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Zusammenfassend weist dieses Dissertationsprojekt auf die Bedeutung emotionaler Lernprozesse in Zusammenhang mit sozial bedrohlichen Erlebnissen für die Entstehung der Sozialen Angststörung (SAD) sowie deren Veränderung durch die psychotherapeutische Intervention Imagery Rescripting hin. Es wurde vermutet, dass sozial bedrohliche Erlebnisse ähnlich traumatischer Erfahrungen bei der PTBS ungünstig verarbeitet sowie im Gedächtnis eingespeichert werden und so im weiteren Verlauf posttraumatische Stresssymptome hervorrufen, die schließlich die Symptomatik der SAD weiter fördern (z. B. Hackmann et al., 1998; Hackmann et al., 2000; Norton & Abbott, 2017a; siehe Abbildung 1). Die in diesem Dissertationsprojekt dargestellten Befunde unterstützen diese Vermutungen. Eine stärkere emotionale Aktivierung der Erinnerung sowie stärkere posttraumatische Stresssymptome bei PatientInnen mit SAD weisen auf eine ungünstige Repräsentation der sozial bedrohlichen Erlebnisse im Gedächtnis hin. Diese könnte ein Resultat dysfunktionaler Verarbeitungsstrategien nach den Erlebnissen darstellen, die Personen mit stärkeren sozialen Ängsten retrospektiv vermehrt berichten. Die Anwendung von Erkenntnissen hinsichtlich ätiologischer Bedingungen für die Entstehung der Symptomatik psychischer Erkrankungen könnte die Entwicklung psychotherapeutischer Interventionen noch weiter verbessern. Tatsächlich wird der Bedeutung sozial bedrohlicher Erinnerungen bereits in Form psychotherapeutischer Interventionen wie Imagery Rescripting Rechnung getragen (z. B. Wild et al., 2007, 2008). Es wird vermutet, dass die Intervention zu einer Veränderung der emotionalen Bedeutung bzw. Repräsentation der sozial bedrohlichen Erinnerung im Gedächtnis führt, die schließlich in einer Reduktion der posttraumatischen Stresssymptome und Symptome der SAD resultieren könnte (z. B. Arntz, 2011; siehe Abbildung 1). Entsprechend zeigte sich im Rahmen dieses Dissertationsprojektes bei gesunden Personen eine Veränderung des emotionalen Erlebens der Imagery Rescripting Intervention, die auf eine Veränderung der Repräsentation der Erinnerung im Gedächtnis hinweisen könnte. Zukünftige Studien sollten den Zusammenhang zwischen ätiologischen Bedingungen, der aktuellen Symptomatik sowie Veränderungen dieser durch psychotherapeutische Interventionen in Längsschnittstudien noch weiter beleuchten.

This article aims at presenting how the contributions of the bio-existentialist psychophysiological model conceptualized by Vezio Ruggieri and his collaborators can bring a new light on some core elements underlying acting such as stage presence, identification process with a character and the complex mechanism of prosody. This theoretical mark, which sees the connection body-mind in a circular relation, will enlighten the reader on the physiological basis of perception and imagination as well as on the fundamental role that the muscular structure plays within the construction of these phenomena., Cet article a pour but de présenter comment les apports du modèle psychophysiologique bio-existentialiste élaboré par Vezio Ruggieri et ses collaborateurs peuvent jeter une lumière nouvelle sur les processus sous-jacents le jeu de l’acteur tels que la présence scénique, le processus d’identification avec un personnage et le complexe mécanisme de la prosodie. Cet encadrement théorique, qui voit le rapport corps-esprit dans une relation circulaire, éclairera le lecteur sur les bases physiologiques de la perception et de l’imagination ainsi que sur le rôle fondamental que la structure musculaire joue dans la construction de ces phénomènes., Este artigo tem como objetivo apresentar a forma como as contribuições do modelo psicofisiológico bioexistencialista desenvolvido por Vezio Ruggieri e seus colaboradores podem trazer uma nova compreensão sobre os processos subjacentes do jogo do ator, como a presença cênica, o processo de identificação com um personagem e o mecanismo complexo da prosódia. Esse contexto teórico, que considera a conexão corpo-mente como uma relação circular, esclarece ao leitor as bases fisiológicas da percepção e da imaginação, bem como o papel fundamental que a estrutura muscular desempenha na construção desses fenômenos.

In the last decades, repeated evidence for graphemic effects has been reported in skilled readers. For example, a letter is more easily detected in a word when it corresponds to a simple grapheme (e.g. A in PLACE) than when it is embedded in a complex one (e.g. A in BEACH). Such effects have been taken as a demonstration that graphemes are processed as perceptual units by the reading system. However, this conclusion has been recently challenged by studies using different experimental designs. In the present study, we used four experimental situations to get a clearer picture of the reliability of graphemic effects. We used four types of tasks: letter detection (Experiment 1), length estimation (Experiment 2), mixing case lexical decision (Experiment 3), and primed lexical decision (Experiments 4 and 5). In each task, the processing of words with complex graphemes (e.g. BEACH) was compared to the processing of words with simple graphemes (e.g. PLACE). Overall, we found no reliable grapheme effect, supporting the claim that graphemes are not perceptual units in skilled visual word recognition. An alternative interpretation of ‘grapheme effects’ previously reported with the letter detection task is discussed., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

ZusammenfassungStress und seine komplexen Wirkungen werden bereits seit Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts erforscht. Die vielfältigen psychischen und physischen Stressoren in der Arbeitswelt können in Summe zu Störungen des Organismus und zu Erkrankungen führen. Da die Ausprägung körperlicher und subjektiver Folgen von Stress individuell unterschiedlich ist, lassen sich keine absoluten Grenzwerte ermitteln. Zur Erforschung der systematischen Mustererkennung physiologischer und subjektiver Stressparameter sowie einer Stressvorhersage, werden in dem vorliegenden Beitrag Methoden des maschinellen Lernens (ML) eingesetzt. Als praktischer Anwendungsfall dient die Logistikbranche, in der Belastungsfaktoren häufig in der Tätigkeit und der Arbeitsorganisation begründet liegen. Ein Gestaltungselement bei der Prävention von Stress ist die Arbeitspause. Mit ML-Methoden wird untersucht, inwieweit Stress auf Basis physiologischer und subjektiver Parameter vorhergesagt werden kann, um Pausen individuell zu empfehlen. Im Beitrag wird der Zwischenstand einer Softwarelösung für ein dynamisches Pausenmanagement für die Logistik vorgestellt.Praktische Relevanz: Das Ziel der Softwarelösung „Dynamische Pause“ besteht darin, Stress in Folge mentaler und physischer Belastungsfaktoren in der Logistik präventiv vorzubeugen und die Beschäftigten auf lange Sicht gesund, zufrieden, arbeitsfähig und produktiv zu halten. Infolge individualisierter Erholungspausen als Gestaltungselement, können Unternehmen unterstützt werden, Personalressourcen entsprechend der dynamischen Anforderungen der Logistik flexibler einzusetzen.

Objectif : La perception de l’effort (PE) est utilisée dans la prescription et la supervision d’exercice lors de tâches locomotrices et de résistance. Néanmoins, son utilisation pour prescrire et superviser l’exercice lors de tâches motrices des membres supérieurs reste incertaine. Cette étude vise à tester ces possibilités. Méthodes : Quarante participants se sont portés volontaires. Dans l’expérience 1, quatre intensités de PE ont été utilisées pour prescrire l’exercice dans une version modifiée du Test du Box and Block (TBB) et d’une tâche de pointage. La possibilité de superviser l’exercice a été étudiée en imposant trois niveaux de difficultés via un tempo ou un poids et en mesurant les changements de PE associés. L’expérience 2 réplique la possibilité de prescrire l’exercice avec l’intensité de la PE et étudie les effets de l’ajout d’un poids sur l’avant-bras dominant sur la performance et la PE au cours de la version standardisée du TBB. L’activité musculaire, les fréquences cardiaque et respiratoire ont été mesurées. Résultats : Dans l’expérience 1, l’augmentation de l’intensité de la PE pour prescrire l’exercice a induit une augmentation de la performance et l’augmentation de la difficulté des tâches a augmenté la PE du participant. Dans l’expérience 2, la possibilité d’utiliser la PE pour prescrire l’intensité de l’exercice a été répliquée. La réalisation du TBB avec un poids additionnel révèle un maintien de la performance au prix d’une PE plus élevée. Dans les deux expériences, l’activité musculaire constitue le meilleur corrélat physiologique de la PE. Conclusion : Nos résultats suggèrent que la PE est un outil efficace pour prescrire et superviser l’exercice au cours de tâches motrices des membres supérieurs., Purpose: While the perception of effort (PE) is widely used to prescribe and monitor exercise during locomotor and resistance tasks, its use to prescribe and monitor exercise during upper-limb motor tasks remains unclear. This study aimed to test these possibilities. Methods: Forty participants volunteered in two experiments. In experiment 1, by using a modified version of the box and block test (BBT) and a pointing task, four PE intensities were used to prescribe the exercise. The possibility of monitoring the exercise was investigated during these tests by monitoring changes in the rating of PE in response to three task difficulties manipulated with different movement tempo and weights added on the exercising forearm. Experiment 2 replicated the possibility of prescribing the exercise with the PE intensity during the BBT and explored the impact of adding weight on the exercising forearm on performance and PE during the standardized version of the BBT. Muscle activation, heart rate and respiratory frequencies were recorded. Results: In experiment 1, increasing the PE intensity to prescribe the exercise induced an increased performance between each intensity. Increasing task difficulty with higher movement tempo and adding weight on the forearm increased the rating of PE. Experiment 2 replicated the possibility to use PE intensity for exercise prescription during the BBT. When completing the BBT with an additional weight on the forearm, performance was maintained at a cost of a higher PE. In both experiments, muscle activation was the best physiological marker of PE. Conclusion: Our results suggest that PE is an efficient tool to prescribe and monitor exercise during upper-limb motor tasks.

À partir de la fin du XIXe siècle, avec l’éclosion du paradigme énergétiste, la physiologie commence à s’intéresser à l’organisme comme à un « moteur animé » dont on peut mesurer la vitesse et les latences, un moteur dont toutefois le rendement baisse dans le temps. Dans ce contexte émerge la question de la fatigue. En particulier les recherches sur la fatigue révèlent que cette baisse marginale ne dépend pas exclusivement d’un mécanisme physiologique, mais également du rapport psychosociologique du sujet avec la tâche à accomplir. En effet, la relation au temps de l’effort varie toujours en fonction de la valeur que l’on donne à une réalisation qui s’inscrit dans le futur. Cet article s’intéressera au rôle de cette catégorie psychophysiologique de fatigue dans l’émergence d’une réflexion sociologique et anthropologique sur le concept de temps à la fin du XIXe siècle. Cette approche originale cherche à dépasser l’alternative entre un temps humain subjectif ou objectif, continu ou variable, quantitatif ou qualitatif. With the advent of the energy paradigm in the late nineteenth century, physiology began to take an interest in the organism as an “animated motor” of measurable speed and potential but of diminishing output over time. It was in this context that the issue of fatigue emerged. In particular, research into fatigue revealed that this marginal decline does not exclusively depend on a physiological mechanism but also on the psychosociological relationship of the subject to the task that is to be completed. For the relationship of time to effort always varies depending on the value assigned its future realization. This article considers the role of this psychophysiological category of fatigue in the emergence of sociological and anthropological discussions of the concept of time in the late nineteenth century. This original approach seeks to move beyond the alternative between a subjective or objective, continuous or variable, quantitative or qualitative vision of human time.

Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit bestand darin, die psychophysiologische Gesundheit am Arbeitsplatz im Rahmen methodenübergreifender, ambulanter Designs genauer zu ergründen. Unter Berücksichtigung aktueller Arbeitsanforderungen und Ressourcen lag der Fokus auf der Analyse des situativen Wohlbefindens und der Herzratenvariabilität (HRV) verschiedener Berufsgruppen. In der ersten Studie wurde die ambulante HRV von Lehrkräften einerseits als situatives Beanspruchungsmaß und andererseits als stabile, selbstregulierende Ressource untersucht. Mehrebenenanalysen basierend auf 101 Personen und 669 Situationen zeigten, dass weder Arbeitsanforderungen noch -ressourcen oder entsprechende Interaktionen mit Veränderungen in der State-HRV assoziiert waren. Allerdings erwies sich eine hohe Trait-HRV als stresspuffernder Moderator in der Beziehung zwischen emotionalen Anforderungen und emotionaler Erschöpfung. Die zweite Studie untersuchte das situative Wohlbefinden von Klinikpersonal im Zusammenhang mit der State-HRV und State-Achtsamkeit als selbstregulierende Ressourcen im Moment. Nach Kontrolle der wichtigsten Arbeitsanforderungen ergaben Mehrebenenanalysen auf der Basis von 89 Personen und 937 Situationen positive und sich gegenseitig verstärkende Effekte einer hohen State-HRV und State-Achtsamkeit auf eine reduzierte emotionale Erschöpfung und erhöhte Entspannung. Zusammenfassend liefern diese Studien nicht nur theoretische und empirische Erkenntnisgewinne, sondern betonen auch die Bedeutung einer intra- und interindividuell hohen HRV für betriebliche Präventions- und Interventionsansätze. Abschließend werden der besondere Nutzen aber auch die Grenzen psychophysiologischer ambulanter Assessments am Arbeitsplatz diskutiert. Außerdem wird ein Einblick in die physiologischen Aspekte der Achtsamkeit ergänzt., The aim of the present thesis was to explore psychophysiological health in the workplace applying multi-methodological ambulatory designs. Considering current job demands and resources, the focus was on the analysis of situational well-being and heart rate variability (HRV) among various occupational groups. In the first study, the ambulatory HRV of teachers was investigated on the one hand as a situational strain measure and on the other hand as a stable, self-regulating resource. Multilevel analyses based on 101 individuals and 669 situations showed that neither job demands nor resources or corresponding interactions were associated with changes in state HRV. However, high trait HRV was found to be a stress-buffering moderator in the relationship between emotional demands and emotional exhaustion. The second study examined healthcare professionals’ situational well-being in relation to state HRV and state mindfulness as self-regulatory resources in the moment. After controlling for relevant job demands, multilevel analyses based on 89 individuals and 937 situations revealed positive and mutually amplifying effects of high state HRV and state mindfulness on reduced emotional exhaustion and increased relaxation. To conclude, these studies not only provide theoretical and empirical implications, but also emphasize the importance of an intra- and interindividually increased HRV for practical prevention and intervention strategies. Finally, the particular benefits as well as the limitations of psychophysiological ambulatory assessments in the workplace are discussed. Furthermore, an insight into the physiological aspects of mindfulness is provided.

Various prominent models of anxiety have in common that they propose that threatening stimuli processed by an organism lead to a fear response consisting of the components of a threat, attentional processing of the threat, which is subsequently accompanied by processing in brain circuits, and the subsequent physiological fear response. These components of the sequence (threat, attention processing, fear response) are essential to understand how symptoms of anxiety disorders occur and are considered in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Accordingly, both transdiagnostic and disorderspecific models of anxiety include the psychophysiological features of altered attention processing and altered autonomic activity as factors contributing to explain phenomenology, etiology, and maintenance of the disorder. Against this background, it is particularly remarkable that these aspects have scarcely been researched yet for the anxiety disorder, selective mutism (SM). Considering that SM is a severely debilitating and typically long-lasting anxiety disorder, it seems crucial to include children with SM to examine these fundamental features of anxiety disorders. A better understanding of these aspects could be the basis for developing targeted therapeutic approaches (e.g., training of attention allocation) and improving already established interventions (e.g., selected appropriate stimuli for exposure) for children with SM. In addition, the question arises whether and how SM differentiates from other anxiety disorders, especially social anxiety disorder (SAD), with which SM has numerous overlaps. The dissertation at hand, based on three studies, provides insights in triggers of anxiety, alterations in attentional processing of threat as well as the autonomic fear response of children with SM. All of these aspects have been largely unexplored, making this dissertation an important addition to the scarce psychophysiological research of SM. As has been shown in other anxiety disorders, including SAD, the project demonstrated that children with SM show signs of restricted autonomic flexibility and are thus likely to respond less adaptively to social stress. In addition, the project provides the first empirical evidence that attentional processing may be altered in children with SM, in that SM symptoms are associated with avoidance of eye contact. The alterations found do not appear to reflect specific psychophysiological processes of SM because these features occur transdiagnostically in children with anxiety disorders. Accordingly, the project’s results suggest that children with SM and SAD do not differ concerning psychophysiological characteristics of attentional processing and autonomic activity. However, the identified anxiety triggers show various triggers can induce anxiety in children with SM. This, in contrast to psychophysiological features, could represent a possible starting point for differentiating SM from other anxiety disorders. In the project at hand, there was also initial evidence for the presence of the potential mechanisms of failure to speak, attentive freezing, and avoidance. Given that the applied paradigms were not designed for differentiating between possible mechanisms of failure to speak, current findings represent only initial evidence on which further research on mechanisms of SM should be built.

Le Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) peut être compris comme une équipe coopérative de plusieurs agents : plusieurs véhicules aériens sans pilote (drones) et éventuellement plusieurs avions pilotés agissant ensemble dans des missions critiques. Par conséquent, une nouvelle perspective est proposée pour l'avenir de l'interaction humain-drone via une telle coopération en équipe, s'inscrivant dans le cadre de l'interaction à initiative mixte (MII). Dans ce contexte, nous considérons que l'agent humain (pilote) n'est pas un agent infaillible. Par exemple, des états mentaux dégradés pourraient diminuer les capacités de l'agent humain pendant l'exécution de la mission. Ainsi, dans ce travail de thèse, nous étudions des algorithmes de calcul physiologique et d'intelligence artificielle pour estimer l'état mental du pilote humain (par exemple, la charge mentale) lorsqu'il interagit avec une équipe de drones dans des conditions de mission difficiles, et ce, afin d'adapter l'interaction entre agents pour améliorer la performance globale.Ainsi, ce travail de thèse commence par la compréhension et l’évaluation les états mentaux des pilotes humains lorsqu'ils interagissent avec les drones. Nous avons développé un scénario employant une équipe humain-drones (MUM-T) dans une mission de recherche et de sauvetage, où les participants jouent le rôle d'un pilote coopérant avec trois drones. Dans une première campagne expérimentale, les missions ont été conçues pour induire des niveaux de charge mentale faibles et élevées, qui ont été évalués à l'aide de mesures subjectives, comportementales et physiologiques (i.e. métriques cérébrales, cardiaques et oculomotrices). Cette première campagne nous a permis (i) de caractériser la charge mentale à partir de signaux physiologiques, étant donné l'impact significatif de la charge mentale sur toutes les mesures ; et (ii) de proposer différentes chaînes de classification qui ont atteint une précision moyennes de classification allant de 75% pour la meilleure à 59,8% pour la moins bonne, en utilisant les caractéristiques cardiaques seules ou en combinaison avec les caractéristiques cérébrales et oculomotrices. Ensuite, sur la base de ces résultats, ce travail de thèse se concentre sur la construction d'un système de prise décision séquentielle qui est capable de surveiller l'état mental de l'homme à travers la sortie du classifieur et de sélectionner les actions appropriées pour adapter l'interaction dans le but de maximiser la performance humaine. Étant donné l'observabilité partielle de l'état mental humain et la nature non déterministe d'un tel système, nous avons construit ce travail dans le cadre des Processus Décisionels de Markov Partiellement Observable (POMDP). Les paramètres du modèle POMDP, qui vise à contrôler l'interaction, ont été approchés en utilisant toutes les données collectées lors de la première campagne expérimentale et les résultats de classification associés. Enfin, ce travail de thèse se termine par une deuxième campagne expérimentale, dont le but été l'évaluation d'une telle politique de contrôle de l'interaction basée sur modèle POMDP, en ce qui concerne la gestion de la performance et de la charge mentale. Dans cette campagne, tous les développements ont été intégrés et testés en ligne : extraction et traitement des caractéristiques physiologiques, estimation de l'état mental humain, et adaptation de l'interaction. Les résultats subjectifs obtenus ont montré que les participants ressentaient une charge de travail significativement moindre lorsque l'approche adaptative était utilisée, par rapport à un système d'interaction non adaptatif. Cependant, les performances réalisées par les participants n’ont pas été significativement améliorées. Ces derniers résultats ont mis en évidence la nécessité d'affiner le modèle de prise de décision, en particulier pour améliorer la performance humaine et la performance globale de l'équipe, et ouvrent plusieurs perspectives de recherche. Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) can be understood as a cooperative teaming of multiple agents: several unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and possibly several manned aircraft acting together in critical missions situations. As a result, a new perspective is proposed for the future of human-multi-UAV interaction via such a teaming cooperation falling within the mixed-initiative interaction (MII) framework. In order to design a mixed-initiative system, it is important to know what influences the human operator's (mental) state, decision-making capabilities and performance, particularly in critical situations. In this MII perspective, we consider that the human agent (pilot) is not a foolproof team agent. For instance, degraded mental states could diminish human agents capabilities during mission execution. Thus, in this thesis work we investigate physiological computing and artificial intelligence algorithms for estimating the human pilot's mental state (e.g. mental workload) when he or she interacts with a UAV team under difficult mission conditions in order to adapt the agents' interaction to favor performance. As an example, the adaptation can consist in choosing if a UAV request should be triggered or not given the current (mental) state of the human pilot and mission sub-tasks’ priority.In order to accomplish this thesis objective, this work begins by understanding and assessing the mental states of human pilots while they interact with UAVs. To this purpose we developed a scenario employing a MUM-T in a search and rescue mission, where participants played the role of a pilot cooperating with three UAVs. In a first experimental campaign missions were designed to induce high and low mental workload levels, which were evaluated using self-reported, behavioral and physiological measures (i.e., cerebral, cardiac, and oculomotor features). This first campaign allowed us: (i) to characterize mental workload based on physiological signals given that a significant impact of mental workload was found on all measures; and (ii) to propose different classification pipelines that achieved an average classification accuracy ranging from best at 75% to lowest at 59.8%, when using cardiac features alone or in combination with cerebral and oculomotor ones. Then, based on these results, this thesis work focuses on constructing a sequential decision-making system that is capable of monitoring human mental state through classifier’s output and selecting appropriate actions to adapt the interaction with an aim of maximizing human performance, and eventually enhance mission outcomes. Given the partial observability of the human mental state and the non-deterministic nature of such a system, we build this piece of work under the Partial Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) framework. The parameters of the POMDP model, that aims to control the interaction, were approximated using all data collected during the first experimental campaign and related classification results. And finally, this thesis work concludes with the evaluation of such a POMDP-based interaction control policy in a second experimental campaign with regards to performance and mental workload management. In this campaign, all developments were integrated and tested online: extraction and processing of physiological features, monitoring of human mental state, and adaption of the interaction. The subjective results obtained showed the participants felt significantly less workload when the adaptive approach was used when compared to a non-adaptive interaction system. However, the performance achieved by participants was not significantly improved. These last results highlighted the need to fine tune the decision-making model, in particular to improve the human and the overall MUM-T performance, and open several research perspectives.

The complaints of excessive daytime sleepiness are very common among adolescents. In addition, in this particular subpopulation, the presence of excessive daytime sleepiness is associated with negative impact on school performances, interpersonal difficulties (school friends or family), extracurricular activities, health and driving. In adolescents with complaints of excessive daytime sleepiness, it is important to perform a complete clinical assessment including systematic clinical interview, physical examination, sleep diaries, use of specific questionnaires and possible confirmatory tests. In adolescents, the main causes of excessive daytime sleepiness are sleep deprivation, inadequate sleep hygiene, insomnia disorders, circadian rhythm disorders, chronic somatic pathologies, psychiatric disorders, movement disorders related to sleep, respiratory disorders related to sleep, parasomnias, hypersomnia disorders and use of drugs or medications. Given the multiple aetiologies of excessive daytime sleepiness in adolescents, the implementation of targeted therapeutic strategies is essential in order to allow optimal management of this symptom and better prevention of its negative consequences. The aim of this review is therefore to provide health care professionals caring for adolescents with excessive daytime sleepiness complaints the currently recommended therapeutic strategies for the main aetiologies of excessive daytime sleepiness in this particular subpopulation., SCOPUS: re.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

