros de prestaciones habituales de un sistema con mayor precisión, en comparación con los resultados obtenidos por otr
Nowadays, Internet of Things (IoT) is an essential technology for the upcoming generation of wireless systems. Connectivity is the foundation for IoT, and the type of access required will depend on the nature of the application. One of the leading facilitators of the IoT environment is machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, and particularly, its tremendous potential to offer ubiquitous connectivity among intelligent devices. Cellular networks are the natural choice for emerging IoT and M2M applications. A major challenge in cellular networks is to make the network capable of handling massive access scenarios in which myriad devices deploy M2M communications. On the other hand, cellular systems have seen a tremendous development in recent decades; they incorporate sophisticated technology and algorithms to offer a broad range of services. The modeling and performance analysis of these large multi-service networks is also a challenging task that might require high computational effort. To address the above challenges, we first concentrate on the design and performance evaluation of novel access control schemes to deal with massive M2M communications. Then, we focus on the performance evaluation of large multi-service networks and propose a novel analytical technique that features accuracy and computational efficiency. Our main objective is to provide solutions to ease the congestion in the radio access or core network when massive M2M devices try to connect to the network. We consider the following two types of scenarios: (i) massive M2M devices connect directly to cellular base stations, and (ii) they form clusters and the data is forwarded to gateways that provide them with access to the infrastructure. In the first scenario, as the number of devices added to the network is constantly increasing, the network should handle the considerable increment in access requests. Access class barring (ACB) is proposed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) as a practical congestion control solution in the radio access and core network. The proper tuning of the ACB parameters according to the traffic intensity is critical, but how to do so dynamically and autonomously is a challenging task that has not been specified. Thus, this dissertation contributes to the performance analysis and optimal design of novel algorithms to implement effectively this barring scheme and overcome the challenges introduced by massive M2M communications. In the second scenario, since the heterogeneity of IoT devices and the hardware-based cellular architectures impose even greater challenges to enable flexible and efficient communication in 5G wireless systems, this dissertation also contributes to the design of software-defined gateways (SD-GWs) in a new architecture proposed for wireless software-defined networks called SoftAir. The deployment of these SD-GWs represents an alternative solution aiming at handling both a vast number of devices and the volume of data they will be pouring into the network. Another contribution of this dissertation is to propose a novel technique for the performance analysis of large multi-service networks. The underlying complexity of the network, particularly concerning its size and the ample range of configuration options, makes the solution of the analytical models computationally costly. However, a typical characteristic of these networks is that they support multiple types of traffic flows operating at different time-scales. This time-scale separation can be exploited to reduce considerably the computational cost associated to determine the key performance indicators. Thus, we propose a novel analytical modeling approach based on the transient regime analysis, that we name absorbing Markov chain approximation (AMCA). For a given computational cost, AMCA finds common performance indicators with greater accuracy, when compared to the results obtained by other approximate methods proposed in the literature.
En l'actualitat, la Internet de les Coses (Internet of Things, IoT) és una tecnologia essencial per a la propera generació de sistemes sense fil. La connectivitat és la base d'IoT, i el tipus d'accés requerit dependrà de la naturalesa de l'aplicació. Un dels principals facilitadors de l'entorn IoT és la comunicació machine-to-machine (M2M) i, en particular, el seu enorme potencial per oferir connectivitat ubiqua entre dispositius intel · ligents. Les xarxes mòbils són l'elecció natural per a les aplicacions emergents de IoT i M2M. Un desafiament important en les xarxes mòbils que actualment está rebent molta atenció és aconseguir que la xarxa siga capaç de gestionar escenaris d'accés massiu en què una gran quantitat de dispositius utilitzen comunicacions M2M. D'altra banda, els sistemes mòbils han experimentat un gran desenvolupament en les últimes dècades: incorporen tecnologia sofisticada i nous algoritmes per oferir una àmplia gamma de serveis. El modelatge i análisi del rendiment d'aquestes xarxes multiservei és també un desafiament important que podria requerir un gran esforç computacional. Per abordar els desafiaments anteriors, en aquesta tesi doctoral ens centrem en primer lloc en el disseny i l'avaluació de les prestacions de nous mecanismes de control d'accés per fer front a les comunicacions massives M2M en xarxes cel · lulars. Posteriorment ens ocupem de l'avaluació de prestacions de xarxes multiservei i proposem una nova tècnica analítica que ofereix precisió i eficiència computacional. El nostre principal objectiu és proporcionar solucions per a alleujar la congestió a la xarxa d'accés ràdio quan un gran nombre de dispositius M2M intenten connectar-se a la xarxa. Considerem els dos tipus d'escenaris següents: (i) els dispositius M2M es connecten directament a les estacions base cel · lulars, i (ii) formen grups i les dades s'envien a concentradors de trànsit (gateways) que els proporcionen accés a la infraestructura. En el primer escenari, atès que el nombre de dispositius afegits a la xarxa augmenta contínuament, aquesta hauria de ser capaç de gestionar el considerable increment en les sol · licituds d'accés. El 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) ha proposat l'access class barring (ACB) com una solució pràctica per al control de congestió a la xarxa d'accès ràdio i la xarxa troncal. L'ajust correcte dels paràmetres d'ACB d'acord amb la intensitat del trànsit és crític, però com fer-ho de forma dinàmica i autònoma és un problema complex, la solució del qual no està recollida en les especificacions del 3GPP. Aquesta tesi doctoral contribueix a l'anàlisi del rendiment i al disseny de nous algoritmes que implementen efectivament aquest mecanisme, i així superar els desafiaments introduïts per les comunicacions massives M2M en les xarxes mòbils actuals i futures. En el segon escenari, atès que l'heterogeneïtat dels dispositius IoT i les arquitectures cel · lulars basades en hardware imposen desafiaments encara més grans per permetre una comunicació flexible i eficient en els sistemes sense fil 5G, aquesta tesi doctoral també contribueix al disseny de software-defined gateways (SD-GWS) en una nova arquitectura proposada per a xarxes sense fils definides per programari que s'anomena SoftAir. Això permet gestionar tant un gran nombre de dispositius com el volum de dades que estaran abocant a la xarxa. Una altra contribució d'aquesta tesi doctoral és la proposta d'una tècnica innovadora per a l'anàlisi de prestacions de xarxes multiservei d'alta capacitat que es basa en un nou enfocament del modelitzat analític de sistemes que operen a diferents escales temporals. Aquest enfocament utilitza l'anàlisi del transitori d'una sèrie de subcadenes absorbents i l'anomenem absorbing Markov chain Approximation (AMCA). Els nostres resultats mostren que per a un cost computacional donat, AMCA calcula els paràmetres de prestacions habituals d
Tello Oquendo, LP. (2018). Design and Performance Analysis of Access Control Mechanisms for Massive Machine-to-Machine Communications in Wireless Cellular Networks [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/107946
TESIS

