Дисертації з теми "Cognitive processe"

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A presente pesquisa procura elencar os estudos da tradução relacionando-os aos campos da psicologia, antropologia, biologia, linguística cognitiva e literatura. Nosso objetivo é o de demonstrar a relação que existe entre a teoria do protótipo e a tradução. Ao início, explicitamos as correntes teóricas que versam sobre aquisição e aprendizagem de primeira e segunda línguas, bilinguismo, formação do tradutor, tipos de tradução, competências linguísticas relacionadas à tradução. O texto aborda e relaciona os processos psicológicos cognitivos ao ato de traduzir: introspecção, percepção, abstração, memória, pensamento, conceptualização. Apresentamos os papéis do efeito prototípico e da equivalência tradutiva, relacionando-os e conceituando-os, concluindo que há níveis de equivalência mais ou menos aceitáveis (efeito de gradiência/ prototípico) segundo o julgamento do tradutor e que há traços invariáveis (protótipos) que são percebidos e perpetuados por leitores e tradutores. Para corroborar a hipótese, analisamos textos traduzidos, buscando o efeito e a presença do protótipo e concluímos que este é o de maior ocorrência, o que reflete a rede de construções conceituais que norteia os processos de pensamento e de memória do tradutor.
This research attempts to relate translation studies to psychology, anthropology, biology, cognitive linguistics and literature. Our objective is to demonstrate the relationship between the theory of prototype and translation. To do so, we discuss the current theoretical focus on the acquisition and learning of the first and second languages, bilingualism, the training of the translator, types of translation, and the linguistic competence related to translation. We also present the psychological cognitive processes in the act of translate: introspection, perception, abstraction, memory, thought, conceptualizing. We present the role of the prototype effect and of equivalence in translation, relating them and evaluating them, concluding that there are levels of equivalence more or less acceptable (gradient effect / prototypical) according to the judgment of the translator and that there are invariable lines (prototypes) that are perceived and perpetuated by readers and translators. So as to corroborate with the hypothesis, we analyze translated texts, seeking the effect and the presence of the prototype and we conclude that the basic level is of the highest occurrence, and reflects the net of constructions that guide the translator’s thought and memory.

La psicomotricitat s’ha anat construint, des de les aportacions de la medicina i la neuropsicologia, com una disciplina que busca crear un entorn adient per atendre als infants dins d’un espai que afavoreix l’acompanyament del seu itinerari maduratiu des de la vivència del seu cos i des del moviment. Amb independència de les línies d’abordatge i del camp concret d’actuació, són moltes i molt variades les contribucions a partir de les quals s’ha anat construint aquesta disciplina (Lapierre (1977); Aucouturier (1977); Muniáin (1977); Le Bouch (1984); Franc (1993); Berruezo (2000); Arnaiz et al., (2001); Serrabona (2002); Martínez-Mínguez et al., (2017)). Per la seva vinculació amb aquesta Tesi, hem cregut necessari centrar-nos en les aportacions de Lapierre i Aucouturier (1985). Aquests autors han destacat la importància de l’acompanyament i la consideració de la dimensió afectiva i fantasmàtica de l’infant en les sessions de psicomotricitat, proporcionant, d’aquesta manera, un dispositiu mitjançant el qual l’adult articula estratègies pedagògiques respecte a aquesta intervenció en l’àmbit educatiu. Tanmateix, és l’obra d’Aucouturier (2004) la que ens ha servit com a marc específic del nostre treball. Efectivament, és dins la Pràctica Psicomotriu d’Aucoutourier (PPA) que s’ha situat la nostra recerca. Concretament, hem volgut explorar la correlació existent entre la fase de representació, entesa com el moment en el qual es mobilitzen les emocions i els afectes, i la millora dels processos cognitius en infants de tres anys. D’altra banda, el doble paper de l’autora (com a psicomotricista i com a investigadora) ens va fer optar pel paradigma ecològic per a la recerca sobre la pròpia pràctica, en un intent d’explorar els efectes reals de la pràctica educativa tal com succeeix a la sala de psicomotricitat. Així, es va optar per situar la recerca en el centre a on exercia com a psicomotricista l’autora (una escola concertada del centre de Barcelona). Més concretament, el programa de psicomotricitat del nivell de P3 durant el curs 2017-2018 va ser l’escenari a on es va aplicar un disseny quasiexperimental en el que cadascun dels tres grups classe (A, B i C) va constituir-se com a grup experimental independent, segons el criteri que s’explica més endavant. A partir d’aquí, a l’inici del curs (i fent funcions de pretest) es va passar la Bateria Cognitiva del Test de Merrill-Palmer, que es va repetir (com a posttest) al final del període docent. Durant les dinou setmanes que van separar aquests dos moments, es va desenvolupar el programa d’intervenció, que consistia en la aplicació del programa de psicomotricitat pels tres grups. Aquest programa es va desenvolupar de manera idèntica, amb l’excepció de la freqüència amb la qual es va dur a terme la fase de representació: 0%, 50% i 100% als grups A, B i C respectivament. De manera paral·lela i per poder disposar de dades qualitatives, es va dur a terme una bitàcola de representacions que va recollir i organitzar tots els productes realitzats durant les fases de representació. Igualment, i per tal de tenir constància del desenvolupament de les sessions i dels incidents crítics que es poguessin haver generat, es va elaborar un diari de sessions. Els resultats obtinguts mitjançant els diferents instruments semblen indicar que una freqüència del 100% en la realització de la representació a les sessions de psicomotricitat, ha tingut efectes positius, tant sobre bona part dels processos cognitius, com sobre la qualitat de les representacions fetes i el seu grau de correspondència amb la realitat.
La psicomotricidad se ha ido construyendo, desde las aportaciones de la medicina y la neuropsicología, como una disciplina que busca crear un entorno adecuado para atender a los niños dentro de un espacio que favorece el acompañamiento de su itinerario madurativo desde la vivencia de su cuerpo y desde el movimiento. Con independencia de las líneas de abordaje y del campo concreto de actuación, son muchas y muy variadas las contribuciones a partir de las que se ha ido construyendo esta disciplina (Lapierre (1977); Aucouturier (1977); Muniáin (1977) ; Le Bouch (1984); Franco (1993); Berruezo (2000); Arnaiz et al., (2001); Serrabona (2002); Martínez-Mínguez et al., (2017)). Por su vinculación a esta Tesis, hemos creído necesario centrarnos en las aportaciones de Lapierre y Aucouturier (1985). Estos autores han destacado la importancia del acompañamiento y la consideración de la dimensión afectiva y fantasmática del niño en las sesiones de psicomotricidad, proporcionando, de esta manera, un dispositivo mediante el cual el adulto articula estrategias pedagógicas respecto a esta intervención en el ámbito educativo. Sin embargo, es la obra de Aucouturier (2004) la que nos ha servido como marco específico de nuestro trabajo. Efectivamente, es en la Práctica Psicomotriz de Aucoutourier (PPA) que se ha situado nuestra investigación. Concretamente, hemos querido explorar la correlación existente entre la fase de representación, entendida como el momento en el que se movilizan las emociones y los afectos, y la mejora de los procesos cognitivos en niños de tres años. Por otro lado, el doble papel de la autora (como psicomotricista y como investigadora) nos hizo optar por el paradigma ecológico para la investigación sobre la propia práctica, en un intento de explorar los efectos reales de la práctica educativa tal como sucede en la sala de psicomotricidad. Así, se optó por situar la investigación en el centro dónde ejercía como psicomotricista la autora (una escuela concertada del centro de Barcelona). Más concretamente, el programa de psicomotricidad del nivel de P3 durante el curso 2017 hasta 2018 fue el escenario donde se aplicó un diseño cuasiexperimental en el que cada uno de los tres grupos clase (A, B y C) se constituyó como grupo experimental independiente, según el criterio que se explica más adelante. A partir de aquí, al inicio del curso (y haciendo funciones de pre-test) se pasó la Batería Cognitiva del Test de Merrill-Palmer, que se repitió (como post-test) al final del periodo docente. Durante las diecinueve semanas que separar estos dos momentos, se desarrolló el programa de intervención, que consistía en la aplicación del programa de psicomotricidad para los tres grupos. Este programa se desarrolló de manera idéntica, con la excepción de la frecuencia con la que se llevó a cabo la fase de representación: 0%, 50% y 100% a los grupos A, B y C respectivamente. De manera paralela y para poder disponer de datos cualitativos, se llevó a cabo una bitácora de representaciones en la que se recogió y se organizaron todos los productos realizados durante las fases de representación. Igualmente, y para tener constancia del desarrollo de las sesiones y los incidentes críticos que pudieran haberse generado, se elaboró un diario de sesiones. Los resultados obtenidos mediante los diferentes instrumentos parecen indicar que una frecuencia del 100% en la realización de la representación en las sesiones de psicomotricidad, ha tenido efectos positivos, tanto sobre buena parte de los procesos cognitivos, como sobre la calidad de las representaciones hechas y el su grado de correspondencia con la realidad.
Psychomotricity has been built, from the contributions of medicine and neuropsychology, as a discipline that seeks to create a suitable environment to care for children within a space that favors the accompaniment of their journey of maturity from the experience of their body and movement. Independently of the lines of approach and the specific field of action, there are many and very varied contributions from which this discipline has been built (Lapierre (1977); Aucouturier (1977); Muniáin (1977) ; Le Bouch (1984); Franco (1993); Berruezo (2000); Arnaiz et al., (2001); Serrabona (2002); Martínez-Minguez et al., (2017)). Because of their link to this Thesis, we have thought necessary to focus on the contributions of Lapierre and Aucouturier (1985). These authors have highlighted the importance of accompaniment and the consideration of the affective and phantasmatic dimension of the child in psychomotricity sessions, providing, in this way, a device through which the adult articulates pedagogical strategies with respect to this intervention in the educational field. However, it is the work of Aucouturier (2004) that has served as the specific framework for our work. Indeed, it is in Aucoutourier’s Psychomotor Practice (PPA) that our research has been situated. Specifically, we wanted to explore the correlation between the representation phase, understood as the moment when emotions and affects are mobilised, and the improvement of cognitive processes in three-year-old children. On the other hand, the author’s double role (as a psychomotorist and as a researcher) made us opt for the ecological paradigm for researching practice itself, in an attempt to explore the real effects of educational practice as it happens in the psychomotor room. Thus, we chose to situate the research in the centre where the author worked as a psychomotricist (a state-subsidised school in the centre of Barcelona). More specifically, the psychomotricity programme at P3 level during the 2017 to 2018 academic year was the setting where a quasi-experimental design was applied in which each of the three class groups (A, B and C) was constituted as an independent experimental group, according to the criteria explained below. From here, at the beginning of the course (and doing pre-test functions) the Cognitive Battery of the Merrill-Palmer Test was passed, which was repeated (as a post-test) at the end of the teaching period. During the nineteen weeks that separate these two moments, the intervention programme was developed, which consisted of the application of the Psychomotricity programme for the three groups. This programme was developed in an identical way, with the exception of the frequency with which the representation phase was carried out: 0%, 50% and 100% to groups A, B and C respectively. In parallel and in order to have qualitative data, a representation log was carried out in which all the products made during the representation phases were collected and organized. Likewise, and in order to have a record of the development of the sessions and the critical incidents that may have been generated, a session diary was drawn up. The results obtained by means of the different instruments seem to indicate that a frequency of 100% in the performance of the representation in the psychomotricity sessions has had positive effects, both on a good part of the cognitive processes, as well as on the quality of the representations made and their degree of correspondence with reality.

The main aim of the thesis was to investigate the nature of the cognitive mechanisms which underlie performance on specific visuo-spatial working memory tasks, with the emphasis on exploring the extent of central executive involvement. This research began with an attempt to investigate performance on two standard visual and spatial tasks in a small sample of mild-to-moderate AD patients, and compare this with performance on two adapted versions of the tasks (Experiments 1 & 2). The tasks were adapted to increase the ecological validity, but this adaptation appeared to alter the demands of the tasks, which prevented their further investigation as useful alternatives. The following experiments concentrated on investigating visual and spatial working memory in healthy populations. Experiments 3, 4, 5 and 6 employed a dual-task paradigm, whereby specific visual and spatial working memory tasks were combined with tasks assumed to involve executive processes. Experiments 3, 4 and 5 employed oral random digit generation as an executive task. The results of Experiments 3 and 5 indicated that visuo-spatial tasks which involve sequential processing show more interference with random digit generation than visuo-spatial tasks which involve simultaneous processing. The findings of Experiment 4 suggested that, when both item and order information are presented (i.e. with sequential presentation), subsequent recall or visuo-spatial material is attention demanding regardless of whether item only, order only, or both item and order information are required in response. These findings appear to indicate that visuo-spatial tasks which involve sequential processing require executive resources to a greater extent than visuo-spatial tasks which involve simultaneous processing. However, oral random generation is a sequential task, and requires the maintenance of serial order (in order to produce a random sequence). Therefore an alternative interpretation could be that the sequential nature of the oral random generation task gave rise to the pattern of selective impairment on sequential visuo-spatial tasks, rather than more general executive load.