To innovate or improve a current product, it is essential to understand how consumers perceive and experience it. There is an extensive research on consumer experience, but in general these studies focus on subjective measures. Therefore, the goal of this thesis is to propose and test the use of different objective measures in order to gain more insight on the cognitive processes (attentional, perceptive) and the affective processes (psychophysiological) involved in the consumer experience of car exterior design.In Study 1, in order to prove the existence of an attentional capture of car exterior design, a dot probe task was used, and level of innovation and car shape manipulated. Results showed an attentional advantage occurred towards more familiar designs and high shapes. In Study 2 we tested for the presence of specific affective responses to different designs, as well as examined visual salience and visual exploration. In a free-viewing task, two types of categorizations were analysed: shape and a confidential classification created by Renault. Low cars and curved shapes evoked higher heart rate and preference. Low and angular cars evoked a bottom-up processing (i.e. stimulus-driven). The importance of the logo on the visual exploration of car exterior design was also confirmed. In Study 3, in order to explore the potential impact of stimuli size on consumer experience, near-real-scale images of cars were presented in a free-viewing task. No differences were observed in terms of electrodermal or cardiac indicators. Curved designs (vs. angular) evoked higher pupil dilation. High, as well as angular designs were more prone to top-down influences (i.e. goal-driven), while low shapes and curved designs were more prone to bottom-up influences. In addition to the logo, the right front headlight also evoked more attention. We also observed a global exploration behaviour for the first 15s of picture presentation, followed by local exploitation behaviour.In summary, this thesis has brought to light different affective and cognitive mechanisms involved in the visual exploration of design elements, suggesting that their visual perception is an aesthetic experience. Based on an original experimental methodology for studying consumer behaviour in the fields of design and aesthetics, the present work allows us to contemplate a new approach in the study of the consumer experience at the various stages of design conception in the automotive industry.; Afin d’innover ou améliorer un produit, il est essentiel de comprendre comment les consommateurs le perçoivent et le vivent. De nombreuses études portant sur l’expérience du consommateur ont déjà été réalisées mais, en général, elles s’appuient sur des mesures subjectives. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons et nous testons l’utilisation des différents indicateurs objectifs, afin de mieux comprendre les processus cognitifs (attentionnels, perceptifs) et affectifs (psychophysiologiques) impliqués dans l'expérience du consommateur vis-à-vis le design extérieur des voitures. Dans l'étude 1, afin de prouver l’existence d’une capture attentionnelle liée au design des voitures, une tâche dot probe a été utilisée en faisant varier le niveau d'innovation et la forme du design. Les résultats montrent un avantage attentionnel pour les designs plus familiers et les formes hautes. Dans l'étude 2, nous avons testé la présence de réactions affectives spécifiques vis-à-vis les différents designs, en examinant aussi la saillance et l’exploration visuelles. Dans une tâche d’exploration visuelle libre de voitures, deux types de catégorisations ont été pris en compte : une catégorisation basée sur la forme et une catégorisation propre à l’entreprise Renault. Les formes basses et les formes courbes ont été préférées et ont provoqué une fréquence cardiaque plus élevée. Les formes basses et angulaires ont suscité un traitement de type bottom-up (i.e. stimulus-driven). L'importance du logo a également été confirmée. Dans l'étude 3, afin d'explorer l'impact potentiel de la taille des stimuli sur l'expérience du consommateur, des images de voitures à une échelle quasi-réelle ont été présentées dans une tâche d’exploration visuelle libre. Aucune différence n’a été constatée sur les indicateurs électrodermaux ou cardiaques. Les formes courbes (vs. angulaires) ont provoqué une plus grande dilatation pupillaire. Les formes hautes et les formes angulaires ont été plus susceptibles aux influences top-down (i.e. goal-driven), tandis que les formes basses, et les formes courbes aux influences bottom-up. En plus du logo, le phare avant droit a aussi suscité plus d'attention. Nous avons aussi observé un comportement d’exploration global pendant les 15 premières secondes suivies d’un comportement d’exploitation focalisé.En résumé, les travaux effectués ont permis de mettre en évidence différents mécanismes affectifs et cognitifs impliqués dans l'exploration visuelle des éléments de design d’une voiture, suggérant que leur perception visuelle est une expérience esthétique. Basés sur une méthodologie expérimentale originale d’analyse des comportements des consommateurs dans les domaines du design et de l’esthétique, les travaux effectués permettent d’envisager une nouvelle approche de l’étude de l’expérience du consommateur aux différentes étapes de conception du design dans l’industrie automobile.

International audience; The chromo-luminous spectacles performed on stage by the American dancer Loie Fuller since 1891 will be studied in relation to the development of nineteenth-century psychological theories on the energetic force of coloured light, including “the aesthetic of light” of the French philosopher Paul Souriau. Fuller imitates, through the movements of her skirt, the plant and animal shapes that come to life ideally thanks to an electric lighting system with several projectors that emit coloured rays on the body of the moving dancer. Whilst the interpretation of the biological function of light on living organisms has been developed from nineteenth-century studies on chromotherapy by French and American scientists (such as Camille Flammarion’s “chromo-culture”), Loie Fuller’s electric fééries use the same process of chromotherapy to create a modern embodied experience. Fuller stages the energetic power of light on the excitability of organisms in her dances in order to transform chromotherapeutic practices into what film historian Tom Gunning has defined as the first cinematic spectacle. The body of the dancer in the theater is presented as a device that produces energy, or as a kind of mobile screen capable of projecting sets of moving coloured lights to experiment directly the spectator’s senses.; Les danses chromo-lumineuses, inventées en 1891 par l’américaine Loïe Fuller, sont interprétées par rapport à l’essor des théories psychologiques dix-neuvièmistes sur la force énergétique de la lumière colorée, dont l’ouvrage L’Esthétique de la lumière de Paul Souriau représente le point culminant. Alors que l’interprétation de la fonction biologique de la lumière sur les organismes vivants est développée à partir des études sur la chromothérapie de savants français et américains (à l’instar de la « chromo-culture » de Camille Flammarion), les féeries électriques de Loïe Fuller – qui projettent des lumières colorées en mouvement sur le corps de la danseuse mimant des formes végétales et animales – mettent en scène le même processus d’éclairage de la chromothérapie afin d’affecter directement le spectateur.

During the second half of the nineteenth century in Great Britain, a substantial number of articles, conferences and books were dedicated to the mind-body problem. This period was indeed marked by the Darwinian theory, the development of brain sciences, together with the fight for intellectual leadership between some scientists and traditional authorities. A certain number of scientists rejected the theological tutelage of science as well as the metaphysical studies of the mind. They defended an experimental approach to the mind-body problem. Therefore, they started developing their own philosophy of mind. The most controversial thesis debated in this overall context was the thesis of epiphenomenalism formulated by Thomas Huxley in 1874. He argued that mind was causally inefficient, thus saying that the conscious will was an illusion. The defence of this astonishing position is related to two other main ideas: metaphysical agnosticism and the mechanical conception of the world. Even though it was widely accepted among Huxley’s close colleagues, this thesis was criticised by some people who also defended a scientific study of the mind. The mind-body problem thus appeared to us as a new way to enter the controversies of this time. Its study enabled us to identify a philosophical movement, which we labelled “Victorian psycho-physiological philosophy” and which this work aims at providing a global and systematic exploration of. The main authors of this study are the following: Thomas Henry Huxley, John Tyndall, William Clifford, Henry Maudsley, Alexander Bain, William B. Carpenter, George Henry Lewes and George Romanes.; Dans la seconde moitié du XIXᵉ siècle britannique, le nombre d’ouvrages, d’articles ou de conférences se rapportant au problème des rapports entre l’esprit et le corps est particulièrement conséquent. En effet, cette époque est caractérisée par la formulation de la théorie de l’évolution de Darwin, par l’émergence des sciences du cerveau, et par une lutte pour l’autorité intellectuelle entre les élites traditionnelles et certains scientifiques fraîchement arrivés sur la scène culturelle. Dans ce cadre, des scientifiques, rejetant la tutelle métaphysique ou théologique de la science, souhaitent aussi arracher la question de l'esprit des mains des métaphysiciens et théologiens, pour proposer une étude expérimentale des liens entre phénomènes physiques et phénomènes mentaux. Ils s'aventurent alors sur le terrain de la philosophie de l'esprit, proposant leurs propres théories concernant les relations de l'esprit et du corps. La thèse centrale et très discutée est celle de l’épiphénoménisme, telle qu’elle a été présentée par Thomas Henry Huxley en 1874. Elle stipule l'inefficacité causale des états mentaux sur le corps, animal ou humain, et fait de la volonté une illusion de la conscience. La formulation originaire de l'épiphénoménisme est par ailleurs solidaire de deux autres thèses centrales : l'agnosticisme métaphysique et la conception mécaniste du monde. Toutefois, certains scientifiques ou philosophes qui militent en faveur d’une prise en compte de la physiologie dans l’étude de l’esprit ne souscrivent pas à l’épiphénoménisme. Les critiques formulées à l’encontre de l’automatisme de Huxley ne proviennent donc pas uniquement des défenseurs de la liberté métaphysique et de la responsabilité humaine. Par ailleurs, il est possible de relever des nuances voire des désaccords théoriques chez les divers adhérents à l’automatisme. Le problème des rapports de l’esprit et du corps constitue à nos yeux une nouvelle porte d’entrée dans les débats de cette époque. Il nous a permis d’identifier un mouvement philosophique que nous avons qualifié de « philosophie psychophysiologique victorienne » et dont cette thèse a pour ambition d'être la première exploration globale et systématique. Les principaux auteurs étudiés sont les suivant : Thomas Henry Huxley, John Tyndall, William Clifford, Henry Maudsley, Alexander Bain, William B. Carpenter, George Henry Lewes et George Romanes.

During the second half of the nineteenth century in Great Britain, a substantial number of articles, conferences and books were dedicated to the mind-body problem. This period was indeed marked by the Darwinian theory, the development of brain sciences, together with the fight for intellectual leadership between some scientists and traditional authorities. A certain number of scientists rejected the theological tutelage of science as well as the metaphysical studies of the mind. They defended an experimental approach to the mind-body problem. Therefore, they started developing their own philosophy of mind. The most controversial thesis debated in this overall context was the thesis of epiphenomenalism formulated by Thomas Huxley in 1874. He argued that mind was causally inefficient, thus saying that the conscious will was an illusion. The defence of this astonishing position is related to two other main ideas: metaphysical agnosticism and the mechanical conception of the world. Even though it was widely accepted among Huxley’s close colleagues, this thesis was criticised by some people who also defended a scientific study of the mind. The mind-body problem thus appeared to us as a new way to enter the controversies of this time. Its study enabled us to identify a philosophical movement, which we labelled “Victorian psycho-physiological philosophy” and which this work aims at providing a global and systematic exploration of. The main authors of this study are the following: Thomas Henry Huxley, John Tyndall, William Clifford, Henry Maudsley, Alexander Bain, William B. Carpenter, George Henry Lewes and George Romanes.; Dans la seconde moitié du XIXᵉ siècle britannique, le nombre d’ouvrages, d’articles ou de conférences se rapportant au problème des rapports entre l’esprit et le corps est particulièrement conséquent. En effet, cette époque est caractérisée par la formulation de la théorie de l’évolution de Darwin, par l’émergence des sciences du cerveau, et par une lutte pour l’autorité intellectuelle entre les élites traditionnelles et certains scientifiques fraîchement arrivés sur la scène culturelle. Dans ce cadre, des scientifiques, rejetant la tutelle métaphysique ou théologique de la science, souhaitent aussi arracher la question de l'esprit des mains des métaphysiciens et théologiens, pour proposer une étude expérimentale des liens entre phénomènes physiques et phénomènes mentaux. Ils s'aventurent alors sur le terrain de la philosophie de l'esprit, proposant leurs propres théories concernant les relations de l'esprit et du corps. La thèse centrale et très discutée est celle de l’épiphénoménisme, telle qu’elle a été présentée par Thomas Henry Huxley en 1874. Elle stipule l'inefficacité causale des états mentaux sur le corps, animal ou humain, et fait de la volonté une illusion de la conscience. La formulation originaire de l'épiphénoménisme est par ailleurs solidaire de deux autres thèses centrales : l'agnosticisme métaphysique et la conception mécaniste du monde. Toutefois, certains scientifiques ou philosophes qui militent en faveur d’une prise en compte de la physiologie dans l’étude de l’esprit ne souscrivent pas à l’épiphénoménisme. Les critiques formulées à l’encontre de l’automatisme de Huxley ne proviennent donc pas uniquement des défenseurs de la liberté métaphysique et de la responsabilité humaine. Par ailleurs, il est possible de relever des nuances voire des désaccords théoriques chez les divers adhérents à l’automatisme. Le problème des rapports de l’esprit et du corps constitue à nos yeux une nouvelle porte d’entrée dans les débats de cette époque. Il nous a permis d’identifier un mouvement philosophique que nous avons qualifié de « philosophie psychophysiologique victorienne » et dont cette thèse a pour ambition d'être la première exploration globale et systématique. Les principaux auteurs étudiés sont les suivant : Thomas Henry Huxley, John Tyndall, William Clifford, Henry Maudsley, Alexander Bain, William B. Carpenter, George Henry Lewes et George Romanes.