Cherchant à établir un pont théorique et pratique entre les sciences de l'éducation, les sciences cognitives et la philosophie des sciences, la thèse développe un modèle didactique à l'interface entre ces disciplines : le modèle allostérique de l'apprendre initié et développé par Giordan (1988) et al. (1992), qui s'inscrit dans le paradigme des théories du changement conceptuel. Nourri par les travaux récents des psychologues cognitifs sur les processus d'apprentissage tels que les théories du recyclage neuronal (Dehaene, 2007) ou de l'inhibition cérébrale (Houdé & Tzourio-Mazoyer, 2003), ainsi que sur diverses théories relatives à l'élaboration de la pensée telles que l'économie comportementale (Tversky & Kahnernan, 1982) ou le modèle-cadre SRK (Rasmussen, 1990), ce modèle développe et précise le concept d’allostérie à travers la description et la formalisation des processus de déconstruction-reconstruction des conceptions, qui ont lieu lors des apprentissages complexes. De la phase de théorisation du modèle, effectuée par un recours aux formalismes de la réactivité chimique en accord avec la métaphore initiale de l'allostérie, il est possible de déduire divers environnements didactiques opératoires et féconds pour le praticien de l'enseignement et de la médiation scientifiques. Ces prévisions théoriques sont alors mises à l'épreuve de l'expérimentation didactique à travers une recherche de terrain centrée sur la notion d'expérience contre-intuitive (Eastes & Pellaud, 2004) menée auprès de différents types de publics
Aiming at bridging education sciences, cognitive sciences and philosophy of science both theoretically and practically, this thesis develops a didactical model at the interface between these fields: the allosteric learning model developed by Giordan (1988) et al. (1992), understood in the context conceptual change theories paradigm. Fueled by the recent works of cognitive psychologists on learning processes such as neuronal recycling (Dehaene, 2007) or cerebral inhibition (Houdé & Tzourio-Mazoyer, 2003), as well as on various theories related to the thought processes such as behavioral economies (Tversky & Kahneman, 1982) or the Skills-Rules-Knowledge framework model (Rasmussen, 1990), this model develops and refines the concept of allostery through the description and formalization of specific processes that take place in complex learning situations : the deconstruction-reconstruction of conceptions. Based on the theorization of the model, done through the use chemical reactivity formalisms in line with the initial metaphor of allostery, it is possible to deduce various operational and fruitful didactical environments for teaching practitioners or science communication professionals. These theoretical projections are then put to the test through didactic experimentation taking the shape of field research on the notion of counter-intuitive experiment (Eastes & Pellaud, 2004) conducted with different types of target groups

Pour mieux comprendre le controle des comportements oculaires dans la lecture il faut d'abord analyser les mecanismes sous-jacents. - lorsque le regard parcourt des chaines de caracteres a la recherche d'une cible connue, le cerveau doit calculer efficacement, a chaque fixation, la taille et le moment de depart de la saccade suivante. Au cas ou la cible est localisable en vision peripherique, on sait que ces calculs dependent de son excentricite retinienne. Dans le present travail on examine les mecanismes sensori-moteurs et cognitifs impliques dans le controle d'un type particulier de saccades : celles qui sont programmees en l'absence d'une cible en peripherie. Qu'est-ce donc qui determine les deplacements du regard a la recherche d'une cible, dans ces lignes qui n'en contiennent aucune ? l'hypothese de travail qui a guide nos analyses etait la suivante : la taille des saccades, programmees en l'absence de cible, depend directement des contraintes sensorielles limitant le nombre de lettres visibles, a chaque fixation au cours de l'exploration (l'empan visuel). Dans cette hypothese, chaque saccade devrait deplacer le regard vers la limite de l'empan visuel. En bonne logique, lorsqu'une manipulation des conditions de visibilite entraine une diminution de cet empan, la taille moyenne des saccades devrait diminuer parallelement. On a verifie cette hypothese par une serie d'experiences psychophysiques - pour mesurer l'empan visuel sous differentes conditions de visibilite - et par une serie d'analyses des mouvements oculaires, dans une situation d'exploration de chaines de caracteres. Les resultats de ces etudes montrent clairement que le calcul de la taille des saccades, programmees en l'absence de cible, depend des changements de l'empan visuel fonctionnel. Ceci indique que ce type de saccades est controle par des processus cognitifs qui completent l'analyse sensorielle du materiel stimulus par des decisions basees sur une representation des proprietes visuelles de la cible recherchee. Ces decisions interviennent tant dans la longueur de la visee choisie a chaque pas que dans le moment ou survient la saccade. Afin de rendre compte de ces resultats sur le plan theorique, on propose un modele conceptuel de controle des saccades explo- ratoires
In order to better understand eye movement control in reading we must first analyze the underlying mechanisms. When the eye scans lines of homogenous letter strings in search of a known target, the brain must compute efficiently, at each fixation, the size and the moment of occurrence of the next saccade. For the case where the target is clearly localisable in peripheral vision, we know that this computation depends on the target's retinal eccentricity. The present study examines the sensori-motor and cognitive mechanisms underlying the control of a particular type of saccades : those programmed without any target being present in periphery. What determines eye movements in a visual search task when scanning those lines that contain no target at all ? the working hypothesis guiding our analyses was the following : the size of saccades programmed in the absence of a target depends directly on the sensory constraints that limit the number of letters visible at each fixation (the visual span). Under this hypothesis each saccade should bring the eye to the limit of the visual span. Accordingly, if visibility conditions force visual span to decrease, saccade sizes should, on average, decrease in parallel. This hypothesis was tested by a series of psychophysical experiments - in order to measure visual span under varying visibility conditions - and by a series of eye movement analyses in a visual search task using the same visibility conditions as the visual span experiments. The results clearly show that the amplitude computation of saccades programmed in the absence of localisable targets depends on changes in the effective visual span. This indicates that this type of saccade is controlled by cognitive processes which supplement the sensory analysis of the stimulus material with decisions based on a representation of the visual properties of the sought-for target. These decisions influence both the size and the moment of occurrence of a saccade. To account for these results on a theoretical level, a working model of the control of exploratory saccades is proposed