L’objectif de ce travail était d’identifier certains des déterminants perceptivo-cognitfs et/ou perceptivo-moteurs de l’expertise dans les sports de balle dans des environnements virtuels. Des joueurs de tennis et de basket avec différents niveaux d’expertise ont été testés au cours d’une première partie expérimentale comportant deux études de jugements perceptivo-cognitifs et une étude de poursuite visuo-manuelle. Les résultats n’ont pas montré de différence liée à l’expertise dans les tâches de jugements perceptivo-cognitifs, mais seulement dans la tâche de poursuite visuo-manuelle. Ce résultat questionne sur le rôle des représentations (ou des modèles internes) dans le développement de l’expertise et met en avant l’importance des régulations perceptivo-motrices pour discriminer l’expertise. Sur la base de ces résultats et afin d’explorer davantage l’expertise dans le registre perceptivo-moteur, une seconde partie expérimentale comportant trois expérimentations a été réalisée en utilisant des tâches de poursuite visuo-manuelle. Les résultats révèlent des capacités d’adaptation et de régulation du mouvement supérieures des experts particulièrement dans les situations où les trajectoires sont peu prévisibles. Les résultats obtenus au cours de cette thèse permettent en définitive de mettre en évidence que les tâches de poursuite visuo-manuelle aussi schématiques soient-elles, sont discriminantes de l’expertise en sport de balle. Ils soulignent des perspectives de développement des environnements virtuels pour tester et entraîner les experts dans le registre perceptivo-moteur
The aim of this thesis is to identify the perceptual-cognitive and perceptual-motor determinants of expertise in ball sports in virtual environments. Tennis and basketball players with different levels of expertise were tested. To this purpose, the first experimental part contained two perceptual judgment studies and a visuomotor tracking study. Results did not show any difference between experts and non-experts in perceptual judgment tasks, but only in the visuomotor tracking task. Results raise some questions about the role of representations (or internal models) in the development of expertise. Results highlight the importance of perceptual-motor regulations to discriminate expertise. In order to explore more deeply the perceptual-motor process of expertise, a second experimental part involving three experiments was performed using visuomotor tracking tasks. Results reveal higher adaptation and regulation abilities of experts, particularly in the most constraint periods of tracking. This finding highlights that the visuomotor tracking tasks can discriminate expertise in ball sports. The present thesis reveals the potential of virtual environments to test and train perceptual-motor processes of experts

A co-ocorrência entre as dificuldades na leitura e na matemática é freqüente indicando que processos cognitivos comuns subjacentes a tais dificuldades possam estar deficitários. Este estudo procurou compreender e identificar as relações entre as dificuldades na leitura e na matemática em 79 alunos brasileiros do 3º ao 6º ano do Ensino Fundamental. Os alunos foram divididos em quatro grupos: com dificuldades na leitura (DL), com dificuldades na matemática (DM), com dificuldades nas duas áreas (DLM) e sem dificuldades (controle). Avaliamos o perfil cognitivo dos grupos por meio de tarefas que envolveram: processamento fonológico (memória fonológica de dígitos, frases e relatos, consciência fonológica e velocidade de processamento), senso numérico, memória de trabalho (componente executivo central), e estratégias de contagem e de recuperação da memória. O grupo de alunos com dificuldades na leitura e na matemática evidenciou problemas que abrangem o processamento fonológico, o senso numérico e o componente executivo central da memória de trabalho. Tal resultado sugere que todas estas habilidades desempenham um importante papel no aprendizado eficiente da leitura e da matemática. Os alunos com DL apresentaram baixo desempenho nas tarefas de consciência fonológica e velocidade de processamento de letras, e números e letras. Os alunos com DM mostraram desempenho significativamente inferior na tarefa de memória de relatos e de recuperação de fatos da memória. Este grupo utilizou estratégias de contagem imaturas, mas não evidenciou dificuldades com o senso numérico, como foi previsto. O estudo indica que a Teoria dos Dois Fatores oferece uma importante contribuição para se compreender a coexistência de dificuldades na leitura e na matemática. No entanto, em concordância com Hopkins e Lawson (2006), nossos resultados sugerem um avanço na teoria, fornecendo papel de destaque à velocidade de processamento. Os resultados do estudo oferecem uma importante implicação educacional: a necessidade de se incluir, ao longo do Ensino Fundamental, tarefas escolares voltadas para o desenvolvimento do processamento fonológico e do senso numérico, habilidades estas ainda pouco conhecidas pela escola brasileira.
The co-occurrence between the difficulties in reading and mathematics is frequent, indicating that common cognitive processes underlying these difficulties may be impaired. This study sought to understand and identify the relationship between the difficulties in reading and mathematics in 79 Brazilian students from the 3rd to the 6th year of elementary school. The students were divided into four groups: difficulties in reading (RD), difficulties in mathematics (MD), difficulties in both areas (MD-RD) and the ones without difficulties (control). We assessed the cognitive profile of the groups by means of tasks involving: phonological processing (phonological memory of digits, sentences and short stories, phonological awareness and processing speed), number sense, working memory (central executive component), counting strategies and arithmetic fact retrieval. Students with difficulties in reading and mathematics showed problems that range from phonological processing to number sense and working memory tasks. Such a result suggests that all these abilities play an important role in efficient learning in reading and mathematics. Students with reading difficulties showed a significantly lower performance in the phonological awareness, the letter processing speed and numbers and letters processing speed tasks. Students with mathematics difficulties showed significantly lower performance in the short stories memory task and retrieval of memory facts. This group used immature counting strategies, but showed no difficulties with number sense, as hypothesized. The study indicates that the Two-Factor Theory offers an important contribution to understanding the coexistence of difficulties in reading and mathematics. However, in agreement with Hopkins and Lawson (2006), our results suggest a breakthrough in the theory, providing a prominent role to the processing speed. The results provide an important educational implication: the need to include, throughout the elementary school, tasks aiming at the development of phonological processing and number sense, which are still little known by Brazilian schools.

O bom desempenho dos descendentes de japoneses em matemática não é novidade para a maioria das pessoas. As interpretações sobre as causas desse resultado podem, no entanto, ser divergentes. Com a intenção de desmistificar algumas concepções sobre tal tema iniciamos esta pesquisa. Para fundamentar tal intenção, buscamos inicialmente um levantamento de dados estatísticos que caracterizassem nosso ponto de partida, recorrendo aos bancos de dados de instituições responsáveis pelos vestibulares de duas das maiores universidades públicas do país a USP e a UNESP (respectivamente, a FUVEST e a VUNESP). Tal levantamento confirmou amplamente a sensação inicial, no que se refere ao desempenho diferenciado dos descendentes de japoneses. A partir daí, partimos em busca dos motivos que poderiam justificar os fatos observados. Nossa hipótese foi a de que os fatores culturais envolvidos seriam decisivos na interpretação de tal desempenho. Mesmo tendo tal perspectiva como ponto de partida, transitamos por variados territórios, em que a discussão sobre características genéticas ou inatas se fazia presente, amealhando argumentos que justificassem a hipótese inicial. Em tal busca, Keith Devlin e seu livro O Gene da Matemática desempenharam um papel fundamental. Tendo por base os fatos apresentados nesse livro, perceberemos também que não se trata de desconsiderar as capacidades biológicas inatas, e sim de entender que, no caso da aprendizagem de matemática, tais capacidades são partilhadas por todos os seres humanos, de modo análogo ao que ocorre com a competência para aprender a língua materna. Voltando-nos então para a discussão sobre a influência da cultura sobre o processo cognitivo, buscamos entender o modo como os elementos culturais influenciam a valorização da educação, favorecendo especificamente a relação entre os estudantes e a matemática. Em sua vida escolar no Japão, ou transcendendo fronteiras, como no caso dos descendentes de japoneses que vivem no Brasil os alunos educados segundo tais princípios desenvolvem sentimentos e relações afetivas favoráveis com a escola, revelando uma grande influência da cultura na formação pessoal. Na história do Japão, buscamos o modo como certos fatores, como a fragilidade geográfica e os parcos recursos naturais, foram importantes elementos que contribuíram para a valorização da educação. No caso específico dos descendentes nipo-brasileiros, podemos perceber que alguns elementos culturais originais, como o respeito à hierarquia, a ética do débito, a religiosidade, que aparecem fortemente na constituição do ser japonês, apesar de transformados pela assimilação de traços característicos da cultura brasileira, ainda apresentam resíduos importantes em seus descendentes. Complementarmente, um novo fator aparece fortemente como motivador dos alunos descendentes de japoneses, no Brasil: a busca da ascensão econômica, e conseqüentemente profissional, por meio da educação faz com que esses alunos atuem com bastante empenho em prol desse projeto de vida. Tais sentimentos impulsionam os alunos no sentido de valorizar o esforço, a vontade, a dedicação ao enfrentarem as naturais dificuldades encontradas em seu percurso escolar. Concluímos nosso percurso com a expectativa de haver evidenciado o peso decisivo dos elementos culturais na interpretação dos resultados diferenciados obtidos entre nós pelos descendentes de japoneses.
The good performance of Japanese descendents in mathematics is not new to most of the people. Nevertheless, the interpretations about the causes of this result can be divergent. We start this research in order to demystify some conceptions about this theme. To base this intention, at first we looked for a collection of statistical data that characterized our starting point, we fell back upon the data banks of institutions responsible for the entrance examinations of the two largest public universities in the country USP and UNESP (FUVEST and VUNESP, respectively). Such collection widely confirmed the initial sensation regarding the differentiated performance of the Japanese descendents. From this, we started the search for the reasons that could justify the facts observed. Our hypothesis was that the cultural factors involved would be decisive in the interpretation of such collection. Even having such perspective as starting point, we moved through varied territories where the discussion about the genetic or innate characteristics was present, building arguments that justified the initial hypothesis. In such search, Keith Devlin and his book The Math Gene performed a fundamental role. Having as base the facts presented in this book, we will also realize that it is not the question to disregard the innate biological capacities but to understand that in the case of the mathematics learning, such capacities are present in all human beings, in an analogue way to what occurs with the competence to learn the mother tongue. Turning to the discussion about the culture influence on the cognitive process, we tried to understand the way how the cultural elements influence the valorization of the education, promoting, specifically, the relationship between students and the mathematics. In their school life in Japan, or overseas, as the case of the Japanese descendents who live in Brazil the students educated according to such principles develop feelings and favorable affective relations with the school, revealing a great influence of the culture in the personal upbringing. In the history of Japan, we searched the way how certain factors, as the geographical fragility and the scarce natural resources were important elements that contributed to valorization of the education. In the specific case of the Nipo-Brazilian descendents, we can apprehend that some original cultural elements, such respect to the hierarchy, the debt ethics, the religious disposition which strongly appear in the constitution of the Japanese being, despite changed by the assimilation of characteristic traits of the Brazilian culture, they still present important remnants from their descendents. As a complement, a new factor appears strongly as motivation of the Japanese descendent students, in Brazil: the search of economic ascension, and consequently, professional, by means of education make these students act with much devotion on this project of life. Such feelings stimulate the students in the sense of value the effort, the will, the dedication when facing the natural difficulties found in his school life. We concluded our study with the expectative of having shown clearly the decisive weight of cultural elements in the interpretation of the differentiated results obtained among us by the Japanese descendents.