Two themes have puzzled the research on developmental and learning disorders for decades. First, some of the risk and protective factors behind developmental challenges are suggested to be shared and some are suggested to be specific for a given condition. Second, language-based learning difficulties like dyslexia are suggested to result from or correlate with non-linguistic aspects of information processing as well. In the current study, we investigated how adults with developmental dyslexia or ADHD as well as healthy controls cluster across various dimensions designed to tap the prominent non-linguistic theories of dyslexia. Participants were 18–55-year-old adults with dyslexia (n = 36), ADHD (n = 22), and controls (n = 35). Non-linguistic theories investigated with experimental designs included temporal processing impairment, abnormal cerebellar functioning, procedural learning difficulties, as well as visual processing and attention deficits. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to investigate the emerging groups and patterns of results across these experimental designs. LPA suggested three groups: (1) a large group with average performance in the experimental designs, (2) participants predominantly from the clinical groups but with enhanced conditioning learning, and (3) participants predominantly from the dyslexia group with temporal processing as well as visual processing and attention deficits. Despite the presence of these distinct patterns, participants did not cluster very well based on their original status, nor did the LPA groups differ in their dyslexia or ADHD-related neuropsychological profiles. Remarkably, the LPA groups did differ in their intelligence. These results highlight the continuous and overlapping nature of the observed difficulties and support the multiple deficit model of developmental disorders, which suggests shared risk factors for developmental challenges. It also appears that some of the risk factors suggested by the prominent non-linguistic theories of dyslexia relate to the general level of functioning in tests of intelligence., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

This post-doctoral dissertation (habilitation) aims to provide a detailed synthesis of my research activities performed after my PhD, across the 2011-2019 period. I have gathered and presented some works with the intention to better describe and understand the limitations to physical exercise in chronic respiratory disorders (CRD). My approach suggests a complementary between whole-body exercise tests and isolated muscle assessments. The usefulness of these tests is exemplified through the presentation of several studies conducted in people with cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and obstructive sleep apnea.Collectively, some of our results suggest that each maximal and submaximal whole-body exercise test has its own interests and limitations. These tests should be viewed as complementary rather than interchangeable. The choice and frequency for the use of these tests should be considered with an individualized approach, taking into consideration the nature of the disease, its severity, some events modulating disease progression and hospital resources. Whole-body exercise tests, albeit useful to det ct and quantify exercise intolerance, are often less adapted to identify some of the underlying physiological mechanisms. In particular, the various neuromuscular abnormalities observed in people with CRD legitimize the evaluation of physical abilities using tests that isolate peripheral muscle function.Despite arguments supporting peripheral muscle abnormalities in cystic fibrosis, our studies suggest a preserved muscle metabolic function and contractility during local fatiguing exercises in individuals with mild to moderate lung disease. Some of our recent works now investigate the potential influence of CFTR genotype severity on peripheral muscle function in people with cystic fibrosis. Beyond peripheral factors, there are strong evidences supporting corticospinal abnormalities in CRD, especially in severe phenotypes, possibly linked with peripheral muscle dysfunction in these individuals. We found that cerebrovascular and corticospinal abnormalities observed at rest in people with severe obstructive sleep apnea persisted during physical exercise, with a potential contribution to reduced muscle strength, increased muscle fatigability or reduced maximal aerobic capacities.The last part of this dissertation is dedicated to the presentation of future research perspectives. I propose a rationale that legitimate the examination of limitations to physical exercise in aging individuals with CRD in demanding cognitive-motor contexts. We are currently investigating the hypothesis of a particular increase in muscle fatigability in people with COPD during cognitive-motor dual-tasks, related with abnormalities in central command. The traditional neuromuscular indicators are, however, somewhat limited for the understanding of such a complex phenomenon, which is influenced by several interconnected components (i.e. cortical, spinal, muscular). We are currently developing a methodology for facilitating the use of various indicators of neuromuscular complexity derived from nonlinear dynamics, in the specific context of muscle fatigability. The use of such indicators adapted to the study of the complexity of the neuromuscular system will allow shedding light on the psychophysiological limitations experienced by the individuals with CRD in demanding cognitive-motor contexts. Such investigations will favor the development of new treatment modalities in these specific populations; Ce mémoire d’habilitation à diriger des recherches a pour objectif de présenter une synthèse détaillée de mes activités de recherche post-thèse, sur la période 2011-2019. Ces travaux ont été regroupés et présentés dans l’objectif général d’une meilleure caractérisation et compréhension des limitations à l’effort dans les maladies respiratoires chroniques (MRC). L’approche que je développe ici suggère une complémentarité des évaluations de la tolérance à l’effort global d’une part, et de la fonction musculaire périphérique d’autre part. L’intérêt de ces tests est illustré ici au travers de plusieurs études conduites chez des personnes atteintes de mucoviscidose, de bronchopneumopathie chronique obstructive (BPCO) et du syndrome d'apnée obstructive du sommeil. Collectivement, certains de nos résultats suggèrent que les tests d’effort globaux, qu’ils soient maximaux ou sous-maximaux, présentent tous leur propres limites et intérêts. Ces tests ne sont pas interchangeables mais plutôt complémentaires. Le choix et la fréquence d’utilisation de ces tests doivent se faire selon une approche individualisée, en fonction de la pathologieconsidérée, de sa sévérité, de certains évènements conditionnant l’évolution de la maladie, et des ressources du centre hospitalier. Ces tests globaux, utiles pour détecter une intolérance à l’effort, restent peu adaptés pour identifier certains mécanismes physiologiques sous-jacents.En particulier, les différentes anomalies neuromusculaires retrouvées dans les MRC justifient une évaluation des aptitudes physiques sur des efforts isolant la fonction neuromusculaire. Malgré la présence d’un rationnel élevé en faveur d’anomalies périphériques dans la mucoviscidose, nos travaux suggèrent une fonction contractile et métabolique normale au cours d’efforts fatigants localisés chez des personnes avec atteinte légère à modérée. Certains de nos travaux actuels visent maintenant à déterminer si la sévérité de la mutation CFTR pourrait jouer un rôle sur la présence d’anomalies musculaires dans cette maladie. Au-delà d’arguments périphériques, il existe un rationnel élevé en faveur d’anomalies corticospinales en lien avec la dysfonction musculaire dans les phénotypes les plus sévères de certaines MRC. Certains de nos travaux ont notamment montré que les anomalies corticospinales et cérébrovasculaires présentes au repos chez des individus apnéiques sévères persistaient au cours de l’exercice, pouvant contribuer à la réduction de force musculaire, à l’augmentation de la fatigabilité musculaire ou encore à une réduction des capacités maximales aérobies.La dernière partie de ce mémoire est dédiée à la présentation de différentes perspectives de recherche. Je propose un rationnel justifiant de s’intéresser aux limitations à l’effort des individus MRC âgés dans des contextes cognitivo-moteur exigeants. Nous testons actuellement l’hypothèse d’une fatigabilité musculaire particulièrement accrue chez des personnes BPCO en condition de double tâche cognitivo-motrice, en lien notamment avec des anomalies de la commande centrale. Les indicateurs neuromusculaires classiques sont cependant limités pour la compréhension d’un phénomène aussi complexe, sous l’influence de différentes interactions corticales, spinales et musculaires. Ainsi, nous développons actuellement une méthodologie afin de faciliter l’utilisation de différents indicateurs de complexité neuromusculaire, issus de la dynamique non-linéaire, en condition de fatigabilité musculaire. L’utilisation d’indicateurs adaptés à l’étude de la complexité du système neuromusculaire permettra une meilleure compréhension des limitations psychophysiologiques éprouvées par les individus MRC dans des contextes cognitivo-moteurs exigeants, pouvant favoriser à terme le développement de nouvelles modalités de prise en charge pour ces populations spécifiques.

This post-doctoral dissertation (habilitation) aims to provide a detailed synthesis of my research activities performed after my PhD, across the 2011-2019 period. I have gathered and presented some works with the intention to better describe and understand the limitations to physical exercise in chronic respiratory disorders (CRD). My approach suggests a complementary between whole-body exercise tests and isolated muscle assessments. The usefulness of these tests is exemplified through the presentation of several studies conducted in people with cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and obstructive sleep apnea.Collectively, some of our results suggest that each maximal and submaximal whole-body exercise test has its own interests and limitations. These tests should be viewed as complementary rather than interchangeable. The choice and frequency for the use of these tests should be considered with an individualized approach, taking into consideration the nature of the disease, its severity, some events modulating disease progression and hospital resources. Whole-body exercise tests, albeit useful to det ct and quantify exercise intolerance, are often less adapted to identify some of the underlying physiological mechanisms. In particular, the various neuromuscular abnormalities observed in people with CRD legitimize the evaluation of physical abilities using tests that isolate peripheral muscle function.Despite arguments supporting peripheral muscle abnormalities in cystic fibrosis, our studies suggest a preserved muscle metabolic function and contractility during local fatiguing exercises in individuals with mild to moderate lung disease. Some of our recent works now investigate the potential influence of CFTR genotype severity on peripheral muscle function in people with cystic fibrosis. Beyond peripheral factors, there are strong evidences supporting corticospinal abnormalities in CRD, especially in severe phenotypes, possibly linked with peripheral muscle dysfunction in these individuals. We found that cerebrovascular and corticospinal abnormalities observed at rest in people with severe obstructive sleep apnea persisted during physical exercise, with a potential contribution to reduced muscle strength, increased muscle fatigability or reduced maximal aerobic capacities.The last part of this dissertation is dedicated to the presentation of future research perspectives. I propose a rationale that legitimate the examination of limitations to physical exercise in aging individuals with CRD in demanding cognitive-motor contexts. We are currently investigating the hypothesis of a particular increase in muscle fatigability in people with COPD during cognitive-motor dual-tasks, related with abnormalities in central command. The traditional neuromuscular indicators are, however, somewhat limited for the understanding of such a complex phenomenon, which is influenced by several interconnected components (i.e. cortical, spinal, muscular). We are currently developing a methodology for facilitating the use of various indicators of neuromuscular complexity derived from nonlinear dynamics, in the specific context of muscle fatigability. The use of such indicators adapted to the study of the complexity of the neuromuscular system will allow shedding light on the psychophysiological limitations experienced by the individuals with CRD in demanding cognitive-motor contexts. Such investigations will favor the development of new treatment modalities in these specific populations; Ce mémoire d’habilitation à diriger des recherches a pour objectif de présenter une synthèse détaillée de mes activités de recherche post-thèse, sur la période 2011-2019. Ces travaux ont été regroupés et présentés dans l’objectif général d’une meilleure caractérisation et compréhension des limitations à l’effort dans les maladies respiratoires chroniques (MRC). L’approche que je développe ici suggère une complémentarité des évaluations de la tolérance à l’effort global d’une part, et de la fonction musculaire périphérique d’autre part. L’intérêt de ces tests est illustré ici au travers de plusieurs études conduites chez des personnes atteintes de mucoviscidose, de bronchopneumopathie chronique obstructive (BPCO) et du syndrome d'apnée obstructive du sommeil. Collectivement, certains de nos résultats suggèrent que les tests d’effort globaux, qu’ils soient maximaux ou sous-maximaux, présentent tous leur propres limites et intérêts. Ces tests ne sont pas interchangeables mais plutôt complémentaires. Le choix et la fréquence d’utilisation de ces tests doivent se faire selon une approche individualisée, en fonction de la pathologieconsidérée, de sa sévérité, de certains évènements conditionnant l’évolution de la maladie, et des ressources du centre hospitalier. Ces tests globaux, utiles pour détecter une intolérance à l’effort, restent peu adaptés pour identifier certains mécanismes physiologiques sous-jacents.En particulier, les différentes anomalies neuromusculaires retrouvées dans les MRC justifient une évaluation des aptitudes physiques sur des efforts isolant la fonction neuromusculaire. Malgré la présence d’un rationnel élevé en faveur d’anomalies périphériques dans la mucoviscidose, nos travaux suggèrent une fonction contractile et métabolique normale au cours d’efforts fatigants localisés chez des personnes avec atteinte légère à modérée. Certains de nos travaux actuels visent maintenant à déterminer si la sévérité de la mutation CFTR pourrait jouer un rôle sur la présence d’anomalies musculaires dans cette maladie. Au-delà d’arguments périphériques, il existe un rationnel élevé en faveur d’anomalies corticospinales en lien avec la dysfonction musculaire dans les phénotypes les plus sévères de certaines MRC. Certains de nos travaux ont notamment montré que les anomalies corticospinales et cérébrovasculaires présentes au repos chez des individus apnéiques sévères persistaient au cours de l’exercice, pouvant contribuer à la réduction de force musculaire, à l’augmentation de la fatigabilité musculaire ou encore à une réduction des capacités maximales aérobies.La dernière partie de ce mémoire est dédiée à la présentation de différentes perspectives de recherche. Je propose un rationnel justifiant de s’intéresser aux limitations à l’effort des individus MRC âgés dans des contextes cognitivo-moteur exigeants. Nous testons actuellement l’hypothèse d’une fatigabilité musculaire particulièrement accrue chez des personnes BPCO en condition de double tâche cognitivo-motrice, en lien notamment avec des anomalies de la commande centrale. Les indicateurs neuromusculaires classiques sont cependant limités pour la compréhension d’un phénomène aussi complexe, sous l’influence de différentes interactions corticales, spinales et musculaires. Ainsi, nous développons actuellement une méthodologie afin de faciliter l’utilisation de différents indicateurs de complexité neuromusculaire, issus de la dynamique non-linéaire, en condition de fatigabilité musculaire. L’utilisation d’indicateurs adaptés à l’étude de la complexité du système neuromusculaire permettra une meilleure compréhension des limitations psychophysiologiques éprouvées par les individus MRC dans des contextes cognitivo-moteurs exigeants, pouvant favoriser à terme le développement de nouvelles modalités de prise en charge pour ces populations spécifiques.