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Impulsivity may lead to several unfortunate consequences and maladaptive behaviors for clinical and non-clinical people. Although many studies discuss the negative impact of it, few of them emphasize the relationship between cognitive impulsiveness and decision making in non-clinical subjects. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of cognitive impulsiveness on decision making and explore the strategies used by participants to solve problems. For this purpose, we apply two measures of impulsivity: the self-report Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) and the performance based Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT).This is the first study that compares self-report impulsiveness based on BIS-11 and performance-based reflectivity measured by CRT. Moreover, due to the fact that we apply the instruments on pen and paper, it is possible to evaluate participants’ reasoning processes employed to answer CRT questions. These reasoning processes are related to the role of Executive Functions for decision making and its relationship with impulsiveness. In practical terms, we observed participants’ strategies by analyzing their calculation expressions and data organization to answer CRT questions in the paper sheet. The sample consists of 191 non-clinical adults, professionals, and undergraduate students from the fields of business, management, and accounting. Results show that cognitive impulsiveness may negatively affect performance. Moreover, there is no difference in strategies used by impulsive and non-impulsive people during a decision making, and who calculate in the paper sheet perform better. Finally, people who inhibit their immediate answers also perform better during a decision making.

The present study investigated differences between individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and non-anxious controls (NAC) on measures of thought processes and anxiety responses surrounding an anxiety-provoking situation. Participants gave a spontaneous speech to an audience and reported their anxiety throughout. Measures of trait decentering and anxiety, situational anxiety, negative thoughts and believability, and willingness to repeat the task were administered. Compared to NAC, individuals with SAD reported a higher prevalence of negative thoughts, found the thoughts more believable, reported lower levels of trait decentering, and reported less willingness to repeat an anxiety-provoking task. Collapsing the groups, we found an inverse relationship between the amount of negative thoughts and willingness to repeat the task, and a positive correlation between decentering and willingness. We did not find evidence to support that decentering and believability moderate this relationship. The present study partially supports the proposed model of SAD, as the SAD and NAC groups differed at each step of the proposed model, however moderation analyses were not significant.

Fueled by the rapid advancement in digital and wireless technologies, the ever-increasing capabilities of wireless devices have placed upon us a tremendous challenge - how to put all of this capability to effective use. Individually, wireless devices have outpaced the ability of users to optimally configure them. Collectively, the complexity is far more daunting. Research in cognitive networks seeks to provide a solution to the diffculty of effectively using the expanding capabilities of wireless networks by embedding greater degrees of intelligence within the network itself. In this dissertation, we address some fundamental questions related to cognitive networks, such as "What is a cognitive network?" and "What methods may be used to design a cognitive network?" We relate cognitive networks to a common artificial intelligence (AI) framework, the multi-agent system (MAS). We also discuss the key elements of learning and reasoning, with the ability to learn being the primary differentiator for a cognitive network. Having discussed some of the fundamentals, we proceed to further illustrate the cognitive networking principle by applying it to two problems: multichannel topology control for dynamic spectrum access (DSA) and routing in a mobile ad hoc network (MANET). The multichannel topology control problem involves confguring secondary network parameters to minimize the probability that the secondary network will cause an outage to a primary user in the future. This requires the secondary network to estimate an outage potential map, essentially a spatial map of predicted primary user density, which must be learned using prior observations of spectral occupancy made by secondary nodes. Due to the complexity of the objective function, we provide a suboptimal heuristic and compare its performance against heuristics targeting power-based and interference-based topology control objectives. We also develop a genetic algorithm to provide reference solutions since obtaining optimal solutions is impractical. We show how our approach to this problem qualifies as a cognitive network. In presenting our second application, we address the role of network state observations in cognitive networking. Essentially, we need a way to quantify how much information is needed regarding the state of the network to achieve a desired level of performance. This question is applicable to networking in general, but becomes increasingly important in the cognitive network context because of the potential volume of information that may be desired for decision-making. In this case, the application is routing in MANETs. Current MANET routing protocols are largely adapted from routing algorithms developed for wired networks. Although optimal routing in wired networks is grounded in dynamic programming, the critical assumption, static link costs and states, that enables the use of dynamic programming for wired networks need not apply to MANETs. We present a link-level model of a MANET, which models the network as a stochastically varying graph that possesses the Markov property. We present the Markov decision process as the appropriate framework for computing optimal routing policies for such networks. We then proceed to analyze the relationship between optimal policy and link state information as a function of minimum distance from the forwarding node. The applications that we focus on are quite different, both in their models as well as their objectives. This difference is intentional and signficant because it disassociates the technology, i.e. cognitive networks, from the application of the technology. As a consequence, the versatility of the cognitive networks concept is demonstrated. Simultaneously, we are able to address two open problems and provide useful results, as well as new perspective, on both multichannel topology control and MANET routing. This material is posted here with permission from the IEEE. Such permission of the IEEE does not in any way imply IEEE endorsement of any of Virginia Tech library's products or services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to pubs-permissions@ieee.org. By choosing to view this material, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it.
Ph. D.