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The term maturity is used in psychology, sociology, biology, technology and other areas of human knowledge. However, a definition related to contemporary needs, in terms of paradigm ruptures that move in the intersections from the Knowledge Age to the Awareness Age, is the focus of this research. In contemporary times, the thinking being , whose thinking ability makes them different from other beings, becomes the main agent to be researched. Consequently, we tried to reach what this research called Corporate Maturity. Departing from the result that was presented in the surveys carried out by the Project Management Institute PMI (an international non-profit entity pioneer in the congregation of professionals of areas related to project management), that there were high levels of failure in technologically feasible projects we tried to find out the relationship between maturity and failure . The immaturity of the thinking being has been defined as the catalyst of the failure experienced by the organizations. Through an interdisciplinary approach, an emerging theory based on the Grounded Theory methodology is suggested, a research methodology over the qualitative paradigm, known as empirical data founded theory. Data were extracted from field work in multiple cases and through the software NVIVO, which consolidated their categorization and saturation and permitted the outlining of a possible emerging theory. Hopefully this paper will help new ones to come up, considering the retraction of the failure rate in the adoption of technologically feasible projects.
O termo maturidade é utilizado na psicologia, na sociologia, na biologia, na tecnologia e outras áreas do conhecimento humano. Entretanto, uma definição atinente às necessidades contemporâneas, no que diz respeito ao rompimento dos paradigmas que trafegam nas intersecções da era do conhecimento para a era da consciência, é o foco desta pesquisa. No contemporâneo, o "ser pensante", cuja capacidade de pensar o diferencia de outros seres, torna-se o principal agente a ser pesquisado. Por conseguinte, procurou-se chegar ao que esta pesquisa denomina maturidade Corporativa. Partindo-se do fator altos índices de insucesso em projetos tecnologicamente viáveis apresentadas nas pesquisas realizadas pelo Project Management Institute - PMI, entidade internacional sem fins lucrativos e pioneiros na congregação de profissionais de áreas relacionadas à gerência de projetos, buscou-se a relação entre a maturidade e insucesso . Definiu-se a "imaturidade" do ser pensante, como o catalisador do insucesso experimentado pelas organizações. Por meio de uma abordagem interdisciplinar, sugere-se uma teoria emergente baseada no método Grounded Theory, um método de pesquisa sob o paradigma qualitativo, conhecida como teoria fundamentada em dados empíricos. Os dados foram extraídos de pesquisa de campo em casos múltiplos e, através do software NVIVO, o qual alicerçou a categorização e a saturação dos mesmos que permitiu o delineamento de uma possível teoria emergente. Espera-se que, com esta pesquisa, novas venham a surgir, tendo em vista a retração do índice de insucesso na adoção de projetos tecnologicamente viáveis

Esta tese procura compreender o papel da mediação das tecnologias numéricas nos procedimentos (pensamento e gênese) da arquitetura. Parte do pressuposto que o suporte digital, espaço virtual e interativo para a criação do projeto, é conseqüência da evolução gradual dessas tecnologias no fluxo contínuo das transformações culturais. Entendendo esse fluxo como processo, localiza na segunda metade do século XX a emergência de uma nova racionalidade apoiada nos termos relação, sistema e organização no lugar dos termos modernos função, estrutura e ordem. O pensamento diagramático, a analogia e o dialógico e experimental priom (material/procedimento) caracterizam procedimentos que, assumindo diferentes configurações, possibilitam o reconhecimento de uma arquitetura maquínica.
The thesis intend to understand the mediation of the numerical technologies on architectural procedures (thought and gênesis). It supposes that the digital support as a virtual and interactive space for design is resulting of a gradual evolution of these technologies undergoing through the continuous flux of cultural transformations. It locates at the XX century second half the emergence of a new racionality based on the terms relation, system and organization replacing the modern concepts of function, structure and order. Diagrammatic thought, analogy and the experimental and dialogical priom (material/procedure), enable the recognition of a machinic architeture.

Modeling complex cognitive phenomena is a challenging task, especially when it is required to account for the functioning of a cognitive system interacting with an uncertain and changing environment. Psychometrics offers a heterogeneous corpus of computational tools to infer latent cognitive constructs from the observation of behavioral outcomes. However, there is not an explicit consensus regarding the optimal way to properly take into account the intrinsic dynamic properties of the environment, as well as the dynamic nature of cognitive states. In the present dissertation, we explore the potentials of relying on discrete state dynamic models to formally account for the unfolding of cognitive sub-processes in changing task environments. In particular, we propose Probabilistic Graphical Models (PGMs) as an ideal and unifying mathematical language to represent cognitive dynamics as structured graphs codifying (causal) relationships between cognitive sub-components which unfolds in discrete time. We propose several works demonstrating the advantage and the representational power of such a modeling framework, by providing dynamic models of cognition specified according to different levels of abstraction.

Modeling complex cognitive phenomena is a challenging task, especially when it is required to account for the functioning of a cognitive system interacting with an uncertain and changing environment. Psychometrics offers a heterogeneous corpus of computational tools to infer latent cognitive constructs from the observation of behavioral outcomes. However, there is not an explicit consensus regarding the optimal way to properly take into account the intrinsic dynamic properties of the environment, as well as the dynamic nature of cognitive states. In the present dissertation, we explore the potentials of relying on discrete state dynamic models to formally account for the unfolding of cognitive sub-processes in changing task environments. In particular, we propose Probabilistic Graphical Models (PGMs) as an ideal and unifying mathematical language to represent cognitive dynamics as structured graphs codifying (causal) relationships between cognitive sub-components which unfolds in discrete time. We propose several works demonstrating the advantage and the representational power of such a modeling framework, by providing dynamic models of cognition specified according to different levels of abstraction.

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Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior
The new Evolutionary Psychology (E. P.) paradigm has been trying to understand how the human beings make their decisions over time regarding the most diverse variables, always bearing in mind that such a cognitive process is due to a complex natural selection process that occurred millions of years ago. One of the main topics discussed by this new paradigm is the issue of parental investment, i.e., the care the parents provide to an offspring at the expense of the investment into a new one. The present work sought to integrate these two topics, trying to understand how some variables modulate the process of decision making in a sample of the city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte state. It was investigated the hypothesis that the presence of both parents, along the individual development, could signal a more favorable environment, providing clues to the individual that he could assume a competitive position at the socio-biological market. His decisions, therefore, could be guided by long-term investments with aims to obtain more robust rewards. On the contrary, those who has suffered for some moment the absence of one the parents could develop theirselves in a not so competitive way, starting to choose immediate benefits - but lesser ones -, since the future would be less predictable due to their worse development conditions. This study involved 152 individuals from three higher education institutions, one of them being public and the others being private ones. In the results found, there was no difference between children of coupled parents and children of deceased or divorced parents concerning discount rates. The levels of hopelessness did not affect the discount rates of children of single parents when compared to children of coupled parents. Not having one of the parents because of divorce made the child to tend to present lower scores in the domain of social relations of WHOQOL - Bref, whilst the absence of the father by death made the scores lower in the domain of environment. The results indicate that loosing one of the parents along the development influences the individual's quality of life perception, but the measurement method of future discounting rates by means of financial choices is not sensitive to this variation
O novo paradigma da Psicologia Evolucionista (P.E.) vem tentando compreender como os seres humanos tomam suas decis?es ao longo do tempo levando em conta as mais diversas vari?veis, tendo sempre em mente que tal processo cognitivo ? tribut?rio de um complexo processo de sele??o natural ocorrido nos milh?es de anos que se passaram. Um dos principais temas discutidos por este novo paradigma ? a quest?o do investimento parental, ou seja, o cuidado fornecido pelos pais a uma prole ?s custas do investimento em outra. O presente trabalho buscou integrar esses dois temas, tentando compreender como algumas vari?veis modulam o processo de tomada de decis?es de uma amostra do munic?pio de Natal, Estado do Rio Grande do Norte. Investigou-se a hip?tese de que a presen?a de ambos os pais, ao longo de desenvolvimento individual, poderia sinalizar um ambiente mais favor?vel, fornecendo ao sujeito pistas de que ele pode assumir uma posi??o competitiva no mercado s?cio-biol?gico. Suas decis?es, portanto, poderiam ser pautadas pelo investimento de longo prazo com vistas ? obten??o de recompensas mais robustas. Ao contr?rio, aquele que em algum momento sofreu a aus?ncia de um dos pais poderia se desenvolver de modo n?o t?o competitivo, passando a escolher benef?cios imediatos, por?m menores, uma vez que o futuro lhe seria menos previs?vel devido ?s suas piores condi??es de desenvolvimento. Neste estudo participaram 152 sujeitos oriundos de tr?s Institui??es de Ensino Superior, sendo uma p?blica e duas privadas. Pelos resultados encontrados n?o houve diferen?a entre filhos de pais unidos e filhos de pais separados ou falecidos no que concerne ?s taxas de desconto. Os n?veis de desesperan?a tamb?m n?o influenciaram as taxas de desconto dos filhos de pais separados nem dos filhos de pais falecidos, quando comparados aos filhos de pais unidos. N?o ter um dos pais por motivo de separa??o fez com que o filho tendesse a apresentar escores mais baixos no dom?nio das rela??es sociais do WHOQOL Bref e quando o pai estava ausente por motivo de falecimento os escores foram mais baixos no dom?nio de meio ambiente. Os resultados indicam que perder um dos pais ao longo do desenvolvimento influencia a percep??o de qualidade de vida do sujeito, mas o m?todo de mensura??o de taxa de desconto de futuro por meio de escolhas financeiras n?o ? sens?vel a essa varia??o

This study investigated the influence of age, processing speed, working memory,and associative processes on the acquisition of contingency information. Young and older adults completed positive (+.65) and negative (-.65) contingency tasks that measured their ability to discover the relationship between a symptom (e.g., FEVER) and a fictional disease (e.g., OLYALGIA). Both d' scores, i.e., contingency learning, and contingency estimates, i.e., contingency judgment, were examined. Participants were also asked to complete cognitive tasks that measure the constructs of processing speed, working memory resources, associative memory, and associative learning. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the direct and indirect relationships between processing speed, working memory resources, associative memory, associative learning, and positive and negative contingency learning and judgment for young and older adult groups. Young adults outperformed older adults on the cognitive tasks and on contingency learning and judgment tasks. However, age differences were smaller for the positive contingency than for negative contingency. A comparison of the structural equation models for young and older adults showed no relationship between any cognitive construct and negative contingency learning. However, young adults' judgment for the negative contingency was directly influenced by associative learning, while their learning and judgment for the positive contingency was directly influenced by associative memory. For older adults, working memory executive function directly influenced their judgment for the negative contingency and their learning and judgment for the positive contingency. Processing speed had an indirect effect on older adults' contingency learning and judgment that was mediated by working memory executive functioning. The differences in the young adults' models as well as the difference between the young and older adults' models for positive and negative contingencies suggest that while associative processing is important, it may not account for all of the variation in contingency learning and judgment. The young adults' models for the negative contingency task indicates that higher level processes, such as inductive reasoning, maybe involved in negative contingency judgment because the associative learning task required some level of hypothesis testing. In contrast, positive contingency learning and judgment could rely primarily on more basic associative processes. The present findings therefore suggest that an overall model of contingency learning must include both associative processes and inductive reasoning processes. Older adults' general contingency performance was most directly related to their working memory executive functioning, suggesting that the decline in their working memory has the strongest effect on their ability to acquire and use information about contingencies. In fact, the age related decline in working memory seems to affect older adults' ability to acquire both positive and negative contingencies. The similarities across the older adult models for positive and negative contingencies indicate that the underlying deficit in older adults' working memory executive functioning that affects their overall contingency learning and judgment performance. This basic working memory executive functioning deficit for older adults also explains why their models for positive and negative contingency did not exhibit direct relationships between associative tasks and contingency learning as observed for the young adult models.

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

This thesis proposes a theoretical model of sexual thoughts and fantasies; the Dual-Process of Sexual Thinking (DPM-ST). In brief, the DPM-ST argues that associative processes generate spontaneous sexual thoughts, whereas controlled processes underlie the act of sexual fantasising. The empirical chapters aimed to empirically test some of the DPM-ST's main assumptions using offender and non-offender samples. In Chapter 3, support was found for the hypothesis that child abusers hold distorted sex-related associations. The results of Chapter 4 supported the idea that the use of deviant sexual fantasies is more likely if individuals have a greater proclivity to fantasise and hold explicit attitudes related to the deviant sexual fantasy. Chapter 5 supported the hypothesis that sexual fantasising is a controlled process requiring working memory resources. The results of Chapter 6 did not support the hypothesis that sexually fantasising about dominance activates 'self-powerful' associations. In Chapter 7, the results supported the hypothesis that abusers who repeatedly use sexual fantasies about children hold a stronger association between 'children' and 'sexual fantasy'. Finally, Chapter 8 concluded the thesis by discussing the findings in terms of their theoretical and clinical implications. The limitations of the thesis are also outlined, along with various ideas for future research.