Neurofeedback (NFB) is an operant conditioning procedure whereby an individual learns to self-regulate the electrical activity of his/her brain. Initially developed as a treatment intervention for pathologies with underlying EEG dysfunctions, NFB is also used as a training tool to enhance specific cognitive states required in high-performance situations. The original idea behind the NFB training effect is that the changes should only be circumscribed to the trained EEG frequencies. The EEG frequencies which are not used as feedback frequencies should be independent and not affected by the neurofeedback training. Despite the success of sensorimotor rhythm NFB training in cognitive performance enhancement, it remains unclear whether all participants can intentionally modify the power densities of specifically selected electroencephalographic (EEG) frequencies. In the present study, participants were randomly assigned to either a control heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback (HRV) training group or a combination of HRV biofeedback and neurofeedback (HRV/NFB) training group. This randomized mixed design experiment consisted of two introductory theoretical lessons and a training period of 6 weeks. We investigated the evolution of the different EEG frequency bands of our two experimental groups across and within session. All the participants exhibited EEG changes across and within session. However, within the HRV/NFB training group, untrained EEG frequencies have been significantly modified, unlike some of the trained frequencies. Moreover, EEG activity was modified in both the HRV group and the HRV/NFB groups. Hence, the EEG changes were not only circumscribed to the trained frequency bands or to the training modality., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Low arousal states (especially boredom) have been shown to be more deleterious to learning than high arousal states, though the latter have received much more attention (e.g., test anxiety, confusion, and frustration). Aiming at profiling arousal in the classroom (how active students are) and examining how activation levels relate to achievement, we studied sympathetic arousal during two runs of an elective advanced physics course in a real classroom setting, including the course exam. Participants were high school students (N = 24) who were randomly selected from the course population. Arousal was indexed from electrodermal activity, measured unobtrusively via the Empatica E4 wristband. Low arousal was the level with the highest incidence (60% of the lesson on average) and longest persistence, lasting on average three times longer than medium arousal and two times longer than high arousal level occurrences. During the course exam, arousal was positively and highly correlated (r = .66) with achievement as measured by the students' grades. Implications for a need to focus more on addressing low arousal states in learning are discussed, together with potential applications for biofeedback, teacher intervention, and instructional design. (DIPF/Orig.)

L’humaniste et réformateur protestant Melanchthon fonde sa conception d’un spectacle édifiant de la condition humaine sur la tragédie antique autant que sur la Bible et sur l’histoire universelle. La tragédie est le lieu où se pensent la liberté humaine et son aliénation : elle montre comment la psychophysiologie, qui fonde la condition humaine, est orientée vers le péché, car les personnages tragiques illustrent la menace du furor qui pèse toujours sur l’équilibre de la raison et de la volonté.

Diagramme

Diagramme

The objective of the present dissertation is to investigate a long-lasting question of whether there is psychophysiological response patterns specificity to basic emotions, with innovative data analysis method. For the purpose of eliciting the five basic emotions (amusement, sadness, anger, fear and disgust), 15 standardized film clips in German were carefully selected. Moreover, three psychophysiological signals, trapezius Electromyography (tEMG), Electrodermal activity (EDA) and Electrocardiogram (ECG) were recorded during the period of emotion elicitation. The Support Vector Machines (SVMs) were utilized as the classification algorithm and Sequential Forward Selection was used as the feature selection method. Two kinds of validation method, 10-fold cross-validation and leave-one-subject-out cross-validation were utilized for obtaining the subject-dependent and the subject-independent models, respectively. The subject-independent models perform better than the subject-dependent models on totally unseen participants, which indicates individual responses patterns. The averages of classification rates of both models are above the chance level, which indicates psychophysiological response patterns specificity to basic emotions. SVM is an efficient classifier for the psychophysiological-based film induced emotion classification. 16 features are essential to the present question and tEMG contributes a lot among them.

Aujourd’hui, il est bien établi que la variabilité cardiaque est un facteur de pronostic important dans les pathologies coronariennes mais le constat n’est pas toujours aussi clair concernant sa relation avec la santé mentale. Les compétences émotionnelles quant à elles sont considérées comme une ressource pour les individus car la recherche montre des associations claires entre celles-ci et la santé mentale, somatique et psychosomatique. Cependant, les processus physiologiques sous-jacents à ces associations sont très peu investigués à l’heure actuelle. La variabilité cardiaque pourrait être l’un de ces mécanismes. Cette thèse a dès lors pour objectif principal d’étudier la variabilité cardiaque, les compétences émotionnelles, les interactions entre ces deux facteurs et leurs liens avec la santé. Les résultats principaux montrent une relation entre les compétences émotionnelles et les symptômes dépressifs ainsi qu’anxieux tant chez des sujets « tout-venant » que chez des patients présentant une pathologie coronarienne. Néanmoins, un effet tampon de la variabilité cardiaque sur la relation entre les compétences émotionnelles et les symptômes dépressifs est observé chez les sujets « tout-venant ». Cet effet n’est pas retrouvé chez les patients coronariens. De plus, la variabilité cardiaque et les compétences émotionnelles ne semblent pas prédire le pronostic de ces patients. Finalement, les résultats sont débattus en retenant l’idée principale que la variabilité cardiaque reflète le fonctionnement du système nerveux parasympathique qui permet à l’individu d’économiser et récupérer des ressources après un stress. Cette théorie expliquerait l’effet protecteur de la variabilité cardiaque sur la relation entre un déficit au niveau des processus émotionnels et la santé mentale. Cependant, les zones d’ombres et le peu d’études permettant de comparer ces résultats sont également mis en avant., Doctorat en Sciences psychologiques et de l'éducation, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

In the hippocampus, the consolidation of long-term associative memories occurs rapidly and requires few or even only one-trial presentation of a learning task, suggesting that the encoding of memories occurs very fast at the cellular level. Spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) is considered one of the most suitable models to investigate learning and memory processes in the brain at the cellular level. It consists of the repetitive temporal correlation between one excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) and either a single or a burst of postsynaptic action potentials (AP or spikes). In this dissertation the actions of endogenous dopamine and BDNF/TrkB signaling in t-LTP at hippocampal Schaffer collateral (Sc)-CA1 synapses, using two novel different STDP paradigms that consist of only six repeats (6x) of either 1EPSP/1AP or 1EPSP/4AP were investigated. Overall, 6x 1:1 t-LTP is likely to have a presynaptic locus of expression and requires the activation of NMDA receptors (R) and L-type Ca2+ channels. This type of plasticity was antagonizing by the combination of both D1-like and D2-like dopamine receptor blockers. TrkB receptor seems to be also involved but not the BDNF release. In contrast, 6x 1:4 t-LTP has a postsynaptic expression locus triggering the trafficking of GluA2-lacking AMPARs into the membrane. However, it was unaffected by the presence of selective blockers for NMDAR, L-type Ca2+ channels, mGluR1 or mGluR5, but requires postsynaptic Ca2+ elevation. Activation of D2-like receptors showed to be critical for the induction of 6x 1:4 t-LTP but not BDNF/TrkB receptor signaling. Interestingly, STDP experiments using the same spike pattern but with a higher number of repeats (70x 1:1 and 35x 1:4) revealed a different outcome. T-LTP induced with 70x 1:1 relies on presynaptic mechanisms and requires only D1-like dopamine receptor but not TrkB receptor activation. However, 35x 1:4 t-LTP has postsynaptic locus expression and depends on BDNF/TrkB signaling. These two types of plasticity can be induced in the same cell, indicating that a single CA1 pyramidal neuron hosts multiple types of plasticity that can be triggered by the variation in the patterns and number of pre- and postsynaptic activation. These findings provide new insights into the processing properties and information storage at the single-cell level., Im Hippocampus erfolgt die Konsolidierung von langanhaltenden assoziativen Gedächtnis schnell und bedarf nur wenigen oder nur einer einzigen Präsentation des Lernreizes. Folglich muss auch die Einspeicherung des Gedächtnisinhaltes auf zellulärer Ebene sehr schnell erfolgen. Die Spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) wird dabei als eines der besonders geeigneten Modelle zur Untersuchung zellulärer Grundlagen von Lern- und Gedächtnisvorgängen im Gehirn angesehen. STDP wird durch eine wiederholte, fast zeitgleiche Auslösung von einem erregenden postsynaptischen Potential (EPSP) und entweder, einem einzelnen bzw. multiplen postsynaptischen Aktionspotentialen (APs oder Spikes) induziert. Hier wird der Einfluss von endogenem Dopamin und BDNF/TrkB-Signalwegen auf die t-LTP an Schaffer Kollateral-CA1 Synapsen des Hippocampus untersucht. Dabei werden 2 verschiedene STDP Paradigmen mit jeweils 6 Wiederholungen von 1EPSP/1AP oder 1EPSP/4AP verwendet. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass das 6x 1:1 t-LTP höchstwahrscheinlich präsynaptisch exprimiert wird und dass dabei sowohl NMDA Rezeptoren als auch L-Typ Ca2+ Kanäle beteiligt sind. Diese Plastizitätsform kann durch eine Kombination von D1- und D2-ähnlichen Dopaminrezeptor-Antagonisten blockiert werden. Weiterhin wurde eine TrkB-Rezeptorbeteiligung in Abwesenheit von BDNF festgestellt. Im Gegensatz dazu hat das 6x 1:4 t-LTP einen postsynaptischen Expressionsort, der durch Einbau von GluA2-freien AMPA Rezeptoren in die Membran ausgelöst wird. Diese LTP ist unabhängig von NMDAR, L-Typ Ca2+ Kanäle, mGluR1 oder mGluR5, bedarf aber dennoch einer postsynaptischen Erhöhung des Ca2+ Levels. Die Aktivierung von D2-ähnlichen Rezeptoren ist für die Expression des 6x 1:4 t-LTP wichtig, während der BDNF/TrkB-Signalweg nicht aktiviert wird. Interessanterweise, wiesen STDP Experimente mit demselben Paarungsmuster aber höherer Anzahl von Wiederholungen (70x 1:1 und 35x 1:4) einen anderen molekularen Mechanismus auf. Die 70x 1:1 t-LTP hat zwar einen präsynaptischen Expressionsort, wird allerdings alleinig von D1-ähnlichen Rezeptoren ohne eine zusätzliche Beteiligung von BDNF oder TrkB Rezeptoren gesteuert. Die 35x 1:4 t-LTP hat einen postsynaptischen Expressionsort und ist abhängig vom BDNF/TrkB-Signalweg. Diese zwei Typen von Plastizität können in einer Zelle nacheinander ausgelöst werden, d.h. eine CA1-Pyramidenzelle kann verschiedene Plastizitätsformen ausprägen, die durch unterschiedliche Variationen von Stimulationsmustern und –wiederholungen von prä- und postsynaptischer Aktivierung ausgelöst werden. Diese Befunde lassen Rückschlüsse auf die Verarbeitung und Prozessierung von Gedächtnisinhalten auf dem Level einer Einzelzelle zu.