Les résultats de la première partie mettent en avant l‘existence d‘une attention exécutive, liant la mémoire à court terme et la conscience d‘accès, et d‘une attention sensorielle, liant le registre sensoriel et la mémoire à court terme. Par ailleurs, il n‘y pas de maintien de l‘information dans la mémoire à court terme sans prise de conscience de cette information. De plus, la quantité d‘informations maintenue dans la mémoire à court terme (trois ou quatre informations maximum) conditionne l‘allocation attentionnelle pour les nouvelles informations. Les résultats obtenus dans la seconde partie montrent que l‘amorçage infraliminaire dépend de la nature des processus non conscients sollicités : ils doivent être automatiques. Au contraire, l‘amorçage supraliminaire dépend de la nature de la tâche consciente : elle doit être contrôlée. Ainsi, un processus contrôlé ne peut être activé que de manière consciente, alors qu‘un processus automatique, qui est normalement activé de manière non consciente, peut aussi être activé de manière consciente, mais cela s‘exprime par un coût dans la performance
Results of the first part reveal a distinction between executive attention, linking shortterm memory to access consciousness and sensorial attention, linking the sensorial register to short-term memory. Besides, if there is no conscious access to information without attention, there no maintenance of information in short-term memory without access consciousness control. Furthermore, the amount of information maintained in short-term memory (three or four is the maximum) influences attentional allocation to new information. Results of the second part show that subliminal priming depends on the nature of the unconscious processes involved : they must be automatic. Conversely, supraliminal priming depends on the nature of the conscious task : it must be controlled. Thus, a controlled process can only be activated consciously, whereas an automatic process, normally activated unconsciously, may also be activated consciously, but it generates a cost in terms of performance

The present dissertation deals with how to use the precious wireless resources that are usually wasted by under-utilization of networks. We have been particularly interested by all resources that can be used in an opportunistic fashion using different technologies. We have designed new schemes for better and more efficient use of wireless systems by providing mathematical frameworks. In the first part, We have been interested in cognitive radio networks, where a cellular service provider can lease a part of its resources to secondary users or virtual providers. In the second part, we have chosen delay-tolerant networks as a solution to reduce the pressure on the cell traffic, where mobile users come to use available resources effectively and with a cheaper cost. We have focused on optimal strategy for smartphones in hybrid wireless networks. In the last part, an alternative to delay-tolerant networks, specially in regions that are not covered by the cellular network, is to use Ad-hoc networks. Indeed, they can be used as an extension of the coverage area. We have developed a new analytical modeling of the IEEE 802.11e DCF/EDCF. We have investigated the intricate interactions among layers by building a general cross-layered framework to represent multi-hop ad hoc networks with asymmetric topology and traffic

Las contingencias de recompensa además de incrementar la probabilidad de aparición de una conducta y de los procesos cerebrales necesarios para conseguirlas, los optimiza. Esta tesis estudia la modulación producida por la magnitud de la recompensa monetaria sobre el procesamiento cerebral en conductas dirigidas a metas considerando las diferencias individuales en personalidad y la adicción a la cocaína. Se realizaron tres estudios con contingencias monetarias de magnitud variable durante la ejecución de tareas de inhibición en participantes sanos y adictos a la cocaína. La recompensa monetaria produjo una mejora conductual proporcional a la magnitud de recompensa y similar en ambos grupos, asociada en los participantes sanos con las diferencias individuales a la sensibilidad a la recompensa. Sin embargo, los adictos a la cocaína mostraron una modulación prefrontal deficiente que contrarrestaron con una mayor implicación de áreas occipitales, el incremento de la conectividad frontoestriatal y de la red frontoparietal izquierda.
Reward contingencies increase the likelihood of a behavior and the brain processes necessary to perform them in addition to optimizing both behavior and brain processes. This doctoral thesis studies the effect of monetary reward magnitude on brain processing during goal-directed behaviors considering individual differences in personality and cocaine addiction. We performed three studies with monetary contingencies of variable magnitude during the execution of inhibition tasks in healthy participants and cocaine addicts. In both groups, the monetary reward produced a behavioral improvement proportional to the magnitude. In addition, in healthy participants this behavioral improvement was associated with the individual differences in sensitivity to reward. However, cocaine addicts showed deficient prefrontal modulation that counteracted with a greater involvement of occipital areas, an increased fronto-striatal connectivity and the left frontoparietal network.