How do we make decisions when we are uncertain? In more real-world settings there is often a vast array of information available to guide the decision, from an understanding of the social situation, to prior beliefs and experience, to information available in the current environment. Yet much of the research into uncertain decision-making has typically studied the process by isolating it from this rich source of information that decision-makers usually have available to them. This thesis takes a different approach. To explore how decisions are made under uncertainty in more real-world settings, this thesis considers how raters decide if someone is lying or telling the truth. Because people are skilled liars, there is little information available to make a definitive decision. How do raters negotiate the ambiguous environment to reach a decision? Raters show a truth bias, which is to say they judge statements as truthful more often than they are so. Recent research has begun to consider dual process theories, suggesting there are two routes for processing information. They claim the truth bias results from an error-prone processing route, but that a more effortful and analytical processing route may overcome it. I will generate a set of testable hypotheses that arise from the dual process position and show that the theory does not stand up to the test. The truth bias can be better explained as resulting from a single process that attempts to make the most 3 informed guess despite being uncertain. To make the informed guess, raters come to rely on context-relevant information when the behaviour of the speaker is not sufficiently diagnostic. An adaptive decision maker position is advocated. I propose the truth bias is an emergent property of making the best guess. That is, in a different context where speakers may be expected to lie, a bias towards disbelieving should be seen. I argue context-dependency is key to understanding decision-making under uncertainty.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2007.
Title from file title page. Andrea Scarantino, Eddy Nahmias, committee co-chairs; Erin McClure, committee member. Electronic text (68 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Jan. 7, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-68).

La prise de décision sous ambiguïté est au cœur de notre existence. En effet, nous devons sans cesse effectuer des choix sans pour autant en connaître les conséquences potentielles, ni les probabilités qui régissent ces conséquences. Afin de mieux définir les processus en jeu dans le développement de ces capacités décisionnelles sous ambiguïté, nous avons choisi de tester la théorie incontournable dans ce domaine, à savoir : L’Hypothèse des Marqueurs Somatiques (HMS). Cette hypothèse accorde un rôle adaptatif aux émotions et suppose que l’individu réalise au cours de sa vie un apprentissage de nature émotionnelle qui guiderait ses choix dans des conditions d’ambiguïté. Nous avons réalisé trois études expérimentales issues de l’association des approches de la psychopathologie, de la psychologie cognitive et de la psychologie du développement. Dans une première étude nous avons ainsi vérifié l’implication de l’alexithymie, un trouble spécifique de l’identification et de la régulation des émotions, dans le déficit décisionnel observé chez les joueurs pathologiques. En étudiant le cas particulier du jeu pathologique, nous avons pu étayer indirectement l’HMS, en démontrant que l’alexithymie pouvait être à la source du déficit décisionnel observé au sein de cette population. Dans une deuxième étude réalisée chez le sujet sain, nous avons développé un nouveau paradigme expérimental d’amorçage émotionnel afin de répondre aux critiques persistantes quant au rôle des processus émotionnels dans la décision sous ambiguïté. Nos données conduisent à penser que la prise de décision sous ambiguïté reposerait bien sur le développement d’un signal émotionnel intégral (i.e., en réponse aux feedbacks), en montrant pour la première fois la possibilité de renforcer ce signal pour une meilleure prise de décision. Dans une troisième étude nous avons examiné le développement, de l’enfance à l’âge adulte, des capacités de prise de décision sous ambiguïté sous l’angle des processus émotionnels mais également des processus cognitifs, et en particulier les stratégies d’ajustement suite aux feedbacks. Cette perspective développementale nous a permis de mieux définir les processus cognitifs essentiels à cette prise de décision sous ambiguïté en suggérant la nécessité d’inhiber une tendance spontanée à modifier son choix après une perte afin de permettre l’apprentissage émotionnel au cœur de la prise de décision sous ambiguïté. En conclusion, les résultats de cette thèse nous ont permis d’enrichir l’HMS, en soulignant la nécessité de prendre en compte les processus émotionnels et cognitifs dans le cadre de la prise de décision sous ambiguïté
Decision-making under ambiguity is critical in our everyday life. Indeed, we make most of our choices with no information on the potential consequences of these choices or on the probabilities that govern these consequences. To better characterize the underlying mechanisms engaged in this complex ability, we tested the Somatic Marker Hypothesis (SMH), a key theory in this field. This theory posits that decision-making under ambiguity relies on the development of emotional responses to the world (i.e., an integral emotional signal) that bias people toward advantageous choices in ambiguous circumstances. Thus, the goal of this thesis was to test (i) the role of emotional processes and (ii) the possible implication of cognitive processes in our ability to choose advantageously in ambiguous context. In our first study, we investigated the factors at the root of the decision-making deficit of pathological gamblers by assessing the impact of alexithymia – a recurrent emotional disorder in this population – on their decision-making skills. In line with the SMH, we found that alexithymia was a key factor to understand pathological gamblers’ decision-making deficit. In a second study, we designed an emotional priming paradigm to provide direct evidence that decision making relies on the creation of an integral emotional signal in healthy adults. Our data supports the SMH by evidencing that decision-making can be improved when the integral emotional signal is reinforced. Finally, in our third study, we investigated the development of decision-making abilities by focusing on the strategic adjustments in children, adolescents and adults. Our data suggest that the inhibition of a spontaneous tendency to shift after a loss might be critical to choose advantageously. In conclusion, the results of this thesis broadened the scope of the HMS by emphasizing the need to study both emotional and cognitive processes to better understand decision making under ambiguity. Keywords: Decision-making under ambiguity; Emotional processes; Cognitive processes; Cognitive development the SMH by evidencing that decision-making can be improved when the integral emotional signal is reinforced. Finally, in our third study, we investigated the development of decision-making abilities by focusing on the strategic adjustments in children, adolescents and adults. Our data suggest that the inhibition of a spontaneous tendency to shift after a loss might be critical to choose advantageously. In conclusion, the results of this thesis broadened the scope of the HMS by emphasizing the need to study both emotional and cognitive processes to better understand decision making under ambiguity

Dissertação de Mestrado em Comportamento Organizacional
A velocidade de processamento de informação está fortemente relacionada com o constructo inteligência geral (Jensen, 1982; Vernon, Nador, & Kantor, 1985b), assim como, a velocidade mental, tal como a capacidade da memória de trabalho poderão ser considerados medidas indirectas da inteligência geral. Se bem que a capacidade da memória de trabalho possa ser operacionalizada pela velocidade mental, a verdade é de que não existe racional teórico que sustente a redução da capacidade da memória de trabalho à velocidade mental (Stankov & Roberts, 1997). Por outro lado, o rendimento numa tarefa cognitiva, irá ser, não só uma função da capacidade de armazenamento/processamento da memória de trabalho como também da complexidade da mesma percepcionada pelo sujeito (Marshalek, Lohman, & Snow, 1983; Stankov, 2000). A percepção da estrutura da tarefa e sua complexidade permite a emergência de factores não-cognitivos limitadores da expressão plena da capacidade cognitiva do sujeito (Stankov, 2000; Wilhelm & Schulze, 2002). Nos testes informatizados, a velocidade mental no processamento de informação relativa a provas cognitivas pode ser operacionalizada pelos tempos de latência, que corresponde ao tempo gasto pelo sujeito, desde que o item lhe é apresentado até expressar a resposta. Foram realizados dois estudos centrados nos tempos de latência a itens de testes de realização cognitiva fortemente saturados de factor g (um do tipo das figuras embebidas e outro de inteligência geral) aplicados a sujeitos em situação real de selecção: 731 candidatos ao curso de pilotagem da Força Aérea Portuguesa no primeiro estudo e a 300 candidatos a condutores de veículos pesados de transporte de passageiros. Os tempos de latência médios são diferentes quando os sujeitos acertam ou erram os itens. Aos itens respondidos correctamente corresponderam tempos de latência mais rápidos e mais homogéneos do que aos incorrectos. Verificou-se a emergência de factores não-cognitivos que limitaram a eficiência dos sujeitos em termos de velocidade mental, tendo-se verificado diferenças significativas na comparação entre as diferenças alternativas de respostas. Os candidatos foram significativamente mais rápidos quando a figura-alvo se encontrava nas duas figuras complexas, do que quando não se encontrava em nenhuma. Numa prova de escolha múltipla a incerteza da resposta pode potenciar a complexidade do item proporcionando a emergência de factores não cognitivos que limitam a eficiência da memória de trabalho, baixando a velocidade de resposta. O número de respostas correctas decresce, aumentando o tempo de latência, à medida que aumenta o grau de complexidade Schweizer (1996). Este aspecto é agravado pelo conhecimento do tempo restante para terminar. No segundo estudo, foram utilizadas as Matrizes Progressivas de Raven na sua forma Standard, mas de aplicação em suporte informático. Os resultados, à semelhança do estudo anterior, apontam para a confirmação da hipótese de que à medida que os itens vão apresentando maior índice de complexidade, maior é o tempo gasto na sua resolução. Quando se dividiu a amostra em dois grupos com diferentes níveis de rendimento intelectual global, verificou-se que os sujeitos com maior capacidade mental geral tendem a responder mais rapidamente que os sujeitos com menor índice de capacidade mental geral. Apesar de as diferenças dos tempos de latência entre estes dois grupos tenderem a aumentar à medida que aumenta o grau de dificuldade dos itens, este padrão é significativamente influenciado pela limitação temporal da aplicação do teste. O sujeito mais inteligente tem vantagens em realizar um teste de aptidão mental com complexidade crescente e tempo limite de aplicação. Nos itens iniciais (teoricamente menos complexos) acede mais rapidamente à informação necessária e responde mais rapidamente às perguntas com a excepção dos itens demasiadamente simples. Nas questões mais complexas, os mais inteligentes, ao serem mais rápidos a processarem informação, têm a possibilidade de executá-las sem que a capacidade (limitada) da memória de trabalho entre em sobrecarga. No segundo estudo, também se verificou a influência de factores de ordem não-cognitiva na resolução de tarefas cognitivas. Se considerarmos as cinco séries de doze itens que compõem a prova, os tempos de latência gastos pelos sujeitos nos itens iniciais, intermédios e finais de cada série são diferentes entre si. Quando comparamos os sujeitos em termos do seu nível de capacidade mental geral, verifica-se que as diferenças entre os grupos são apenas estatisticamente significativas para os itens intermédios de cada série. Os resultados convergem com os do estudo de Stankov (2000), em que o aumento de complexidade cognitiva está associado à maior probabilidade de emergência de factores não cognitivos na realização de tarefas intelectuais reduzindo a eficiência da memória de trabalho e baixando consequentemente a velocidade mental. O rendimento do sujeito é, assim, afectado não só pelas suas limitações em termos de processamento de informação, como também por aspectos de ordem não-cognitiva. As características não-cognitivas, nomeadamente as de personalidade poderão interferir na estratégia cognitiva individual de controlo do esforço e tempo. Dos dois estudos realizados, parece ser claro que o acesso ao tempo de latência das respostas, conseguido através da informatização dos testes, permite-nos conhecer melhor, não só as diferenças individuais ao nível do atributo cognitivo que se está a avaliar, como também das implicações da própria estrutura da prova na estratégia de resolução dos itens.