Ausgangspunkt der vorliegenden Arbeit war die bis heute offen gebliebene und kontrovers diskutierte Frage nach der physiologischen Spezifität von Emotionen und damit der eindeutigen und objektiven Differenzierung von Emotionen. Dass Emotionen mit einer relativ eindeutigen und differenzierbaren Erlebniskomponente einhergehen, ist subjektiv und bezogen auf den allgemeinen Menschenverstand unbestritten. Umstritten ist jedoch was diese eindeutige, auf Alltagswissen, beruhende Differenzierbarkeit von Emotionen bewirkt. Bezogen auf die eine Emotion begleitende physiologische Erregung, bedeutet dies die Frage: wird jede Emotion durch ein je spezifisches Muster an physiologischen (autonomen, kortikalen, muskulären) Reaktionen definiert, unabhängig davon unter welchen Bedingungen eine Emotion entsteht, oder zeigen physiologische Reaktionen nur die spezifischen Anforderungen an, die mit einer Emotion einhergehen und weniger die Emotion selber. Beginnend mit den Arbeiten von Charles Darwin und William James, die eine evolutionäre bzw. physiologische Grundlage für die Entstehung und Differenzierung unterschiedlicher emotionaler Qualitäten nahelegten, haben sich zahlreiche Forscher und Forschungsgruppen mit der Frage beschäftigt ob psychophysiologische Muster existieren, die konsistent bestimmte emotionale Phänomene begleiten. Obwohl zahlreiche empirische Befunde, eine Differenzierung von Emotionen durch psychophysiologische Muster nahelegen (z.B. Bradley & Lang, 2000; Cacioppo et al., 2000; Stephens, et al., 2010 Christie & Friedman, 2004), besteht immer noch kein Konsens bezüglich deren Konkordanz (z.B. Mauss & Robinson 2009; Kreibig, 2010). Übersichtsarbeiten und Metaanalysen kommen entsprechend häufig zu dem Schluß, dass keine emotionsspezifischen physiologische Reaktionsmuster existieren, oder dass emotionsspezifische physiologische Reaktionen zwar existieren, aber mittels der Methoden der Psychophysiologie nicht differenziert erfasst werden können. Diese zweite Bewertung der empirischen Befundlage lässt sich insofern erweitern, dass die bisherigen Ansätze der psychophysiologischen Emotionsforschung methodische Schwächen und theoretische Rahmenbedingungen aufwiesen, die die Suche nach differenzierbaren, physiologischen Mustern erschwert haben. In jüngerer Zeit wurden einige Studien veröffentlicht die einen Pattern Classification Ansatz verwendeten um Emotionen zu differenzieren und physiologische Emotionsspezifität nachzuweisen (z.B. Friedman et al, 2014; Kragel & LaBar, 2013). Trotz beträchtlicher methodischer Heterogenität zwischen diesen Studien, bezüglich der verwendeten Analyseverfahren, Induktionsmethoden und induzierten Emotionen, lässt sich ein substantielles Maß an Differenzierung zwischen verschiedenen diskreten Emotionen feststellen. Jedoch schmälert die Tatsache einer unterschiedlichen Anzahl an a priori festgelegten Emotionskategorien und die unzureichend verwendete Kreuzvalidierung anhand einer externen Stichprobe, die Bedeutung der bisher erzielten Ergebnisse innerhalb dieses Forschungsansatzes. Eine vergleichende Betrachtung der Differenzierbarkeit von diskreten Emotionen durch physiologische Reaktionsparameter auf unterschiedlichen Reaktionsebenen und in unterschiedlichen Induktionskontexten findet in der Regel nicht statt. Im Unterschied zu vorherigen Emotionsklassifizierungsstudien wird eine größere Stichprobe an Emotionskategorien und physiologischen Reaktionsparametern analysiert, wobei neben der autonomen und behavioralen Reaktionsebene auch die kortikale Aktivität in die Vorhersage der Emotionskategorie einbezogen wird. Bisherige Versuche Emotionen anhand physiologischer Reaktionsmuster in einem multivariaten Ansatz zu diskriminieren, verwendeten zumeist ein reduziertes Set an Reaktionsparametern die in der Regel auf einer oder zwei Reaktionsebenen anzusiedeln sind. In zwei Experimenten wurden insgesamt 10 diskret definierte Emotionen (Angst, Ärger, Trauer, Ekel, Freude, Humor und Erotik und zusätzlich drei Kontrollkategorien: Neutral, Positiv und Aktion) mittels Bildern bzw. Filmausschnitten induziert und die physiologische Reaktion anhand 33 physiologischer Reaktionsparameter operationalisiert. Subjektive Angaben dienten einem Manipulationscheck und der Analyse der kognitiven Repräsentation diskreter Emotionen. Im Rahmen einer gestuften Parameterauswahl und anschließenden Klassifizierungsanalyse (Pattern Classification Ansatz), wird die Diskriminierung zwischen den unterschiedlichen Emotionskategorien anhand der Klassifizierungswahrscheinlichkeiten geprüft. In einem dritten Experiment wurden die subjektiven, physiologischen und klassifikatorischen Ergebnisse in Abhängigkeit der verwendeten Induktionsmethode innerhalb einer Stichprobe verglichen. In beiden Induktionskontexten zeigte sich eine vergleichbar hohe und signifikante Trefferquote. Gleichzeitig zeigen sich jeweils deutliche Unterschiede in den Trefferquoten einzelner Emotionskategorien in Abhängigkeit vom Induktionskontext. Dies bestätigt die empirische Befundlage bezüglich des Einflusses des Induktionskontextes auf die Effektivität der Emotionsinduktion und zeigt darin die differentielle Wechselwirkung der Induktionsmethode und der durch sie induzierten Emotion. Beide Induktionsmethoden sind global betrachtet ähnlich effektiv; beide Induktionsmethoden unterscheiden sich jedoch in ihrer Effektivität zur Induktion bestimmter diskreter Emotionen. Eine objektive, vom Individuum unabhängige Oberationalisierung von Emotionen ist möglich. Es existieren distinkte physiologische Reaktionsmuster für Basisemotionen. Allerdings variieren diese Reaktionsmuster stimulusspezifisch und damit ist die Diskriminierbarkeit von Emotionen kontextspezifisch.

In dieser Dissertation werden neuropsychologische Effekte der transkutanen Vagusnervstimulation sowie ihr therapeutisches Potential im klinischneuropsychologischen Bereich untersucht. Die ersten beiden Studien zielen auf GABAerge Neuromodulation durch tVNS ab. Diese wird als einer der neuronalen Wirkmechanismen der tVNS diskutiert, doch die Evidenzlage ist noch ungenügend. Es wird eine Modulation der automatischen Motorinhibition durch tVNS gezeigt, welche eng mit der GABA-Konzentration im motorischen Kortex assoziiert ist. Andererseits findet sich kein Effekt von tVNS auf visuelle bistabile Perzeption, die eng mit der GABA-Konzentration im visuellen Kortex assoziiert ist. Da die Ergebnisse der beiden Studien kein konsistentes Bild ergeben, ist in dieser Arbeit ein zusätzlicher Studienentwurf enthalten, in dem per MEG gemessene Hirnoszillationen als Indikator für GABAerge Neuromodulation durch tVNS genutzt werden sollen. In der dritten Studie kommt eine Aufgabe zum Einsatz, in der Antwortkonflikte erzeugt werden. Es wird gezeigt, dass tVNS die globale und konfliktspezifische Performanz verbessern sowie frontomediale Theta-Aktivität, einen elektrophysiologischen Index für Konfliktkontrolle, verstärken kann, was das klinisch-neuropsychologische Potenzial der tVNS verdeutlicht. In der vierten Studie werden tonische Pupillengröße und ereigniskorrelierte Pupillenantworten als Indikator für noradrenerge Neuromodulation durch tVNS und als potentieller Biomarker für tVNSResponsivität untersucht. Es zeigt sich kein systematischer Einfluss der tVNS auf die Pupillenmaße. In einem zusätzlichen Bericht wird exploriert, ob Vagussensorisch evozierte Potenziale (VSEP) helfen können, Responder und Nichtresponder zu identifizieren. Im Gesamtfazit hat diese Arbeit das klinische Potenzial der tVNS bestätigt. Die Wirkmechanismen und Determinanten für erfolgreiche Anwendung der tVNS sind jedoch noch ungenügend verstanden., This thesis focuses on neuropsychological effects of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) and its potential as a prospective treatment for neuropsychological deficits. The first two studies target behavioral and electrophysiological indices that might support a GABAergic neuromodulation by tVNS. GABAergic neuromodulation is one of the assumed mechanisms of action of tVNS, but the evidence in its favor is sparse. It is shown that tVNS modulates automatic motor inhibition, a process associated to GABA in the motor cortex, but not visual bistable perception, which is associated to GABA in the visual cortex. Moreover, the former effect is restricted to the contralateral brain hemisphere relative to the stimulation, suggesting a possible lateralization of the effect. Since these findings are not fully consistent with respect to GABAergic neuromodulation, a study proposal is enclosed in which GABAergic neuromodulation will be further scrutinized using MEG. The third study investigates effects of tVNS on executive control of action. It is shown that tVNS enhances global and conflict-specific behavioral performance in a cued go-nogochange task as well as conflict-related electrophysiological frontal midline theta responses, rendering it a promising candidate treatment for executive control deficits. The fourth study probes the potential of pupillometry as a non-invasive marker for tVNS responsiveness. No systematic modulation of pupil size readouts by tVNS is found. In an additional short report, it is explored whether vagussensory evoked potentials (VSEP) can help to separate responder and nonresponder groups of individuals. It is concluded that tVNS is a promising clinical method, and its further investigation for neuropsychological applications is promising. On the other hand, its mechanisms of action are still poorly understood and warrant further investigation.

Behavioural Gerontology is concerned with the interaction of the aging individual and their environment. One aspect of behavioural gerontology has focussed on the use of behaviourist methods to improve the functioning and quality of life of individuals with dementia. Positive reinforcement techniques have shown to have an effect on dementia related behavioural excesses (wandering, disruptive vocalisations), behavioural deficits (incontinence, self feeding) and mood changes (depression). One of the major concerns of using reinforcement techniques in the case of dementia is maintenance of the behavioural changes with the continual implementation of the intervention. Research has indicated that individuals with dementia meet behavioural extinction criteria at an advanced rate in comparison with individuals without dementia. Thus for a behavioural change to be successfully maintained it requires diligence on the part of the caregiver and/or nursing home staff. In the case of dementia care centres and nursing homes, when using behavioural interventions to modify the behavioural symptoms of dementia, there needs to be a considerable overlap between Behavioural Gerontology and Organisational Behavioural Management to ensure the successful maintenance of behavioural change.

Mindfulness was introduced in the Western world by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979. He defined it as “awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.” Since then, research on mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) has increased exponentially both in health and disease, including in patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia and Parkinson’s disease. Research on the effect of mindfulness and multiple sclerosis (MS) only recently gained interest. Several studies completed since 2010 provided evidence that mindfulness improves quality of life (QoL), depression and fatigue in MS patients. In addition to patient-reported outcome measures, potential effects on cognitive function have been investigated only to a very limited extent. However, research on laboratory biomarkers and neuroimaging, capable to deliver proof-of-concept of this behavioral treatment in MS, is mainly lacking. In this perspective, we illustrate possible neurobiological mechanisms, including the tripartite interaction between the brain, the immune system and neuroendocrine regulation, through which this treatment might affect multiple sclerosis symptoms. We propose to (1) include immunological and/or neuroimaging biomarkers as standard outcome measures in future research dedicated to mindfulness and MS to help explain the clinical improvements seen in fatigue and depression; (2) to investigate effects on enhancing cognitive reserve and cognitive function; and (3) to investigate the effects of mindfulness on the disease course in MS., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

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Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the cerebellum is emerging as a novel non-invasive tool to modulate the activity of the cerebellar circuitry. In a single blinded study, we applied anodal tDCS (atDCS) of the cerebellum to assess its effects on brain entropy and brain rhythms during self-paced sequential finger movements in a group of healthy volunteers. Although wearable electroencephalogram (EEG) systems cannot compete with traditional clinical/laboratory set-ups in terms of accuracy and channel density, they have now reached a sufficient maturity to envision daily life applications. Therefore, the EEG was recorded with a comfortable and easy to wear 14 channels wireless helmet (Epoc headset; electrode location was based on the 10–20 system). Cerebellar neurostimulation modified brain rhythmicity with a decrease in the delta band (electrode F3 and T8, p < 0.05). By contrast, our study did not show any significant change in entropy ratios and laterality coefficients (LC) after atDCS of the cerebellum in the 14 channels. The cerebellum is heavily connected with the cerebral cortex including the frontal lobes and parietal lobes via the cerebello-thalamo-cortical pathway. We propose that the effects of anodal stimulation of the cerebellar cortex upon cerebral cortical rhythms are mediated by this key-pathway. Additional studies using high-density EEG recordings and behavioral correlates are now required to confirm our findings, especially given the limited coverage of Epoc headset., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

We investigated age differences in associations among self-reported experiences of tense and energetic arousal, physiological activation indicated by heart rate, and working-memory performance in everyday life. The sample comprised 92 participants aged 14-83 years. Data were collected for 24 hr while participants pursued their normal daily routines. Participants wore an ambulatory biomonitoring system that recorded their cardiac and physical activity. Using mobile phones as assessment devices, they also provided an average of 7 assessments of their momentary experiences of tense arousal (feeling nervous) and energetic arousal (feeling wide-awake) and completed 2 trials of a well-practiced working-memory task. Experiences of higher energetic arousal were associated with higher heart rate in participants younger than 50 years of age but not in participants older than that, and energetic arousal was unrelated to within-person fluctuations in working-memory performance. Experiences of tense arousal were associated with higher heart rate independent of participants' age. Tense arousal and physiological activation were accompanied by momentary impairments in working-memory performance in middle-aged and older adults but not in younger individuals. Results suggest that psychological arousal experiences are associated with lower working-memory performance in middle-aged and older adults when they are accompanied by increased physiological activation and that the same is true for physiological activation deriving from other influences. Hence, age differences in cognitive performance may be exaggerated when the assessment situation itself elicits tense arousal or occurs in situations with higher physiological arousal arising from affective experiences, physical activity, or circadian rhythms.