Pour maintenir leur compétitivité, les entreprises doivent être en mesure de pro-duire des produits répondant aux attentes des clients tout en pilotant au mieux leurs outils de production. Le diagnostic et le pronostic de défaillances potentielles du système productif en termes de performance sont de puissantes méthodes d’amélioration de la performance industrielle. Disposer de modèle permettant la mise en oeuvre de ces méthodes est un réel défi. L’objectif de cette thèse est de contribuer au pilotage par la performance des systèmes de production. Le réseau Bayésien, l’un des plus techniques les plus robustes de la famille des "Graphes Probabilistes", combiné au concept fondamental de la causalité ont été utilisé afin de produire des modèles permettant les études diagnostiques et pronostiques.Une méthodologie fondée sur l’exploitation des expertises humaines et des données historisées a été définie et appliquée au cas d’une ligne de conditionnement de parfum. Des techniques ont été proposées afin notamment de réduire au mieux les biais naturels issus de l’élicitation des expertises humaines Cette thèse s’inscrit dans le cadre du projet Français EUGENE, FUI23. L’objectif de la thèse consiste à mettre en place une solution réactive pour la supervision tout en assurant un meilleur compromis entre disponibilité des équipements, coûts d’exploitation, qualité et compétitivité du produit. Nous explorons l’expertise humaine, ainsi qu’un raisonnement d’indépendancede causalité centré sur un formalisme probabiliste Bayésien à fin de développer une méthodologie permettant de construire un modèle d’estimation de l’état de santé du système productif. Les résultats présentent un outil de vision synthétique d’aide à la décision à l’industriel
To maintain their competitiveness, companies must be able to produce products that meet customer expectations while controlling their production tools as well as possible. The diagnosis and prognosis of potential failures in the production system in terms of performance are powerful methods for improving industrial performance. Having a model for implementing these methods is a real challenge. The objective of this thesis is to contribute to the performance-based control of production systems. The Bayesian network, one of the most robust techniques of the "Probabilistic Graphs" family, combined with the fundamental concept of causality have been used to produce models allowing diagnostic and prognostic studies. A methodology based on the use of human expertise and historical data was defined and applied to the case of a perfume packaging line. Techniques were proposed in order to reduce as much as possible the natural biases resulting from the elicitation of human expertise. This thesis is part of the French project EUGENE, FUI23. The objective of the thesis is to set up a reactive solution for control while ensuring a better compromise between equipment availability, operating costs, quality and competitiveness of the product. We explore human expertise, as well as causality independence reasoning centered on a Bayesian probabilistic formalism in order to develop a methodology to build a model for estimating the state of health of the productive system. The results present a synthetic vision tool for decision support to the industrialist

Our genetic background plays a role in the way we face environmental changes and adapt our behavior adequately to the requirements of everyday life. The present research focuses on the role of three genes related to dopamine (DA) transmission on relevant cognitive processes, such as shifting attention when required by the environmental demands or processing of unexpected but potentially relevant events. Prefrontal cortex (PFC) and striatum dopamine activity seem to play different roles in attentional processing and interact to regulate stability and flexible update of context information. Therefore, we studied the action of genes regulating PFC dopamine action (i.e., Catechol-O-Methyltransferase; COMT), reuptake of dopamine diffused on extrasynaptic striatal space (i.e., Dopamine Transporter; DAT) and the concentration of D2-type dopamine receptors (i.e., dopamine D2 receptors; DRD2).

The results of these studies provide evidence for a relevant role of COMT, DAT1 and DRD2 genes in cognitive processes, which helps to understand cognitive disruption associated to dopamine dysregulation in psychiatric disorders.
Els nostres gens juguen un rol important en la manera que enfrontem els canvis de l'ambient i adaptem la nostre conducta adequadament. El present treball de recerca se centra en el paper de tres gens relacionats amb la dopamina (DA) sobre processos cognitius, com el canvi de l'atenció quan és requerit per les demandes ambientals o el processament d'esdeveniments inesperats però potencialment rellevants. L'activitat dopaminèrgica al còrtex prefrontal (PFC) i a l'estriat semblen jugar papers diferents en el processament atencional i interaccionen per a regular l'estabilitat i flexibilitat de l'actualització de la informació contextual. Per això, vam estudiar l'acció de gens que regulaven l'acció de la dopamina del PFC (i.e. Catechol-O-Methyltransferase; COMT), la resposta de dopamina difosa en l'espai extrasinàptic estriatal (i.e. Transportador de Dopamina; DAT) i la concentració de receptors de dopamina de tipus D2 (i.e. receptors D2 de dopamina; DRD2).

Els participants amb diversos al·lels dels gens estudiats van realitzar dues versions diferents d'un paradigma de distracció auditiu visual, en el qual se'ls demanava que ignoressin tons estàndards freqüents i sons ambientals nous rars que precedien els objectius pertinents de la tasca. En dos estudis, vam manipular l'efecte d'un context emocional sobre el processament d'esdeveniments nous inesperats, donada la potencial rellevància d'un esdeveniment nou durant una situació d'amenaça en la qual pot ser nociu. En tres estudis, els participants amb al·lels diferents o combinacions d'al·lels van realitzar un paradigma de commutació de tasca, en el qual l'actualització d'informació sensorial i de tasca es podria dissociar. Al llarg dels sis estudis, se van emprar mesures conductuals i electrofisiològiques enregistrades al cuir cabellut, com els anàlisis de l'electroencefalograma (EEG) al domini del temps promitjant els potencials cerebrals relacionats a esdeveniments (ERP), i l'activitat oscil·latòria cerebral al domini temps- freqüència.

Tres estudis van mostrar el paper del gen del DAT en el control cognitiu de l'atenció, suggerint així la pertinència de la DA estriatal en la flexibilitat cognitiva. Els nostres resultats suggereixen un processament independent del context dels canvis sensorials per la reconfiguració del set de la tasca en individus amb l'al·lel de 9 repeticions de DAT (9R+) relacionats amb una major disponibilitat de dopamina estriatal. Tanmateix, aquests individus van mostrar una detecció primerenca de la rellevància per la tasca dels canvis sensorials. El gen del DAT regulava la modulació del processament de la novetat per un context emocional. Els individus 9R+ van mostrar una resposta cerebral més gran als estimuls novedosos.

Dos estudis van mostrar el paper de la interacció dels gens de la COMT i del DRD2 sobre processos atencionals. S'ha suggerit que els individus amb l'al·lel de COMT Val i l'al·lel de DRD2 A1 (A1+) i COMT Met sense l'al·lel de DRD2 A1 (A1-) mostren una interacció equilibrada de dopamina prefrontal i estriatal. Aquests grups van mostrar distracció conductual, mentre que els individus ValA1- i els individus MetA1+ no van ser distrets per sons nous en un paradigma de distracció visual auditiu. Els grups, tanmateix, no-distrets resultaven processar esdeveniments nous a través de la restauracio d'activitat neuronal a 40 Hz. A més, aquells amb una interacció equilibrada semblaven tornar a configurar la informació de la tasca quan era necessari, mentre que aquells amb dopamina PFC o estriatal extremes tornarien a configurar el set de la tasca després de cada canvi sensorial.