Au cours de la dernière décennie, un grand effort a été réalisé en sciences cognitives afin de comprendre comment les individus accèdent à leurs propres produits cognitifs. Cette thèse étudie les contenus mentaux qui sont accessibles par l´introspection. Le premier projet étudie la possibilité d´accéder de manière introspective à des processus cognitifs complexes, dans le contexte d´une tâche de recherche visuelle. Le second projet approfondit les résultats du premier projet. Dans cette étude, nous avons mis en place un stimulus préconscient pour altérer le processus de recherche visuelle. Tout de suite après, nous avons réuni des rapports introspectifs dans l´objectif d´évaluer le degré de sensibilité des participants afin de détecter cette altération. Les résultats des deux projets convergent vers trois idées principales : 1) l´introspection est capable d´accéder à des processus cognitifs ; 2) l´introspection est perméable à différentes sources d´information sous-jacentes à la tâche expérimentale ; 3) Telles sources d’information sont possible d’être contrôlées expérimentalement. Le troisième projet étend les résultats obtenus dans le projet 1 et 2 à un autre domaine cognitif : la mémoire de travail. L´étude montre que l´introspection peut accéder avec succès à la nature du processus cognitif déployé. Le quatrième projet étudie un facteur individuel qui peut altérer la précision d´un rapport introspectif : la réactivité biologique au stress. Les résultats ont indiqué que les individus à haute réactivité au stress ont un pauvre accès introspectif. La présente thèse constitue une première approche à l´architecture fonctionnelle du rapport introspectif
In the last decade, there has been a huge effort in cognitive science devoted to the understanding of how individuals access their own cognitive productions. This thesis investigates which mental contents are accessible by introspection. Four experimental projects were developed. The first project investigates the possibility to introspectively access and discriminate complex cognitive processes in the context of a visual search paradigm (serial searches vs. parallel searches). The second project refines the results of the first project. We used a pre-conscious visual cue to alter a visual search, and collected introspective data showing that participants were sensitive to this alteration. The results in both projects converge on three main ideas: 1) introspection is capable of accessing complex cognitive processes; 2) introspection is permeable to different sources of information underlying the experimental task; 3) the focus of introspection can be experimentally controlled during a simple cognitive task. The third project extends the results evidenced in projects 1 and 2 to another domain: working memory. The study shows that introspection can successfully access the type of cognitive process engaged during memory recovery (serial access to information vs. parallel access). Lastly, the fourth project investigates an individual factor that might alter the precision of introspective reports: biological reactivity to stress. Results indicated that individuals with high reactivity to stress have a poorer introspective access of their mental states. The present thesis presents a first systematic account of the functional architecture of introspective report

The success of Rater Cognitive Processes Training as a strategy for eliminating sex bias in ratings of performance in a physically demanding job was investigated in the present study. One hundred undergraduate students from a mid -sized regional university served as subjects. The independent variables were type of training and sex of the ratee. resulting in a two by two factorial design. The dependent variable was the performance ratings assigned by the subjects. Subjects in the experimental condition were trained to recognize the important dimensions of performance for the lob of feed handler and received one Practice/feedback session. Subjects in the control condition completed a case study exercise in lieu of training. All subjects then viewed a videotape showing a feed handler moving and stacking what appeared to be 25 lb. bags, and afterward assigned ratings using a graphic rating scale. An ANOVA revealed a significant main effect for sex (p < .026 , and a significant main effect for training (p < .013). The interaction between sex and training was not significant. Results indicated that Rater Cognitive Processes Training was not effective in eliminating sex bias. Instead. a clear contrast effect emerged. Potential implications of this study and future research directions are subsequently explored.

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.

The central aim of the current research programme was to gain an understanding of the cognitive processes involved in engineering design. Since little previous empirical research has investigated this domain, two major exploratory studies were undertaken here. Study One monitored seven final-year students tackling extended design projects. Diary and interview data were used to construct detailed design behaviour graphs that decomposed activities into structured representations reflecting the goals and subgoals that were pursued. Study Two involved individual observation (using video) of six professional engineers "thinking-aloud" as they tackled a small-scale design problem in a laboratory setting. A taxonomic scheme was developed to classify all verbal protocol units and other observable behaviours. In interpreting the data extensive use was made of theoretical concepts (e. g. schemas and mental models) deriving from current research on human problem solving and thinking. Evidence indicated that the engineers studied had many similar methods of working which could be described at a high level of abstraction in terms of a common "design schema". A central aspect of this schema was a problem reduction strategy which was used to break down complex design problems into more manageable subproblems. The data additionally revealed certain differences in design strategy between engineers' solution modelling activities and also showed up tendencies toward error and suboptimal performance. In this latter respect a particularly common tendency was for designers to "satisfice", that is to focus exclusively on initial solution concepts rather than comparing alternatives with the aim of optimising choices. The general implications of the present findings are discussed in relation to both the training of design skills and the development of intelligent computer systems to aid or automate the design process. A final, smaller scale of experimental study is also reported which investigated the possibility of improving design processes via subtle interventions aimed at imposing greater structure on design behaviours.

The research activity carried out during the PhD course was focused on the development of mathematical models of some cognitive processes and their validation by means of data present in literature, with a double aim: i) to achieve a better interpretation and explanation of the great amount of data obtained on these processes from different methodologies (electrophysiological recordings on animals, neuropsychological, psychophysical and neuroimaging studies in humans), ii) to exploit model predictions and results to guide future research and experiments. In particular, the research activity has been focused on two different projects: 1) the first one concerns the development of neural oscillators networks, in order to investigate the mechanisms of synchronization of the neural oscillatory activity during cognitive processes, such as object recognition, memory, language, attention; 2) the second one concerns the mathematical modelling of multisensory integration processes (e.g. visual-acoustic), which occur in several cortical and subcortical regions (in particular in a subcortical structure named Superior Colliculus (SC)), and which are fundamental for orienting motor and attentive responses to external world stimuli. This activity has been realized in collaboration with the Center for Studies and Researches in Cognitive Neuroscience of the University of Bologna (in Cesena) and the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine (NC, USA). PART 1. Objects representation in a number of cognitive functions, like perception and recognition, foresees distribute processes in different cortical areas. One of the main neurophysiological question concerns how the correlation between these disparate areas is realized, in order to succeed in grouping together the characteristics of the same object (binding problem) and in maintaining segregated the properties belonging to different objects simultaneously present (segmentation problem). Different theories have been proposed to address these questions (Barlow, 1972). One of the most influential theory is the so called “assembly coding”, postulated by Singer (2003), according to which 1) an object is well described by a few fundamental properties, processing in different and distributed cortical areas; 2) the recognition of the object would be realized by means of the simultaneously activation of the cortical areas representing its different features; 3) groups of properties belonging to different objects would be kept separated in the time domain. In Chapter 1.1 and in Chapter 1.2 we present two neural network models for object recognition, based on the “assembly coding” hypothesis. These models are networks of Wilson-Cowan oscillators which exploit: i) two high-level “Gestalt Rules” (the similarity and previous knowledge rules), to realize the functional link between elements of different cortical areas representing properties of the same object (binding problem); 2) the synchronization of the neural oscillatory activity in the γ-band (30-100Hz), to segregate in time the representations of different objects simultaneously present (segmentation problem). These models are able to recognize and reconstruct multiple simultaneous external objects, even in difficult case (some wrong or lacking features, shared features, superimposed noise). In Chapter 1.3 the previous models are extended to realize a semantic memory, in which sensory-motor representations of objects are linked with words. To this aim, the network, previously developed, devoted to the representation of objects as a collection of sensory-motor features, is reciprocally linked with a second network devoted to the representation of words (lexical network) Synapses linking the two networks are trained via a time-dependent Hebbian rule, during a training period in which individual objects are presented together with the corresponding words. Simulation results demonstrate that, during the retrieval phase, the network can deal with the simultaneous presence of objects (from sensory-motor inputs) and words (from linguistic inputs), can correctly associate objects with words and segment objects even in the presence of incomplete information. Moreover, the network can realize some semantic links among words representing objects with some shared features. These results support the idea that semantic memory can be described as an integrated process, whose content is retrieved by the co-activation of different multimodal regions. In perspective, extended versions of this model may be used to test conceptual theories, and to provide a quantitative assessment of existing data (for instance concerning patients with neural deficits). PART 2. The ability of the brain to integrate information from different sensory channels is fundamental to perception of the external world (Stein et al, 1993). It is well documented that a number of extraprimary areas have neurons capable of such a task; one of the best known of these is the superior colliculus (SC). This midbrain structure receives auditory, visual and somatosensory inputs from different subcortical and cortical areas, and is involved in the control of orientation to external events (Wallace et al, 1993). SC neurons respond to each of these sensory inputs separately, but is also capable of integrating them (Stein et al, 1993) so that the response to the combined multisensory stimuli is greater than that to the individual component stimuli (enhancement). This enhancement is proportionately greater if the modality-specific paired stimuli are weaker (the principle of inverse effectiveness). Several studies have shown that the capability of SC neurons to engage in multisensory integration requires inputs from cortex; primarily the anterior ectosylvian sulcus (AES), but also the rostral lateral suprasylvian sulcus (rLS). If these cortical inputs are deactivated the response of SC neurons to cross-modal stimulation is no different from that evoked by the most effective of its individual component stimuli (Jiang et al 2001). This phenomenon can be better understood through mathematical models. The use of mathematical models and neural networks can place the mass of data that has been accumulated about this phenomenon and its underlying circuitry into a coherent theoretical structure. In Chapter 2.1 a simple neural network model of this structure is presented; this model is able to reproduce a large number of SC behaviours like multisensory enhancement, multisensory and unisensory depression, inverse effectiveness. In Chapter 2.2 this model was improved by incorporating more neurophysiological knowledge about the neural circuitry underlying SC multisensory integration, in order to suggest possible physiological mechanisms through which it is effected. This endeavour was realized in collaboration with Professor B.E. Stein and Doctor B. Rowland during the 6 months-period spent at the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine (NC, USA), within the Marco Polo Project. The model includes four distinct unisensory areas that are devoted to a topological representation of external stimuli. Two of them represent subregions of the AES (i.e., FAES, an auditory area, and AEV, a visual area) and send descending inputs to the ipsilateral SC; the other two represent subcortical areas (one auditory and one visual) projecting ascending inputs to the same SC. Different competitive mechanisms, realized by means of population of interneurons, are used in the model to reproduce the different behaviour of SC neurons in conditions of cortical activation and deactivation. The model, with a single set of parameters, is able to mimic the behaviour of SC multisensory neurons in response to very different stimulus conditions (multisensory enhancement, inverse effectiveness, within- and cross-modal suppression of spatially disparate stimuli), with cortex functional and cortex deactivated, and with a particular type of membrane receptors (NMDA receptors) active or inhibited. All these results agree with the data reported in Jiang et al. (2001) and in Binns and Salt (1996). The model suggests that non-linearities in neural responses and synaptic (excitatory and inhibitory) connections can explain the fundamental aspects of multisensory integration, and provides a biologically plausible hypothesis about the underlying circuitry.