Emotional learning is an essential adaptive function that mainly occurs through aversive and appetitive conditioning. Despite a comparable evolutionary and clinical significance, appetitive conditioning has rarely been studied in humans, in contrast to aversive conditioning. This divergence might be explained by the difficulty in finding effective appetitive stimuli that elicit strong physiological reactions, and/or by a potential lack of sensitivity of the psychophysiological measures typically used to detect appetitive conditioning. However, promising findings suggest that the postauricular reflex (PAR) and the startle eyeblink reflex may be sensitive to appetitive stimuli. The present study therefore aimed to determine whether these two reflexes represent suitable psychophysiological indicators of human appetitive conditioning. To this end, we adopted a differential appetitive conditioning procedure, in which one neutral figure (CS+) was contingently paired with a pleasant odor (US), whereas another neutral figure (CS-) was never paired with any odor. Taken together, our results revealed that the PAR was specifically potentiated in response to the CS+ only during acquisition, demonstrating its sensitivity to the appetitive contingencies. Likewise, CS-US contingency and CS liking ratings reflected successful appetitive conditioning. In contrast, we found no startle eyeblink reflex modulation in response to the CS+, and no effect of appetitive conditioning on SCR. Our findings hence indicate that the postauricular reflex is a sensitive measure of human appetitive conditioning, therefore representing a valuable tool for further investigating the basic mechanisms underlying emotional learning in humans, as well as their dysfunctions in related disorders.

Stroke is one of the leading causes for disability worldwide. Motor function deficits due to stroke affect the patients’ mobility, their limitation in daily life activities, their participation in society and their odds of returning to professional activities. All of these factors contribute to a low overall quality of life. Rehabilitation training is the most effective way to reduce motor impairments in stroke patients. This multiple systematic review focuses both on standard treatment methods and on innovating rehabilitation techniques used to promote upper extremity motor function in stroke patients. A total number of 5712 publications on stroke rehabilitation was systematically reviewed for relevance and quality with regards to upper extremity motor outcome. This procedure yielded 270 publications corresponding to the inclusion criteria of the systematic review. Recent technology-based interventions in stroke rehabilitation including non-invasive brain stimulation, robot-assisted training, and virtual reality immersion are addressed. Finally, a decisional tree based on evidence from the literature and characteristics of stroke patients is proposed. At present, the stroke rehabilitation field faces the challenge to tailor evidence-based treatment strategies to the needs of the individual stroke patient. Interventions can be combined in order to achieve the maximal motor function recovery for each patient. Though the efficacy of some interventions may be under debate, motor skill learning, and some new technological approaches give promising outcome prognosis in stroke motor rehabilitation., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

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L’oubli ne saurait être conceptuellement évacué comme l’opposé symétrique de la mémoire. L’histoire de la philosophie a pourtant eu la fâcheuse tendance à n’en donner qu’une définition négative – voire à l’oublier complètement. À la recherche de sa positivité, nous explorons les champs scientifiques qui l’ont entrepris. Mais il semble toujours échapper au regard. La phénoménologie même est impropre à l’étudier comme tel ; la psychanalyse le touche sans le saisir entièrement. Il est la latence au beau milieu de notre existence, la passivité de notre activité. Comparant son hermétisme à celui du pharmakon platonicien, nous entreprenons une herméneutique de l’oubli qui doit décrire sa participation à l’identité narrative et à la configuration subjective et intersubjective du temps.

Il est maintenant bien établi que le cerveau humain est doté d’un système de neurones qui s’active tant à la perception qu’à l’exécution d’une action. Les neurones miroirs, ainsi que le système qu’ils forment avec des structures adjacentes appelées système neurones miroirs (SNM), ont été relié à la compréhension d’action et pourrait être impliqué dans les fonctions sociales de haut niveau tel que l’empathie et l’imitation. Dans la foulée spéculative reliant le SNM à la sphère sociale, le dysfonctionnement de ce système a rapidement gagné intérêt dans la genèse des anomalies du domaine social chez les personnes présentant le Trouble du spectre de l’autisme (TSA). Néanmoins, l’hypothèse voulant que le dysfonctionnement social des TSA repose sur une atteinte du SNM est controversée. En effet, les études soutenant cette hypothèse nécessitent des fonctions cognitives et sociales qui peuvent contribuer à l’obtention de résultats atypiques, telles que la compréhension des consignes, l’attention sur des stimuli sociaux ou la réalisation d’acte moteur. Récemment, un protocole auditif de négativité de discordance (MMN) utilisant des stimuli reliés à l’action humaine a été utilisé pour mesurer l’activité du SNM. Cette technique semble prometteuse dans la mesure où elle ne nécessite pas de capacités attentionnelles ou langagières, elle est brève et demande un montage minimal d’électrodes. Le premier article avait comme objectif principal de mesurer la validité de convergence du protocole MMN relié à l’action avec celui du rythme mu, le protocole le plus utilisé pour enregistrer l’activité miroir à l’aide de l’électroencéphalographie (EEG). Les modes de stimulation ont été délivrées en bloc successif à un groupe de 12 adultes en santé. Alors que les deux techniques ont modulé efficacement les régions fronto-centrales et centrales respectivement, mais ne sont pas corrélées, nous avons conclu qu’il est possible 2 qu’elles mesurent des aspects différents du SNM. Le deuxième article avait comme objectif principal de mesurer l’activité du SNM à l’aide du protocole MMN relié à l’action chez 10 enfants présentant un TSA ainsi que chez 12 enfants neurotypiques dans la même tranche d’âge (5-7ans). Chez les enfants TSA, nous avons montré un patron de latence inversée, comparativement aux enfants du groupe contrôle; ils traitaient plus rapidement les sons contrôles que les sons reliés à l’action humaine, alors que la tendance inverse était observée chez les contrôles. De plus, bien que les deux groupes différaient quant aux sons d’action, ils ne différaient pas quant aux sons contrôles. Quant à l’amplitude, les enfants TSA se distinguaient du groupe contrôle par une amplitude restreinte du son d’action provenant de la bouche. Par ailleurs, les mesures neurophysiologiques et neuropsychologiques n’étaient pas corrélées. En sommes, basé sur la prémisse que ce protocole MMN pourrait mesurer l’activité du SNM, cette thèse a comme but d’améliorer les connaissances quant à son utilisation chez l’adulte et l’enfant neurotypique ainsi que chez l’enfant TSA. Celui-ci pourrait ultimement être utilisé comme un biomarqueur potentiel du TSA., Mirror-neuron system (NMS) has been suggested to underlie action understanding, which is believed to be involved in higher social functions such as empathy and imitation. Numerous studies have also provided indirect evidence supporting the existence of a MNS in the human brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging, transcranial magnetic stimulation, magnetoenceophalography and electroencephalography (EEG). As evidence relating MNS function with social cognition accumulated, its dysfunction was proposed to underlie social impairments in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Although some studies have reported structural and/or functional data supporting this hypothesis, it remains controversial. Indeed, the techniques used to probe MNS activity often require the participant to understand the task, display sustained attention and present spared visual cognitive functions, which could be altered in ASD population. This, in turn, could partly explain differences in MNS activity found between invididuals with ASD and neurotypical participants. The auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) protocol has recently been proposed as a viable tool to assess MNS activity using action-related sounds. This relatively short oddball paradigm does not require visual, attentional or language skills and can be performed with minimal electrode installation (minimal use of 4 electrodes). This action-related MMN may therefore be well-suited to investigate MNS function in very young children or populations with mental disabilities, such as ASD. The first article of this thesis assessed the convergent validity of the action-related MMN protocol with a mu rhythm suppression paradigm, which is the most commonly used EEG measure of MNS activity. To do so, both protocols were consecutively administered in healthy adults in the same experimental session. While both techniques successfully 4 modulated the fronto-central and central brain regions using action-related stimuli, they did not correlate significantly. This suggests that the two techniques may not probe the same aspects of MNS function. The second article aimed at investigating MNS activity in children with ASD using the action-related MMN protocol. Data were compared to age-matched typically developing children. We show that children with ASD present an opposite pattern to that of control children : whereas MMN latencies are shorter for action-related sounds compared to control sounds in neurotypical children, the opposite pattern is observed in children with ASD. Furthermore, although the two groups present different response patterns with regards to action-related sounds, they repond similarly to control sounds. For amplitude measurements, children with ASD display reduced amplitude to action-related sounds produced by the mouth compared to neurotypical children. In summary, this thesis aimed at determining whether and action-related MMN protocol could be used to measure MNS activity in neurotypical adults and children, as well as in ASD children. The action-related MMN could potentially be used as a biological biomarker of ASD pending further studies.