Els resultats dels estudis de la tesi proporcionen una evidència del paper rellevant dels gens de la COMT, el DAT1 i el DRD2 en processos cognitius, i ajuden a entendre els dèficits cognitius associats a la disregulació de la dopamina en trastorns psiquiàtrics.

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A identificação de transientes numa central nuclear é freqüentemente uma tarefa muito difícil e, normalmente, depende, basicamente, da cognição humana. A identificação precoce dos desvios inesperados nos comportamentos com estado estacionário é um passo essencial para a operação, controle e gestão de acidentes em centrais nucleares. As bases para a identificação estão na percepção de que diferentes falhas e anomalias no sistema conduzem a distintos padrões evolutivos nas variáveis envolvidas no processo. Durante um evento anormal, o operador deve controlar uma grande quantidade de informação a partir dos instrumentos, próprios a cada tipo específico de evento. Contudo, diversos modelos baseados em sistemas especialistas, redes neurais e lógica fuzzy estão sendo desenvolvidos para a identificação de transientes. No presente trabalho, a investigação centra-se na possibilidade de se utilizar uma ferramenta de modelagem Neuro-Fuzzy para uma eficiente identificação de transientes, com o objetivo de auxiliar o operador a tomar decisões em relação ao procedimento a ser seguido em situações de acidentes / transientes em centrais nucleares. O sistema proposto utiliza redes neurais artificiais (RNA), como primeiro nível de diagnóstico. A partir da identificação de transientes preliminar desenvolvida pela RNA, o sistema de lógica fuzzy analisa os resultados, emitindo importante grau de confiabilidade. Uma avaliação preliminar do sistema desenvolvido foi feita no Laboratório de Interface Homem-Sistema (LABIHS).
Transient identification in Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is often a very hard task and may involve a great amount of human cognition. The early identification of unexpected departures from steady state behavior is an essential step for the operation, control and accident management in NPPs. The bases for the transient identification relay on the evidence that different system faults and anomalies lead to different pattern evolution in the involved process variables. During an abnormal event, the operator must monitor a great amount of information from the instruments that represents a specific type of event. Several systems based on specialist systems, neural-networks, and fuzzy logic have been developed for transient identification. In the work, we investigate the possibility of using a Neuro-Fuzzy modeling tool for efficient transient identification, aiming to helping the operator crew to take decisions relative to the procedure to be followed in situations of accidents/transients at NPPs. The proposed system uses artificial neural networks (ANN) as first level transient diagnostic. After the ANN has done the preliminary transient type identification, a fuzzy-logic system analyzes the results emitting reliability degree of it. A preliminary evaluation of the developed system was made at the Human-System Interface Laboratory (LABIHS). The obtained results show that the system can help the operators to take decisions during transients/accidents in the plant.

Cette thèse s’inscrit dans l’interrogation suivante : « Quels sont les processus cognitifs en jeu dans les jugements de risque de conflit émis par des contrôleurs aériens ? ». Pour répondre à cette question nous avons étudié les jugements de risque de conflits entre deux avions émis par des contrôleurs experts en suivant l'approche de la lentille de Brunswik (1952) et celle du modèle de l'intégration de l'information d'Anderson (1996). L'application de ces deux modèles aux jugements de risque nous a permis d'identifier certains éléments qui ont un rôle majeur dans l'élaboration des jugements et de spécifier les règles d'intégration qui les régissent. Cette application se décline dans trois études empiriques : la première porte sur des jugements de risque émis par des contrôleurs aériens experts et des étudiants du contrôle aérien. Dans cette étude nous proposons un modèle du jugement à trois variables. La deuxième étude est une mise à l'épreuve de ce modèle et une analyse des règles d'intégration de l'information. La dernière étude intègre plusieurs éléments déterminants dans l'élaboration des jugements. Nous démontrons qu'il est primordial d'adopter une approche intégrant les différences individuelles pour étudier les jugements des contrôleurs aériens. Ces résultats pourraient être utilisés pour le développement d'outils d'aide à la décision et pour améliorer les programmes de formation
The main interrogation of this thesis is: “What are the cognitive processes involved in judgments of potential conflict given by air traffic controllers? “. To answer this question we investigated the risk judgments about conflict between two aircraft given by expert and novice air traffic controllers following the approach of the lens of Brunswik (1952) and the model of integrating information of Anderson (1996). The application of these two models to the risk judgments allow us to identify particular components that have a major role in shaping judgments and specify the rules governing integration. This application is developed across three empirical studies: the first relates to risk judgments issued by air traffic controllers' experts and students. In this study we propose a model of risk judgments based on three variables. The second study is a test of the proposed model and an analysis of the rules of integrating information. And the last study incorporates several elements in shaping judgments. We demonstrate that it is crucial to adopt an individual differences approach to study judgments by air traffic controllers. Also, these findings should have implications for developing user-friendly interfaces with conflict detection devices and for devising ATC training programs