The research activity carried out during the PhD course was focused on the development of mathematical models of some cognitive processes and their validation by means of data present in literature, with a double aim: i) to achieve a better interpretation and explanation of the great amount of data obtained on these processes from different methodologies (electrophysiological recordings on animals, neuropsychological, psychophysical and neuroimaging studies in humans), ii) to exploit model predictions and results to guide future research and experiments. In particular, the research activity has been focused on two different projects: 1) the first one concerns the development of neural oscillators networks, in order to investigate the mechanisms of synchronization of the neural oscillatory activity during cognitive processes, such as object recognition, memory, language, attention; 2) the second one concerns the mathematical modelling of multisensory integration processes (e.g. visual-acoustic), which occur in several cortical and subcortical regions (in particular in a subcortical structure named Superior Colliculus (SC)), and which are fundamental for orienting motor and attentive responses to external world stimuli. This activity has been realized in collaboration with the Center for Studies and Researches in Cognitive Neuroscience of the University of Bologna (in Cesena) and the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine (NC, USA). PART 1. Objects representation in a number of cognitive functions, like perception and recognition, foresees distribute processes in different cortical areas. One of the main neurophysiological question concerns how the correlation between these disparate areas is realized, in order to succeed in grouping together the characteristics of the same object (binding problem) and in maintaining segregated the properties belonging to different objects simultaneously present (segmentation problem). Different theories have been proposed to address these questions (Barlow, 1972). One of the most influential theory is the so called “assembly coding”, postulated by Singer (2003), according to which 1) an object is well described by a few fundamental properties, processing in different and distributed cortical areas; 2) the recognition of the object would be realized by means of the simultaneously activation of the cortical areas representing its different features; 3) groups of properties belonging to different objects would be kept separated in the time domain. In Chapter 1.1 and in Chapter 1.2 we present two neural network models for object recognition, based on the “assembly coding” hypothesis. These models are networks of Wilson-Cowan oscillators which exploit: i) two high-level “Gestalt Rules” (the similarity and previous knowledge rules), to realize the functional link between elements of different cortical areas representing properties of the same object (binding problem); 2) the synchronization of the neural oscillatory activity in the γ-band (30-100Hz), to segregate in time the representations of different objects simultaneously present (segmentation problem). These models are able to recognize and reconstruct multiple simultaneous external objects, even in difficult case (some wrong or lacking features, shared features, superimposed noise). In Chapter 1.3 the previous models are extended to realize a semantic memory, in which sensory-motor representations of objects are linked with words. To this aim, the network, previously developed, devoted to the representation of objects as a collection of sensory-motor features, is reciprocally linked with a second network devoted to the representation of words (lexical network) Synapses linking the two networks are trained via a time-dependent Hebbian rule, during a training period in which individual objects are presented together with the corresponding words. Simulation results demonstrate that, during the retrieval phase, the network can deal with the simultaneous presence of objects (from sensory-motor inputs) and words (from linguistic inputs), can correctly associate objects with words and segment objects even in the presence of incomplete information. Moreover, the network can realize some semantic links among words representing objects with some shared features. These results support the idea that semantic memory can be described as an integrated process, whose content is retrieved by the co-activation of different multimodal regions. In perspective, extended versions of this model may be used to test conceptual theories, and to provide a quantitative assessment of existing data (for instance concerning patients with neural deficits). PART 2. The ability of the brain to integrate information from different sensory channels is fundamental to perception of the external world (Stein et al, 1993). It is well documented that a number of extraprimary areas have neurons capable of such a task; one of the best known of these is the superior colliculus (SC). This midbrain structure receives auditory, visual and somatosensory inputs from different subcortical and cortical areas, and is involved in the control of orientation to external events (Wallace et al, 1993). SC neurons respond to each of these sensory inputs separately, but is also capable of integrating them (Stein et al, 1993) so that the response to the combined multisensory stimuli is greater than that to the individual component stimuli (enhancement). This enhancement is proportionately greater if the modality-specific paired stimuli are weaker (the principle of inverse effectiveness). Several studies have shown that the capability of SC neurons to engage in multisensory integration requires inputs from cortex; primarily the anterior ectosylvian sulcus (AES), but also the rostral lateral suprasylvian sulcus (rLS). If these cortical inputs are deactivated the response of SC neurons to cross-modal stimulation is no different from that evoked by the most effective of its individual component stimuli (Jiang et al 2001). This phenomenon can be better understood through mathematical models. The use of mathematical models and neural networks can place the mass of data that has been accumulated about this phenomenon and its underlying circuitry into a coherent theoretical structure. In Chapter 2.1 a simple neural network model of this structure is presented; this model is able to reproduce a large number of SC behaviours like multisensory enhancement, multisensory and unisensory depression, inverse effectiveness. In Chapter 2.2 this model was improved by incorporating more neurophysiological knowledge about the neural circuitry underlying SC multisensory integration, in order to suggest possible physiological mechanisms through which it is effected. This endeavour was realized in collaboration with Professor B.E. Stein and Doctor B. Rowland during the 6 months-period spent at the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine (NC, USA), within the Marco Polo Project. The model includes four distinct unisensory areas that are devoted to a topological representation of external stimuli. Two of them represent subregions of the AES (i.e., FAES, an auditory area, and AEV, a visual area) and send descending inputs to the ipsilateral SC; the other two represent subcortical areas (one auditory and one visual) projecting ascending inputs to the same SC. Different competitive mechanisms, realized by means of population of interneurons, are used in the model to reproduce the different behaviour of SC neurons in conditions of cortical activation and deactivation. The model, with a single set of parameters, is able to mimic the behaviour of SC multisensory neurons in response to very different stimulus conditions (multisensory enhancement, inverse effectiveness, within- and cross-modal suppression of spatially disparate stimuli), with cortex functional and cortex deactivated, and with a particular type of membrane receptors (NMDA receptors) active or inhibited. All these results agree with the data reported in Jiang et al. (2001) and in Binns and Salt (1996). The model suggests that non-linearities in neural responses and synaptic (excitatory and inhibitory) connections can explain the fundamental aspects of multisensory integration, and provides a biologically plausible hypothesis about the underlying circuitry.

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Programa Multi-Institucional e Inter-Regional de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Contábeis, 2015.
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Esta pesquisa tem como o objetivo investigar a influência da capacidade cognitiva na incidência dos vieses cognitivos gerados pela heurística da representatividade. Em função desse alcance, foi realizado um estudo do tipo levantamento, por meio de um questionário, com um total de 43 questões, o qual contou com uma amostra válida de 1.064 respondentes, entre estudantes de graduação em Ciências Contábeis e contabilistas, dos quais 52,7% são do sexo do masculino, 48,3% possuem graduação completa, especialização, mestrado ou doutorado e 70% residem na região Nordeste do Brasil. Como resultado tem-se que 38,1% dos respondentes apresentam uma baixa capacidade cognitiva, 42,5% demonstram média capacidade cognitiva e 19,2% apresentam alta capacidade cognitiva. Quanto à sensibilidade dos participantes aos vieses cognitivos (quais sejam: insensibilidade à taxa base, insensibilidade ao tamanho da amostra, chance de equívocos, equívocos na regressão, ilusão de validade e insensibilidade à previsibilidade), identificou-se que, para mais de 60% da amostra, há incidência de todos esses vieses no processo de julgamento e tomada de decisão e que a capacidade cognitiva influencia apenas na incidência dos vieses insensibilidade à taxa base e ilusão de validade. Em se tratando da provável interferência decorrente dos diferentes níveis de instrução em que se situam os sujeitos pesquisados, atestou-se essa implicação pela variação de médias relativas aos vieses insensibilidade à taxa base e insensibilidade ao tamanho da amostra. Registro mais incisivo faz-se em relação à diferença de gênero, que, por si só, não impactou de maneira significativa apenas nas médias do viés insensibilidade à previsibilidade. A região do país influenciou diferentemente os vieses insensibilidade à taxa base e ilusão de validade. Foi encontrada diferença entre as médias do viés insensibilidade à taxa base e ilusão de validade nos grupos com baixa, média e alta capacidade cognitiva, indicando que quanto menor a capacidade cognitiva, maior a sensibilidade do respondente ao viés, corroborando o referencial teórico.
This research has as objective to investigate the influence of the cognitive ability in the incidence of the cognitive biases generated by the heuristic of representativeness. To achieve it, a study of the survey type was conducted through a questionnaire with a total of 43 questions, which featured a valid sample of 1064 respondents, among undergraduate students in Accounting and accountants, of which 52.7 % male, 48.3% have an undergraduate degree, specialization, master’s or doctoral degree and 70% live in Northeastern Brazil. As a result it considers that 405 (38.1%) respondents have a low cognitive ability, 452 (42.5%) have average cognitive ability and 207 (19.2%) have high cognitive ability. As for the sensitivity of the participants to the cognitive biases insensitivity to base rate, insensitivity to sample size, misconceptions of chance, misconceptions of regression, illusion of validity and insensitivity to predictability, it was identified that for more than 60% of the sample, there is an incidence of all in the judgment and making process. The cognitive ability influence only in the incidence of biases insensitivity to base rate and illusion of validity. In terms of the different levels of education of the respondents, it was verified a difference of averages in biases insensitivity to base rate and insensitivity to sample size in the different levels of education. Gender didn’t impact significantly only in biases insensitivity to predictability. The region of the country influenced differently to biases insensitivity to base rate and illusion of validity. It was found a difference between the biases insensitivity to base rate and illusion of validity in the groups with low, average and high cognitive ability, indicating that the lower the cognitive ability, the greater the sensitivity of the bias respondent, confirming the theoretical framework.

We examine which capabilities technologies provide to support collaborative process modeling. We develop a model that explains how technology capabilities impact cognitive group processes, and how they lead to improved modeling outcomes and positive technology beliefs. We test this model through a free simulation experiment of collaborative process modelers structured around a set of modeling tasks. With our study, we provide an understanding of the process of collaborative process modeling, and detail implications for research and guidelines for the practical design of collaborative process modeling.

The purpose of the present study was to examine cognitive abilities and problem solving processes of young and older adults. Specifically, three areas of inquiry were investigated: possible age-related differences in problem solving cognitive abilities, possible differences in cognitive processes used during problem solution, and possible differences in determinants of problem solving cognitive processes.

O Teste de Nomeação de Sinais por Escolha de palavras escritas (TNS-Escolha) é parte de uma bateria de 11 testes de desenvolvimento da linguagem de sinais e de competência de leitura e escrita, desenvolvida pela equipe de Capovilla na Universidade de São Paulo especialmente para a população escolar surda brasileira, e validada e normatizada com uma amostra de 5.365 escolares surdos. O TNS-Escolha avalia o desenvolvimento conjunto de compreensão de sinais da Libras e de leitura de palavras em Português, e analisa a participação de processos quirêmicos, ortográficos e semânticos envolvidos na escolha de palavras escritas para denominar sinais da Libras. O TNS-Escolha faz uso da estratégia de indução de erros de leitura (i.e., paralexias) por palavras escritas distraidoras quirêmicas, ortográficas e semânticas como alternativas de escolha, com vistas a permitir caracterizar a natureza do processamento cognitivo subjacente à leitura e escrita em Português. A presença de paralexias quirêmicas sugere que o acesso semântico na leitura envolve a mediação por sinalização interna, como tende a ocorrer no surdo sinalizador com perda profunda pré-lingual ou perilingual. A presença de paralexias ortográficas sugere que a leitura é baseada na tentativa de reconhecimento visual global da palavra, com dificuldade de fazer uso da estratégia alfabética de decodificação grafêmica serial (i.e., processamento serial da seqüência ortográfica), como tende a ocorrer na leitura fundamentalmente ideográfica de surdo com perda profunda pré-lingual e perilingual. A presença de paralexias semânticas sugere que o leitor tenta obter acesso ao léxico semântico, mas esse acesso é dificultado por insuficiência de conceitos, vocabulário, ou habilidade de leitura. Esta dissertação apresenta duas versões reordenadas, o TNS1.3-Escolha e o TNS2.3-Escolha, bem como dados de sua normatização com uma amostra de mais de 5.000 surdos de 14 estados brasileiros. Foram avaliados 5.365 estudantes surdos de 14 estados brasileiros (AC, AM, BA, CE, DF, ES, MA, MG, MS, PA, PR, RJ, RS, SP). A escolaridade média desses estudantes, em termos de número de anos no Ensino Fundamental, era de 4,9 anos (DP = 2,8), ou seja, quase 5a. série, com mínimo de 1 ano e máximo de 12 anos de escolaridade, ou seja, Ensino Superior. A idade variou de 5 a 59 anos, com média de 17,7 anos (DP = 6,9). Para viabilizar a análise da grande massa de dados foram selecionadas as séries 1a, 5a, 8a, 10a e 13a. Os resultados do TNS1.3-Escolha e do TNS2.3-Escolha indicaram que, ao longo das séries 1a, 5a, 8a, 10a e 13a, a porcentagem de acerto cresceu sistematicamente, ao passo que o total de paralexias diminuiu sistematicamente. Considerando a distribuição dos três tipos de paralexias (ortográfica, semântica e quirêmica) desse total decrescente de paralexias, observou-se que, ao longo das cinco séries escolares, as porcentagens de paralexias ortográficas e semânticas diminuíram sistematicamente, ao passo que a porcentagem de paralexias quirêmicas aumentou sistematicamente. Assim, ao longo da escolarização, na nomeação de sinais por escolha de palavras escritas, os surdos tendem a cometer cada vez menos erros, e esses erros tendem a concentrar-se cada vez mais em processamento quirêmico. Isso sugere que, ao longo da escolarização, o crescente léxico de leitura do surdo depende cada vez mais das propriedades formais dos sinais como indexadoras das formas ortográficas das palavras para resgate lexical. Esta dissertação é parte de um estudo maior (Capovilla e colaboradores, no prelo). Dos estudantes da amostra, 5.072 foram avaliados no Teste de Nomeação de Sinais por Escolha, versão 1.3 (TNS1.3-Escolha), e 4.854 foram avaliados no Teste de Nomeação de Sinais por Escolha, versão 2.3(TNS2.3-Escolha). Dos 5.072 estudantes avaliados no TNS1.3-Escolha, 4.930 tiveram seus dados avaliados item a item para fins de análise de fidedignidade e de reordenação do teste. Foram conduzidas duas análises de fidedignidade, gerando dois tipos de coeficiente, o coeficiente Alfa de Cronbach, e o coeficiente de Spearman- Brown para análise split-half. A análise de itens revelou coeficiente Alfa de Cronbach = 0,9004, o que pode ser considerado muito bom. Assim, o TNS1.3-Escolha mostrou-se bastante fidedigno, produzindo dados bastante confiáveis e estáveis. Como o TNS1.3-Escolha inclui alguns sinais que ainda não haviam sido testados anteriormente, o presente estudo gerou, como fruto adicional, a versão aperfeiçoada TNS1.4-Escolha em que os 36 itens que compõem o TNS1.3-Escolha foram reordenados por grau de dificuldade crescente. Dos 4.854 estudantes avaliados pelo TNS2.3-Escolha, 4.840 tiveram seus dados avaliados item a item para fins de análise de fidedignidade e de reordenação do teste. Foram conduzidas duas análises de fidedignidade, gerando dois tipos de coeficiente, o coeficiente Alfa de Cronbach, e o coeficiente de Spearman-Brown para análise split-half. A análise de itens revelou coeficiente Alfa de Cronbach = 0,8728, o que pode ser considerado muito bom. Assim, o TNS2.3-Escolha mostrou-se bastante fidedigno, produzindo dados bastante confiáveis e estáveis. Como o TNS2.3-Escolha inclui alguns sinais que ainda não haviam sido testados anteriormente, o presente estudo gerou, como fruto adicional, a versão aperfeiçoada TNS2.4-Escolha em que os 36 itens que compõem o TNS2.3-Escolha foram reordenados por grau de dificuldade crescente.
The Word Matching Sign Naming Test (WMSNT) assesses the skill of matching alternative Portuguese printed words to sample Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) signs. WMSNT is part of a battery of 11 language development tests for assessing reading, spelling and Libras sign comprehension. Capovilla and coworkers at the University of Sao Paulo developed, standardized and validated the battery with a sample of 5,365 Brazilian deaf students. WMSNT assesses the joint development of sign comprehension and Portuguese reading. It analyzes the participation of cheremic, orthographic and semantic processes involved in matching print alternatives to Libras signs. On each trial there are four printed word alternatives, one being the target word, and the remaining three being cheremic, orthographic, and semantic distracter words. WMSNT is elaborated so as to have distracter-printed words as choice alternatives induce cheremic, orthographic, and semantic paralexias. By analyzing the relative prevalence of cheremic, orthographic, and semantic paralexias that occur when the deaf is to match print to pictures and signs, WMSNT allows characterizing cognitive processes underlying Portuguese reading by Brazilian deaf students. The prevalence of cheremic paralexias suggests that reading comprehension (i.e., the access to semantic lexicon while reading) involves the mediation of some internal signing processes. That is usually the case with the congenitally deaf who are fluent signers. The prevalence of orthographic paralexias suggests that reading is based on the strategy of attempting to make some visual recognition of the global crude form of a word, with difficulty of using the alphabetical serial graphemic decoding (i.e., the serial parsing of the orthographic sequence). That is usually the case with the congenitally deaf who are not capable of fluent signing and linguistic parsing, tend to rely on a primarily ideographic reading style. The prevalence of semantic paralexias suggests that reading comprehension is hindered by the insufficient development of concepts, vocabulary, and/or reading skill. This dissertation presents two reordered versions of WMSNT: WMSNT 1.3 and WMSNT 2.3 as well as standardization data with a sample of 5,365 5-59 year old deaf students with 1-12 years of schooling coming from 14 Brazilian states (AC, AM, BA, CE, DF, ES, MA, MG, MS, PA, PR, RJ, RS, SP). The preliminary analysis of such a large data basis was limited to the following grades: 1st, 5th, 8th, 10th and 13th. Results from both WMSNT 1.3 and WMSNT 2.3 indicated that the percentage of correct naming increased systematically, whereas the percentage of total paralexias decreased systematically. Considering the distribution of all three types of paralexia, it was found that, over the course of the five school series, the percentages of orthographic and semantic paralexias diminished systematically, whereas the percentage of cheremic paralexias increased systematically. Thus, over the course of schooling, when having to name signs by matching their corresponding printed words counterparts, deaf students tended to commit progressively less errors, and that those errors tended to concentrate progressively more on cheremic processes. According to Capovilla, such a finding suggests that, over the course of schooling, in order to be able to retrieve lexical items from an increasingly large reading lexicon, the deaf reader tends to rely more and more on indexing sublexical word components (at both levels of word graphemes and word morphemes) to their corresponding sublexical sign components (at both levels of sign cheremes and sign morphemes). This dissertation is part of a broader study (Capovilla et al, in print). Out of the sample, 5,072 students were assessed using WMSNT 1.3 and 4,854 were assessed using WMSNT 2.3. Out of the sample of 5,072 students tested with WMSNT 1.3, in order to assess test reliability and to arrange test items in increasing order of difficulty, the data of 4,930 students were subjected to item analysis. Two reliability analyses were conducted, which generated two coefficients: Cronbach Alpha coefficient and Spearman-Brown coefficient from split-half analysis. Item analysis revealed Cronbach Alpha coefficient = 0,9004, which may be considered quite good. Therefore, WMSNT 1.3 was found to be a quite reliable test. In addition this study generated WMSNT 1.4, in which WMSNT 1.3 items are arranged in increasing difficulty order. Out of the sample of 4,854 students tested with WMSNT 2.3, in order to assess test reliability and to arrange test items in increasing order of difficulty, the data of 4,840 students were subjected to item analysis. Two reliability analyses were conducted, which generated two coefficients: Cronbach Alpha coefficient and Spearman-Brown coefficient from split-half analysis. Item analysis revealed Cronbach Alpha coefficient = 0,8728, which may be considered good. Therefore, WMSNT 2.3 was found to be a quite reliable test. In addition this study generated WMSNT 2.4, in which WMSNT 2.3 items are arranged in increasing difficulty order.