A 40-year-old, non-aphasic, right-handed, and polyglot (L1: French, L2: Dutch, and L3: English) woman with a 12-year history of addiction to opiates and psychoactive substances, and clear psychiatric problems, presented with a foreign accent of sudden onset in L1. Speech evolved toward a mostly fluent output, despite a stutter-like behavior and a marked grammatical output disorder. The psychogenic etiology of the accent foreignness was construed based on the patient’s complex medical history and psychodiagnostic, neuropsychological, and neurolinguistic assessments. The presence of a foreign accent was affirmed by a perceptual accent rating and attribution experiment. It is argued that this patient provides additional evidence demonstrating the outdatedness of Whitaker’s (1982) definition of foreign accent syndrome, as only one of the four operational criteria was unequivocally applicable to our patient: her accent foreignness was not only recognized by her relatives and the medical staff but also by a group of native French-speaking laymen. However, our patient defied the three remaining criteria, as central nervous system damage could not conclusively be demonstrated, psychodiagnostic assessment raised the hypothesis of a conversion disorder, and the patient was a polyglot whose newly gained accent was associated with a range of foreign languages, which exceeded the ones she spoke., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is an up-and-coming electrical neurostimulation technique increasingly used both in healthy subjects and in selected groups of patients. Due to the high density of neurons in the cerebellum, its peculiar anatomical organization with the cortex lying superficially below the skull and its diffuse connections with motor and associative areas of the cerebrum, the cerebellum is becoming a major target for neuromodulation of the cerebellocerebral networks. We discuss the recent studies based on cerebellar tDCS with a focus on the numerous technical and open issues which remain to be solved. Our current knowledge of the physiological impacts of tDCS on cerebellar circuitry is criticized. We provide a comparison with transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS), another promising transcranial electrical neurostimulation technique. Although both tDCS and tACS are becoming established techniques to modulate the cerebellocerebral networks, it is surprising that their impacts on cerebellar disorders remains unclear. A major reason is that the literature lacks large trials with a double-blind, sham-controlled, and cross-over experimental design in cerebellar patients., SCOPUS: re.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Autoantibodies to the smaller isoform of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) can be found in patients with type 1 diabetes and a number of neurological disorders, including stiff-person syndrome, cerebellar ataxia and limbic encephalitis. The detection of disease-specific autoantibody epitopes led to the hypothesis that distinct GAD autoantibodies may elicit specific neurological phenotypes. We explored the in vitro/in vivo effects of well-characterized monoclonal GAD antibodies. We found that GAD autoantibodies present in patients with stiff person syndrome (n = 7) and cerebellar ataxia (n = 15) recognized an epitope distinct from that recognized by GAD autoantibodies present in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (n = 10) or limbic encephalitis (n = 4). We demonstrated that the administration of a monoclonal GAD antibody representing this epitope specificity; (1) disrupted in vitro the association of GAD with γ-Aminobutyric acid containing synaptic vesicles; (2) depressed the inhibitory synaptic transmission in cerebellar slices with a gradual time course and a lasting suppressive effect; (3) significantly decreased conditioned eyelid responses evoked in mice, with no modification of learning curves in the classical eyeblink-conditioning task; (4) markedly impaired the facilitatory effect exerted by the premotor cortex over the motor cortex in a paired-pulse stimulation paradigm; and (5) induced decreased exploratory behavior and impaired locomotor function in rats. These findings support the specific targeting of GAD by its autoantibodies in the pathogenesis of stiff-person syndrome and cerebellar ataxia. Therapies of these disorders based on selective removal of such GAD antibodies could be envisioned., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Extensive training of repetitive and highly skilled movements, as it occurs in professional classical musicians, may lead to changes in tactile sensitivity and corresponding cortical reorganization of somatosensory cortices. It is also known that professional musicians frequently experience musculoskeletal pain and pain-related symptoms during their careers. The present study aimed at understanding the complex interaction between chronic pain and music training with respect to somatosensory processing. For this purpose, tactile thresholds (mechanical detection, grating orientation, twopoint discrimination) and subjective ratings to thermal and pressure pain stimuli were assessed in 17 professional musicians with chronic pain, 30 pain-free musicians, 20 nonmusicians with chronic pain, and 18 pain-free non-musicians. We found that pain-free musicians displayed greater touch sensitivity (i.e. lower mechanical detection thresholds), lower tactile spatial acuity (i.e. higher grating orientation thresholds) and increased pain sensitivity to pressure and heat compared to pain-free non-musicians. Moreover, we also found that musicians and non-musicians with chronic pain presented lower tactile spatial acuity and increased pain sensitivity to pressure and heat compared to pain-free non-musicians. The significant increment of pain sensitivity together with decreased spatial discrimination in pain-free musicians and the similarity of results found in chronic pain patients, suggests that the extensive training of repetitive and highly skilled movements in classical musicians could be considered as a risk factor for developing chronic pain, probably due to use-dependent plastic changes elicited in somatosensory pathways., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The research presentee in this thesis aimed to study neural mechanisms of olfaction, and the way they are integrated in emotion regulation processes. Distraction and reappraisal strategies were studied using fMRI in two separate experiments in which subjects had to decrease the intensity of emotions induced by odors. In a third experiment, psychophysical and psychophysiological data were collected to assess the ability of pleasant odors to down-regulate negative feelings induced by unpleasant pictures. The results show that the regulation of odor-triggered emotions recruits brain areas that are usually described in studies based on Visual stimulations (prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal lobule, middle temporal gyrus) but also others more specic to this sensory modality (insular cortex, fusiform gyrus, lingual gyrus). Moreover, the prefrontal cortex seems to modulate the activity within olfactory areas, such as the piriform and the orbitofrontal cortex when subjects use distraction. The data from the third experiment also reveal that a pleasant odor is able to decrease negative aects that have been previously induced by unpleasant pictures, both at subjective and psychophysiological level.Therefore, it appears that odor-triggered emotions can be down-regulated by both distraction and reappraisal strategies. This processinvolves brain regions usually recruited by the regulation of visual-triggered emotions, but also other areas more specic to theregulation of emotions elicited by odors. Moreover, odors themselves can regulate negative feelings.; Ces travaux ont pour but d'étudier des mécanismes centraux de l'olfaction, et la manière dont ils sont intégrés dans les processus de régulationémotionnelle. Les stratégies de distraction et de réévaluation ont fait l'objet de deux expériences distinctes en IRMf, dans lesquelles les sujets devaientdiminuer l'intensité d'émotions suscitées par des odeurs. Dans une troisième expérience, des données psychophysiques et psychophysiologiques ont étécollectées pour évaluer la capacité d'une odeur agréable à réguler un sentiment négatif préalablement induit par uneimage désagréable.Les résultats montrent que la régulation d'émotions induites par des odeurs mobilise des aires cérébrales décrites dans les études utilisant du matérielvisuel (cortex préfrontal, lobule pariétal inférieur, gyrus temporal moyen) mais aussi d'autres plus spécifiques à cette modalité sensorielle (insula, gyrusfusiforme, gyrus lingual). De plus, le cortex préfrontal semble moduler certaines aires du cortex olfactif comme le cortex piriforme et le cortexorbitofrontal lorsque les sujets utilisent une stratégie de distraction. Les données issues de la troisième expérience révèlent également qu'une odeuragréable permet de diminuer l'impact d'un affect négatif préalablement induit, tant au niveau subjectif que psychophysiologique.Par conséquent, il semble exister chez l'Homme une réelle capacité à la régulation des émotions induites par des odeurs. Ce processus met enjeu desrégions habituellement décrites pour la régulation d'émotions induites par des stimuli visuels, mais également d'autres aires plus spécifques.De plus, les odeurs elles-mêmes sont capables de réguler une émotion négative.

During human walking, there exists a functional neural coupling between arms and legs, and between cervical and lumbosacral pattern generators. Here, we present a novel approach for associating the electromyographic (EMG) activity from upper limb muscles with leg kinematics. Our methodology takes advantage of the high involvement of shoulder muscles in most locomotor-related movements and of the natural co-ordination between arms and legs. Nine healthy subjects were asked to walk at different constant and variable speeds (3–5 km/h), while EMG activity of shoulder (deltoid) muscles and the kinematics of walking were recorded. To ensure a high level of EMG activity in deltoid, the subjects performed slightly larger arm swinging than they usually do. The temporal structure of the burst-like EMG activity was used to predict the spatiotemporal kinematic pattern of the forthcoming step. A comparison of actual and predicted stride leg kinematics showed a high degree of correspondence (r >0.9). This algorithm has been also implemented in pilot experiments for controlling avatar walking in a virtual reality setup and an exoskeleton during over-ground stepping. The proposed approach may have important implications for the design of human–machine interfaces and neuroprosthetic technologies such as those of assistive lower limb exoskeletons., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Neuroprosthetic technology and robotic exoskeletons are being developed to facilitate stepping, reduce muscle efforts, and promote motor recovery. Nevertheless, the guidance forces of an exoskeleton may influence the sensory inputs, sensorimotor interactions and resulting muscle activity patterns during stepping. The aim of this study was to report the muscle activation patterns in a sample of intact and injured subjects while walking with a robotic exoskeleton and, in particular, to quantify the level of muscle activity during assisted gait. We recorded electromyographic (EMG) activity of different leg and arm muscles during overground walking in an exoskeleton in six healthy individuals and four spinal cord injury (SCI) participants. In SCI patients, EMG activity of the upper limb muscles was augmented while activation of leg muscles was typically small. Contrary to our expectations, however, in neurologically intact subjects, EMG activity of leg muscles was similar or even larger during exoskeleton-assisted walking compared to normal overground walking. In addition, significant variations in the EMG waveforms were found across different walking conditions. The most variable pattern was observed in the hamstring muscles. Overall, the results are consistent with a non-linear reorganization of the locomotor output when using the robotic stepping devices. The findings may contribute to our understanding of human-machine interactions and adaptation of locomotor activity patterns. © 2014 Sylos-Labini, La Scaleia, d'Avella, Pisotta, Tamburella, Scivoletto, Molinari, Wang, Wang, van Asseldonk, van der Kooij, Hoellinger, Cheron, Thorsteinsson, Ilzkovitz, Gancet, Hauffe, Zanov, Lacquaniti and Ivanenko., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Einleitung: Die Messung der Herzratenvariabilität (HRV), d.h. der ständigen Variation des Herzschlags, ermöglicht eine Beurteilung der autonomen Funktion des Herzens und die Erfassung physischer und psychischer Belastungszustände. In der Audiologie werden Patienten anhand ihrer Leistung in audiometrischen Testverfahren beurteilt, vermehrte Höranstrengung kommt hier jedoch unzureichend zum Ausdruck. Die folgende Studie sollte klären, ob auditorische Belastung in Form eines Sprachverständnistests mit der HRV sensitiv erfasst werden kann und ob Hörsituationen mit Störgeräuschen eine höhere Stressantwort hervorrufen. Methoden: Die Datenerhebung erfolgte an 24 jungen hörgesunden Probanden, wobei diese während der HRV-Aufzeichnung Wortlisten des Freiburger Sprachtests in Ruhe und unter Zuschaltung eines Störgeräusches (Rauschen) schriftlich wiedergeben sollten. Vor und nach der Testung erfolgten jeweils Ruhemessungen. Ergebnisse: Auditorische Belastungen konnten mithilfe der HRV zuverlässig erfasst und von Ruhebedingungen unterschieden werden. Die Testanforderungen riefen Parameterveränderungen im Sinne einer Koaktivierung von Sympathikus und Parasympathikus hervor, wobei dieses Muster Ausdruck erhöhter Aufmerksamkeit zu sein scheint. Ein signifikanter HRV-Unterschied zwischen den beiden Schwierigkeitsgraden zeigte sich nicht. Geschlecht der Probanden und Reihenfolge der Testphasen spielten eine untergeordnete Rolle. Schlussfolgerungen: Die HRV-Aufzeichnung scheint geeignet, Höranstrengung bei gesunden Personen objektiv zu messen. Weitere Studien an größeren Kontroll- und Patientenstichproben sollten klären, ob diese zur Verbesserung der Diagnostik und Therapie von Hörbeeinträchtigten beitragen kann., Introduction: Heart rate variability (HRV) as a permanent variation of the heart beat has proved to be a sensitive tool to judge the autonomic function of the heart and to measure physical and mental stress. Concerning audiology, patients' word recognition ability is the basis for further treatment, although test results do not always represent auditory effort properly. The aim of the following study was to analyse, if auditory stress caused by a speech comprehension test can be measured by HRV and if speech comprehension in noise is significantly more disturbing. Methods: 24 young probands with normal hearing participated in the study. They had to reproduce in written form monosyllable word lists of the “Freiburg Speech Test” in silence and in noise, while HRV was measured continuously. Before and after the testing, baseline and recovery data was recorded. Results: In the present study, auditory stress could be detected reliably and distinguished from passive conditions by means of HRV measurement. During the speech comprehension tasks, HRV was altered in terms of a coactivation of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic branch of the autonomous nervous system. This might be characteristic of tasks requiring increased attention. Audiometric test conditions without and with noise did not differ significantly. Gender differences and the influence of test order were negligible. Conclusions: HRV recording appears to be an objective tool to measure auditory effort. The current results have to be validated in further studies including larger samples of healthy and hearing-impaired people.

Diese Arbeit untersucht, wie herkömmliche Lernanwendungen um Informationen über den emotionalen Erregungszustand eines Nutzers erweitert werden können. Den Benutzer zu jedem Zeitpunkt des Lernens auf einem optimalen Erregungsniveau zu halten, wirkt sich positiv auf den Lernerfolg und im Zuge dessen auch auf die Motivation des Lernenden aus. Da während des Lernens sowohl auf Nutzer- als auch auf Systemseite eine Anpassung erfolgen kann, werden beide Aspekte in dieser Arbeit beleuchtet.

Psychopathy is a personality disorder frequently associated with immoral behaviors. Previous behavioral studies on the influence of psychopathy on moral decision have yielded contradictory results, possibly because they focused either on judgment (abstract evaluation) or on choice of hypothetical action, two processes that may rely on different mechanisms. In this study, we explored the influence of the level of psychopathic traits on judgment and choice of hypothetical action during moral dilemma evaluation. A population of 102 students completed a questionnaire with ten moral dilemmas and nine non-moral dilemmas. The task included questions targeting both judgment (Is it acceptable to. in order to.) and choice of hypothetical action (Would you.in order to.). The level of psychopathic traits of each participant was evaluated with the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy (LSRP) scale. Logistic regression fitted with the generalized estimating equations method analyses were conducted using responses to the judgment and choice tasks as the dependent variables and psychopathy scores as predictor. Results show that a high level of psychopathic traits, and more specifically those related to affective deficit, predicted a greater proportion of utilitarian responses for the choice but not for the judgment question. There was no first-order interaction between the level of psychopathic traits and other potential predictors. The relation between a high level of psychopathic traits and increased utilitarianism in choice of action but not in moral judgment may explain the contradictory results of previous studies where these two processes were not contrasted. It also gives further support to the hypothesis that choice of action endorsement and abstract judgment during moral dilemma evaluation are partially distinct neural and psychological processes. We propose that this distinction should be better taken into account in the evaluation of psychopathic behaviors. © 2013 Tassy, Deruelle, Mancini,Leistedt and Wicker., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published