La schizophrénie est caractérisée par un ensemble de symptômes positifs et négatifs ainsi que par des déficits cognitifs dont les éléments les plus handicapants sont les troubles mnésiques. La métamémoire, qui est la connaissance sur la mémoire, est un champ d’investigation prometteur pour la compréhension et la remédiation de ce trouble. La métamémoire est composée d’un processus évaluatif et d’un processus de régulation du comportement qui sont en interaction. Les études précédentes ont montré que l’évaluation serait préservée dans la schizophrénie alors que la régulation serait déficitaire. Cependant, les relations entre ces processus n’ont pas été examinées alors qu’elles pourraient permettre decompenser le déficit mnésique. Les objectifs de ce travail étaient donc d’une part, d’observer ces relations entre évaluation et régulation dans la schizophrénie, ainsi que les ressources cognitives liées à ces processus. D’autre part, afin d’étendre les connaissances fondamentales sur la métamémoire, nous souhaitions observer l’utilisation de différents types de matériels etde stratégies d’apprentissage chez des participants sains. Les deux premières expériences ont permis de montrer que les patients schizophrènes étaient capables d’utiliser l’évaluation de leur apprentissage pour adapter leur stratégie de mémorisation et que leurs déficits en mémoire étaient liés à d’autres fonctions cognitives. Les cinq expériences suivantes ont confirmé que les participants sains ne prenaient pas en compte de la même manière les caractéristiques intrinsèques et extrinsèques du matériel dans leurs jugements et leurs stratégies. Ces données sont discutées et indiquent que davantage de recherches sur la métamémoire dans la schizophrénie seraient d’un grand intérêt pour la prise en charge des troubles mnésiques de ces patients
Schizophrenia is characterized by a range of positive and negative symptoms and bycognitive deficits including the most disabling one, memory. Metamemory, which is knowledge about memory is of particular interest for the understanding and remediation of this trouble. It involves a monitoring and a control process, which would be in interaction.Previous studies have shown that monitoring is spared whereas control is impaired. However,these relations between these processes have not been examined whereas they could compensate for memory deficit. The aims of this work were to observe these relations between monitoring and control in schizophrenia and cognitive resources linked to these processes on the one hand. On the other hand, we wished to observe the use of different kinds of materials and learning strategies in healthy participants to get better fundamental knowledge about metamemory. Two experiments showed that patients were able to use monitoring to adapt their learning strategy and also that their memory deficits were linked too ther cognitive functions. Five following experiments confirmed that healthy participants do not use intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics of the materials in the same way when makin gjudgments and using strategies. These data are discussed and point out that more research about metamemory in schizophrenia is of interest for the remediation of memory deficits inschizophrenia patients

L’évolution des technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) a permis le développement du travail collaboratif dans quasiment tous les secteurs de l’activité humaine. Pour assurer la performance du collectif et minimiser le risque d’erreurs, il est crucial que les individus qui collaborent partagent une même représentation de la situation dans laquelle ils sont engagés. Ceci est d’autant plus vrai en situation de crise militaire, comme il en existe au sein des structures de commandement et contrôle d’opérations (C2).Dans un environnement marqué par la complexité grandissante des conflits, l’enjeu est aujourd’hui à la fois scientifique et hautement applicatif. L’avancée de l’étude de la cognition collective, cœur du travail collaboratif, est porteuse d’un potentiel certain qui doit se traduire par des applications concrètes au service de l’optimisation de la gestion et de la réalisation des tâches collectives. L’évaluation en temps réel de la cognition des individus et des équipes permet d’envisager des outils et des systèmes adaptatifs pour gagner en efficacité, en performance et en agilité. Face à ces enjeux, notre objectif, sur commande de la DGA, est de trouver des mesures appropriées qui permettraient une évaluation de la dynamique du partage des consciences de situation, dans le contexte très contraignant des salles de commandement et de contrôle, qui nécessite la plus faible instrumentation possible des opérateurs.Notre contribution au domaine est double. D’une part nous proposons le concept de synchronie des consciences de situation, pour soutenir le développement théorique de l’étude de la dynamique de partage de conscience de situation. D’autre part nous mettons en évidence l’importance d’adopter une méthodologie d’ingénierie cognitique, dans une perspective de transposition des connaissances de laboratoire à une situation d’application complexe, s’apparentant autant que possible à l’environnement réel de prise de décision en C2.Notre travail a alors consisté à explorer des mesures quantitatives du partage de conscience de situation, adaptées à l’exploitation automatisée et en temps réel par un système de diagnostic de la cognition collective. Nous avons mis en pratique l’utilisation du monitoring psychophysiologique et comportemental d’opérateurs engagés dans une tache (individuelle, puis collective) de C2, pour évaluer leur partage de conscience de situation, par l’utilisation de la pupillométrie par oculomètre (eye tracker).Ces études, nous ont amenés à mesurer la sensibilité du monitoring à la dynamique des consciences de situation des opérateurs et à leur partage en environnement écologique.Ce travail de doctorat se présente comme une mise en avant de l’intérêt et de l’applicabilité de systèmes d’évaluation du partage de cognition en environnement de travail collaboratif réaliste, et s’accompagne de propositions concernant le futur de la recherche sur le C2
Advances in information and communication technologies has enabled the development of collaborative work in almost all sectors of human activity. To ensure the performance of the group and minimize the risk of errors, it is crucial that the team members share a common understanding of the situation in which they are involved. This is particularly true in military crisis situations, such as those that exist within command and control (C2) structures.Within an environment characterized by the growing complexity of conflicts, the challenge today is both scientific and highly applicative. Progress in the study of collective cognition, the heart of collaborative work, has a clear potential that must be translated into tangible applications to optimize the management and execution of collective tasks. Real-time evaluation of the cognition of individuals and teams allows to envisage adaptive tools and systems to improve efficiency, performance and agility.In light of these challenges, our objective, commissioned by the DGA, is to find appropriate measures that would enable an assessment of the dynamics of the sharing of situational awareness, in the very constraining context of command and control room operations, which require the lowest possible level of instrumentation of operators.Our contribution to the field has been dual. We have proposed the concept of situation awareness synchrony to support the theoretical development of the study of the dynamics of situation awareness sharing. In addition, we have highlighted the importance of adopting a cognitive engineering methodology, in the perspective of transposing laboratory knowledge to a more complex application environments.Thus, our work consisted in exploring quantitative measures of shared situational awareness, suitable for automated and real-time exploitation by a collective cognition diagnostic system. We applied psychophysiological and behavioural monitoring of operators engaged in a C2 task (individual, then collective), to evaluate their shared situation awareness, using eye tracker pupillometry.These studies have led us to analyze the sensitivity of this monitoring to the dynamics of the operators' situational awareness and its sharing in an ecological environment.This doctoral work is presented as a demonstration of the interest and applicability of shared cognition evaluation systems in realistic collaborative work environments, and is supported by proposals concerning the future of research on C2