One undisputed finding of cognitive aging research is that the two main clusters of intellectual abilities, fluid and crystallized abilities, exhibit differential age-related trends. Healthy older adults perform less well than young adults on almost any task that requires fast responses or taps the fluid or mechanical aspects of intelligence; they show much less of a decline, if any at all, in tasks requiring the access of their crystallized knowledge (Baltes, 1987; Horn, 1970). These age-differential trends are the prototype of what we will refer to as a process dissociation. We will show how process dissociations can be established within the domain of fluid intelligence that pass more stringent tests than is customary in experimental research on cognitive aging.

Esta pesquisa investiga processos cognitivos envolvidos na aprendizagem. Para isso, compara-se o desempenho acadêmico, o desempenho matemático, o executivo central da memória de trabalho e o raciocínio lógico-matemático em trinta e cinco adolescentes do primeiro ano do Ensino Médio do Colégio Júlio de Castilhos. O desempenho acadêmico é representado pela média obtida por cada um de 35 alunos, no primeiro trimestre do ano letivo de 2010 nas disciplinas que compõem o programa, excetuando-se a matemática. O desempenho matemático é representado pela nota final na disciplina no mesmo trimestre. O executivo central da memória de trabalho é avaliado por meio de dois subtestes selecionados da Bateria de Avaliação da Memória de Trabalho da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. O raciocínio lógico-matemático é avaliado com a tarefa piagetiana o equilíbrio da balança. Os dados obtidos através dos testes para avaliação do executivo central da memória de trabalho são estudados com análise estatística inferencial. Os dados obtidos com o método clínico piagetiano na aplicação da tarefa o equilíbrio da balança são estudados por meio de análise descritiva, além de serem transformados em escores a fim de serem incluídos na análise estatística inferencial. Encontrou-se correlação entre as quatro funções estudadas através do teste de correlação de Pearson. Os alunos são agrupados conforme o desempenho acadêmico, em alunos com desempenho alto, intermediário e baixo e, com esta categorização, é realizada a comparação entre grupos quanto ao desempenho matemático, o executivo central da memória de trabalho e o raciocínio lógico-matemático, por Análise de Variância. Encontrou-se que as funções diferem nos três grupos na maioria das comparações. Conclui-se que o executivo central da memória de trabalho e o raciocínio lógico-matemático têm um papel importante no desempenho acadêmico do aluno adolescente.
This research investigates the cognitive processes involved in learning. For this purpose, it compares academic performance, mathematical performance, the central executive of working memory and logical-mathematical reasoning in thirty-five teenagers in their first year of High School in a public school. Academic performance for each student is assessed through the average grade obtained in the first quarter of the 2010 academic year, in the subjects that comprise the program, except mathematics. The mathematical performance is represented by the final grade in the subject in the same quarter. The central executive of working memory is assessed by two subtests selected from the Working Memory Assessment Battery from the Federal University of Minas Gerais. The logical-mathematical reasoning abilities are assessed by the Piagetian task called the balance equilibrium. The data obtained through tests to assess the central executive of working memory are interpreted by means of inferential statistical analysis. The data obtained by the clinical method of application of the Piagetian task the balance equilibrium are studied through descriptive analysis and are converted into scores, which are then included in the inferential statistical analysis. There is a correlation between the four functions studied by the Pearson correlation test. The mathematical performance, the central executive of working memory and logical-mathematical reasoning are analysed among groups of students with above-, lower- and average academic performances. The functions in the three groups differed on most comparisons. The central executive of working memory and logical-mathematical reasoning play an important role in the academic performance of teenage students.

Syftet med den här processorienterade studien var att undersöka hur texttypen påverkar översättningsprocessen, och närmare bestämt om olika texttyper aktualiserar olika fokus i de kognitiva processerna. Fyra deltagare fick därför översätta två olika källtexter, en operativ och en informativ. Materialet samlades in med hjälp av Think-Aloud (TA). Studien visar att de båda texterna huvudsakligen gav upphov till liknande fokus. Texttypen verkar således inte ha haft någon märkbar påverkan på översättningsprocessen i det aktuella fallet. Vad gäller deltagarnas individuella processer fokuserade flera av dem på liknande faktorer oberoende av källtexten, vilket antyder att processerna i viss utsträckning kan antas vara individuellt betingade.

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether different text types bring different focuses to the fore in the cognitive processes during translation. Four translator students were thus asked to translate one operative and one informative text while verbalizing their thoughts. The verbalizations were recorded and later transcribed into so called think-aloud protocols (TAPs). The analysis of the TAPs showed that the participants focused on similar aspects regardless of the source text, which indicates that the text type did not have any significant effect on the translation process in the study at hand.

Stereotype groups are interrelated. For example, in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, racial minorities are referred to special education at a much higher rate than are majority racial groups (Tse, Lloyd, Petchkovsky, and Manaia, 2005; Harry, Arnaiz, Klingner, Sturges, 2008). The Stereotype Content Model describes stereotype relationships in terms of an interaction between competence and warmth. Warmth is the more consistent dimension. The nature of competence remains elusive (Fiske, Cuddy, and Glick, 2007; Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, and Xu, 2002). Knowledge of relationships between stereotype groups, which themselves may be effects of bias, could factor into observed competence effects. Disabilities are characterized by objective competence deficits. Disabilities stereotype research allow for more refined models of competence. While competence perception may vary between disabilities, with different domains of competence deficits, unifying disability schemas may also exist. In either case, different competence processes could be inferred. We compared ratings on the Fiske scale (FC, FW), a multimodal competence scale (MMC), a quality of life scale (QL-T), and an overt threat scale (OPT) for five disability groups (DS) and a set of established stereotype (ES) groups. Our MMC analysis indicates the competence dimension and stereotype group interaction was more significant for DS and ES together than for DS alone. This is surprising, because the multimodal competence scale was designed to target specific disability groups. Results indicate there may be some unifying disability schema. Marginally significant differences between disability groups on the QL-T indicate complex relationships between disabilities stereotypes may also exist.

Le concept de Laboratoire de Fabrication Digitale (Fablabs) est au départ, une plateforme de prototypage industriel pour les entrepreneurs locaux. Elle est introduit rapidement dans le domaine de l'éducation et sert de plus en plus souvent de plate-forme pour l'apprentissage et l'innovation.Avec l'impact actuel des technologies numériques au sein des sociétés, des organisations telles que le Conseil national de recherches (CNR) appellent le secteur de l'éducation à se tourner vers les compétences du 21ème siècle, tandis que le secteur industriel repense la conception et la production afin d’assurer la durabilité (y compris l'éco-conception et l'économie circulaire) et adopter les dernières technologies intégrées dans l’entreprise 4.0.Les plateformes « Fablab » implantées dans les universités (Ub-Fablabs) pourraient donc jouer un rôle essentiel en tant que «plateforme de support» pour répondre à ces demandes.Etant donné qu’il y a eu très peu ou pas de recherche sur les capacités de Ub-Fablabs pour répondre à ces demandes, cette recherche a adopté une double approche :1) étudier et aligner les compétences cognitives, affectives et psychomotrices y compris les compétences opérationnelles (en matière de logiciels, de notion de mécanique, d’électricité et de systèmes embarqués, …) intégrées dans le processus de conception d'Ub-Fablabs.2) Évaluer la capacité d'Ub-Fablabs à préparer les citoyens aux futures évolutions dans la conception et la production.Dans la partie 1 de la recherche, le chercheur a observé de près la conception et la production d'une machine servant à écraser des roches (RMM) pour laquelle l'utilisation d'une gamme de technologies (bois, pierre et matériaux synthétiques) ont été requises.Les activités de conception et de production ont été enregistrées à l'aide de notes de terrain, d'enregistrements vidéo et de photographies. Pour garder la trace des activités de conception et de production, un modèle de processus de conception itératif, le «modèle de conception de Nawita» (NDPM) a été développé et utilisé.Les données ont été analysées à l'aide d'une analyse de protocole adaptée et les résultats ont été représentés graphiquement.Les résultats ont montré que matérialiser les idées créatives incubées dans la phase 1 du NDPM a déclenché un pic étonnant de compétences cognitives, affectives et psychomotrices dans les étapes 2, 3 et 4 du NDPM. Ces processus et compétences ont sans aucun doute constitués des compétences requises au 21ème siècle.Dans la partie 2 de la recherche, une analyse adaptée des contenus en ligne a été utilisée pour collecter des données provenant de 90% des Ub-Fablabs dans le monde.Une échelle d'indicateurs de capacité Ub-Fablab (Ub-Fablab CIS) a été développée et utilisée pour évaluer quatre aspects potentiels d'Ub-Fablab. Cette échelle est une aide à la compréhension du processus de création. La plate-forme support incite les esprits proactifs à une meilleure intégration des processus de conception et de production.Ces composants sont: i) Infrastructure technologique; ii) Approche pédagogique constructiviste; iii) Collaboration à travers le réseautage numérique et iv) durabilité (y compris l'éco-conception et l'économie circulaire).Les résultats ont révélé que tous les Ub-Fablabs ont une position forte dans la fourniture d'infrastructures technologiques et une forte approche pédagogique constructiviste, mais peuvent avoir besoin d'améliorer leur capacité de collaboration à travers le réseautage et la restauration de la durabilité.Les résultats de cette recherche fournissent une solide réputation pour les Ub-Fablabs à être utilisés pour augmenter les efforts afin d’équiper les citoyens avec des compétences du 21ème siècle et inciter les esprits proactifs à une meilleure intégration et employabilité
The concept of Digital Fabrication Laboratories (Fablabs), initially an industrial prototyping platform for local entrepreneurships is rapidly finding its way into the education arena and used as a platform for learning and innovation. With the current impact of digital technology on the societies, there are calls from organizations like the National Research Council (NRC) for the education sector to cater for the so-called 21st Century Skills, while the industrial sector to rethink design and production in order to cater for sustainability (inclusive of eco-design and circular economy) and to embrace the latest technologies in preparation for the Industries 4.0. Fablab platforms established in universities (Ub-Fablabs) could therefore play a vital role as a ‘support platform’ to meet these demands.Since there has been very little or no research into the capacities of Ub-Fablabs to meet these demands, this research took a two-fold approach toi) investigate and align cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills (inclusive of mechanical, electrical and embedded software operational skills) embedded in the design process in Ub-Fablabs.ii) assess the capacity of Ub-Fablabs to prepare citizens for the future design and production industries.In part 1 of the research, the researcher closely observed the design and production of a rock milling machine (RMM) where utilisation of a range of wood, stone and synthetic materials technologies were displayed. The design and production activities were recorded using field notes, video-recording and still photography. To keep trace of the design and production activities, an iterative design process model, the ‘Nawita Design Process Model (NDPM) was developed and utilised. Data was analysed using an adapted protocol analysis and results were graphed using pie and bubble-chart graphing. Results showed that materialising the creative ideas incubated in stage 1 of the NDPM unleashed a stunning peak of cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills in stages 2, 3 and 4 of NDPM. These processes and skills are undoubtedly constituted of the 21st Century Skills.In part 2 of the research, an adapted online content analysis was used to collect data from 90% of the Ub-Fablabs worldwide. An Ub-Fablab Capacity Indicator Scale (Ub-Fablab CIS) was developed and used to score on four potential aspects of Ub-Fablab if it has to be used as a support platform to incubate proactive minds for the future integration of design and production industries. These components are i) Technological infrastructure; ii) Constructionist pedagogical approach; iii) Collaboration through digital networking and iv) sustainability (inclusive of eco-design and circular economy). Results revealed that all Ub-Fablabs have a strong stand in providing technological infrastructures and a strong constructionist pedagogical approach, but may need to improve on its capacity for collaboration through networking and catering for sustainability.The findings of this research provides a strong standing for Ub-Fablabs to be utilised to augment efforts to equip citizens with 21st Century skills and incubate proactive minds for the future integration of design and production industries

Experiments were conducted to investigate the way humans solve Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problems (CVRPs), a problem class in which the shortest set of tours must be found around a set of weighted nodes using a capacity-limited vehicle. The first two experiments explored human performance in drawing solutions to problems of different complexity in terms of number of routes, nodes and weights to be summed. They also included as an experimental factor Verbalisation, both to provide a qualitative indicator of performance and also to examine the impact of verbalisation on performance. The qualitative results of Experiment 1 indicated two major types of strategists: Calculators and Clusterers. Clusterers performed faster and in some of the problems found solutions closer to the optimal than calculators. The major errors that participants performed were errors of calculation, nodes missing and drawing too few routes. Results from Experiment 2 suggest that humans are showing the best performance in problems with low calculation demands while they exhibit the worst performance in the problems with negligible calculation demands, thus suggesting that in order to provide very close to optimal solutions in CVRPs it is necessary to retain some calculation demand load to promote a more optimising behaviour. New strategies have been revealed in Experiment 2 and Verbalisation again did not influence the human performance. Further qualitative and quantitative analyses of the verbalisations and human performance in Experiment 1 showed that Visuospatial strategies such as Anchoring and Clustering are predictors of good performance while Arithmetic strategies such as Balancing generate poor performance. In Experiment 2, the best performances were exhibited when participants were using either Visuospatial strategies or Arithmetic strategies. The success and failure of the adoption of these strategies is dependant on the problem complexity and the cognitive load. A third 14 ..... ------------.~~-~~~ -- experiment revealed that error-trapping did not influence the human performance. The results informed the specification and design of a Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem Solver implemented in Java. A pilot study was completed that led to a revaluation of the software. A later version was implemented and tested empirically. Experiment 4 revealed that humans interaction with the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem Solver to solve CVRPs significantly improved their performance leading to the generation of very close to optimal routes.

Previous research suggests that people employ priority-related task attributes (e.g., task importance, task length, and task deadline) in prioritization. The process of prioritization employs heuristics to determine task order (Zhang & Feyen, 2007a). These models only address the prioritization process at a task level and do not address the cognitive mechanisms underlying prioritization. Building on previous findings, a process model of prioritization is proposed to explain prioritization during multitasking. Two experiments examined three cognitive processes of prioritization and the influence of time pressure. Three processes were investigated: 1) a process makes magnitude comparisons on priority-related information, 2) a process integrates multiple pieces of information and checks for potential conflicts among information, and 3) a process solves conflicts among priority-related information during prioritization. Under the influence of time pressure, it is hypothesized that people will adopt strategies that require fewer cognitive resources compared to situations where no time pressure exists. A series of task conditions with various configurations of priority-related task attributes was used to illuminate these processes and hypothesis. Hierarchical regression analyses provided evidence for the three cognitive components and suggested that these cognitive components played different roles under time pressure compared to performance under no time pressure. Three fundamental cognitive processes were identified in prioritization and provide implications for personnel selection and training for jobs demanding prioritization and multitasking in the real world.

There has been an increasing interest in understanding the personality processes that interact with the environment and lead to trait-manifesting behaviour. Researchers have noted that combining trait and cognitive-affective-motivational approaches to personality can lead to a greater understanding of trait expressions, the identification of moderators of trait expressions, and the development of new interventions to change personality and individual differences (Baumert & Schmitt, 2012). However, thus far, the research has primarily focused on the traits of neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness, and have not included the trait of conscientiousness. This is despite the known relationship between conscientiousness and important outcomes, such as academic performance. Alongside this limitation to previous research, attempts to link cognitive-affective processes to other personality traits, that are presumed to have substantial affective components, such as extraversion and neuroticism, have been mixed. These mixed results may be partly due to methodological limitations, such as the use of broadly valenced stimuli that do not necessarily have specific personal relevance to the participants in the study. Consequently, the research reported in this thesis focused upon the question, “How are personality traits, and conscientiousness in particular, related to cognitive-affective processes for relevant stimuli?” It was expected that the results of the studies in the thesis would further the understanding of the affective core of conscientiousness, and provide insight into the relationship between traits and how associated cognitive-affective processes interact with the environment to lead to trait-manifesting behaviour. In line with this question and expectations, the current research had four purposes:  Firstly, to see whether conscientiousness was associated with cognitive-affective processes for academic-related stimuli, in the categories of academic-approach, academic-avoidance, performance-evaluative, and academic-neutral, among samples of university students.  Secondly, to see whether extraversion and neuroticism were associated with the cognitive-affective processes of these academic-relevant stimuli, which would have personal relevance/significance to the student participants in the studies.  Thirdly, to see whether the situational context (week-of-semester in which the study was conducted) moderated the relationships between traits and cognitive affective processes.  Finally, to see whether cognitive-affective processes were related to intention to commit academic-conscientious behaviour in the coming week. These main aims were investigated across three studies and three different cognitive-affective processes: chronic accessibility, attentional bias, and appraisals. Study 1 investigated chronic accessibility (how accessible and readily activated a concept is) using a lexical decision task with 85 undergraduate students. The results indicated that conscientiousness was positively associated with chronic accessibility of academic-neutral words. Furthermore, extraversion was positively and neuroticism was negatively associated with chronic accessibility of academic-approach words. Week-of-semester in which the study was conducted moderated the relationship between neuroticism and chronic accessibility of academic-avoidance stimuli, although the simple slopes were not significant. Study 2 investigated attentional bias (the preferential attention of one category of stimuli over another) in 120 undergraduate students, using the dot-probe task across two stimulus durations: 100ms, which should capture relatively automatic attentional processing; and 500ms, which should capture more controlled attentional processing. The results indicated that conscientiousness was positively associated with attentional bias for performance-evaluative stimuli at both 100ms and 500ms. Additionally, intention to commit academic-conscientiousness behaviours (e.g., “Show up for a class more than 5 minutes early”) in the next week was associated with attentional bias for performance-evaluative stimuli at 100ms. Neuroticism was positively associated with attentional bias for academic-avoidance stimuli at both 100ms and 500ms. The relationship between neuroticism and attentional bias for academic-avoidance stimuli at 100ms was moderated by week-of-semester, in that the relationship was only significant later in the semester. Study 3 investigated the relationship between traits and the appraisal (the cognitive categorisation of stimuli) of pleasantness and relevance/significance of stimuli in 120 undergraduate students. Conscientiousness had a medium to strong relationship with both appraisal types (i.e., pleasantness- and relevance/significance-appraisals) across all stimulus categories, except for pleasantness-appraisals of academic-avoidance stimuli. Overall, stimulus-appraisals accounted for 35% of the variance in conscientiousness, and 43% of the variance in achievement striving. Pleasantness-appraisals of academic-neutral stimuli mediated the relationship between conscientiousness and intentions to commit conscientious academic behaviours in the next week. Neuroticism was associated with the relevance/significance, but not pleasantness, appraisals of academic-avoidance stimuli, and extraversion was associated with the pleasantness, but not relevance/significance, appraisals of academic-approach stimuli. The results of these studies have important implications for understanding personality and cognitive-affective processes. Firstly, the results of these studies indicate that conscientiousness is associated with the cognitive-affective processing of trait-relevant/significant stimuli. This calls into question the assumption that conscientiousness is a trait which primarily reflects self-regulation, and is unrelated to the affective processing of stimuli. Secondly, the finding that relevance/significance appraisals are important in explaining the relationships between traits and the stimuli indicates that future research may benefit from explicitly considering stimuli relevance/significance when designing cognitive-affective research. Investigations of stimuli relevance/significance may be more useful than broader stimuli-valence when seeking to investigate the affective core of traits. Thirdly, the finding that week-of-semester moderated the relationship between neuroticism and cognitive-affective processes provides initial evidence that naturally occurring situational contexts moderate the relationship between Big Five traits and cognitive-affective processes. Finally, it is expected that this research may have practical implications for a new generation of game-based personality assessments, which measure personality traits through cognitive or cognitive-affective tasks.
Thesis (Professional Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy in Organisational Psychology (PhD OrgPsych)
School of Applied Psychology
Griffith Health
Full Text

Negation is one of the key concepts in various fields of science: philosophy, logic and linguistics. Searching for its own approach to the study of negation, each science interprets this phenomenon in terms of its characteristic position. Defining the diversity of the problem of negation, this category is considered in the totality of its aspects. The existence of negative statements is stated by the dialectics of cognition of the world which is constantly evolving.