Le modele propose une interpretation des donnees accumulees jusqu'ici dans le domaine du retard mental. L'analyse critique des principales theories du retard mental revele que leurs oppositions (retard deficit structural deficit metacognitif) tiennent a une confusion des niveaux de causalite et signale leurs complementarites. Un ensemble d'experiences d'apprentissage de structures cognitives conduites par l'auteur permettent de reorganiser les donnees precedentes en precisant les relations entre les caracteristiques du fonctionnement cognitif spontane et le developpement intellectuel ainsi que les interactions entre motivation et efficience. En accordant une place importante aux processus de controle, cognitifs et non cognitifs : le modele caracterise le retard mental par : l'eventualite d'un deficit de base des systemes perceptifs, mnesique et energetique, un sous-fonctionnement cognitif chronique, des phenomenes de fixation dans le developpement des connaissances logico-mathematiques, des phenomenes de discordance prononcee dans l'acquisition et le developpement des connaissances de nature metacognitive et une carence de l'experience de la maitrise des processus de controle. Les implications educatives du modele sont envisagees
The model gives a reinterpretation of data acquired until now about mental retardation. A critical analysis of the leading theories reveals that their contradictions (development vs. Difference, structural vs. Metacognitive deficit) lie in a confusion between the different levels of causality and shows their complementarities. A set of experiments conducted by the author, allows to reorganize the previous data by specifying relationships between spontaneous cognitive functionning and intellectual development on one hand interactions between motivation and cognitive efficiency on the other hand. By stressing control processes, cognitive as well as non cognitive, the model specifies mental retardation as : a possible deficit of perceptive, mnesic and energetic systems, a chronic functionning deficit, fixations of logico-mathematical knowledge, pronounced discordances in the metacognitive development and a lack of mastery of control processes experience. Educational implications are discussed

La conception d’interface écologique se décompose en deux étapes, une analyse du domaine de travail et une retranscription des informations du domaine en des représentations écologiques (Naikar, 2010). Ce type de conception a montré son efficacité pour la supervision de système complexe (Burns, 2008). Cependant, Vicente (2002) a pointé deux lacunes le temps de conceptions très long et la difficulté à transcrire de manière formalisée un domaine de travail en des représentations écologiques. De même, il n’existe pas d’outil formel de validation de domaine de travail. Dans ce manuscrit, nous proposons plusieurs réponses à la question : comment formaliser la conception d’une interface écologique, afin de réduire le temps et les efforts liés à la conception ? La première proposition est un outil de vérification de modèle de domaine de travail basé sur la méthode TMTA (Morineau, 2010). La seconde apporte, au travers d’une deuxième version du flot Anaxagore (Bignon, 2012), une intégration des travaux de Liu et al (2002) avec le principe d’une bibliothèque de widgets écologiques associée à un schéma d’entrées de haut niveau. Sur la base du domaine de travail d’un système d’eau douce sanitaire à bord d’un navire, une interface écologique a été implémentée et validée expérimentalement. Cette interface a été comparée à une interface conventionnelle générée également par le flot Anaxagore. Les résultats montrent que les interfaces écologiques favorisent un plus grand nombre de parcours cohérents dans un domaine de travail. Elles favorisent également une meilleure précision du diagnostic pour les opérateurs utilisant les interfaces écologiques
The ecological interface design is composed of two steps, a work domain analysis and a transcription of the information of the work domain into ecological representation (Naikar, 2010). This kind of design showed his effectiveness for the supervision of complex system (Burns, 2008). Nevertheless, Vicente (2002) highlighted two issues, the long design time and the difficulties to translate with a formal way a work domain into ecological representation. Moreover, he doesn’t exist a formal tool of validation for a work domain. Several tools and works allow to be comfortable in the possibility to find some solution (Functional methodology (Liu et al, 2002), TMTA (Morineau, 2010) and Anaxagore (Bignon, 2012). We propose several answers at the issue: how formalize the design of an ecological interface in order to reduce the time and effort linked to the design? The first proposition is a tool of verification of model of work domain based on a simulation by TMTA. The second bring thanks to a second version of the Anaxagore flow, an integration of the works of Liu et al (2002) with the principle of the ecological library of ecological widget linked to a scheme of input of high level. Based on the work domain of a fresh water system in a ship, an ecological interface has been implemented and validated experimentally. This interface has been compared with a conventional interface also generated by Anaxagore. The results show that the ecological interface promotes a biggest numbers of coherent ways in the work domain. This kind of interface also promotes a better accuracy of the diagnostic for the operators using the ecological interface

One of the factors significantly influencing our daily decisions is the so-called cognitive depletion.The theory of cognitive depletion postulates the existence of a limited mental resource that is necessary for self-regulation. If the resource is diminished by a task involving self-control, achievement in subsequent self-control task will be impaired. This project examines the effect of cognitive depletion on decisions in the Iowa Gambling Task designed to simulate real-life decision making involving gains and losses. Further, a possible effect of moderating factors that could be affected by cognitive depletion and consequently influence decisions in the Iowa Gambling Task -- risk preference and impulsivity -- is investigated. Dual-process theories postulate there are two systems involved in decision-making: faster, intuitive, emotional System 1 and slower, deliberative, rational System 2. It was found that cognitive depletion leads to enhancement of System 1. As advantageous decisions in the Iowa Gambling Task are closely related to emotional reactions -- domain of System 1 -- it was hypothesized that cognitive depletion will lead to not worse, or possibly even better results in depleted subjects. A controlled laboratory experiment was conducted involving 39 subjects in total. No difference was found in average desicions of depleted and non-depleted subjects in the Iowa Gambling Task, supporting the hypothesis. Further, short-term increase in impulsivity caused by cognitive depletion was very probably moderating choices in the IGT, leading to worse overall performance. Regarding risk preferences, we found that non-depleted subjects were generally more risk seeking in losses context, while depleted subjects exhibited rather loss aversion. This change in risk behaviors due to cognitive depletion very probably did not mediate choices in the Iowa Gambling Task.