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In autism, motor impairments are extremely common and often herald the emergence of ubiquitous atypical development. Few studies so far have explored the autistic motor difficulties. Our work aims to investigate the level motor management of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder, compared to typically developing children. The motor management was realized, in different imitative conditions. We assume that pragmatic sensorimotor management would be functional both in adolescent with autistic spectrum disorder and typical children. However, if high-level cognitive semantic management is gradually acquired in the typical children, it would be deficient in the adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Our results confirm and justify the selective impairment of symbolic semantic functions of the motor achievements of atypical with autism spectrum disorder.

International audience; Purpose:The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of explanatory texts characteristics on comprehension performances in children from 2nd to 9th grade. Method: Several metrics have been applied to 40 explanatory texts, accounting for length, complexity and age accuracy. Children were asked to read an age-appropriate text, and answer questions evaluating surface, semantic and inferential dimensions of comprehension. Results: Results revealed that all group age obtained similar performances on surface questions, but younger children performed poorly in semantic and inferential questions in comparison to older ones, suggesting a weaker ability to rely on previous knowledge. Comprehension performances were also modulated by text characteristics. Principal Components Analysis identified metrics accounting for text coherence, namely number of words, word length and word frequency with 75% of variance explained. Multiple Regression Analysis allowed us to identify sentence length and word length as predictors of performances obtained at the surface and inferential questions. Conclusion: this research provides interesting evidence to increase our comprehension of explanatory text comprehension in French language for different grades. The results obtained should also be useful to develop further researches using text characteristics to predict readers' comprehension performances. . \textcopyright 2021 Society for the Scientific Study of Reading.

Previous data suggest that loneliness is a hallmark of the mental health issues triggered by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of loneliness on mental health and behavioural outcomes, as well as the moderating and mediating effects of biopsychosocial variables on these relationships. The data were collected during France’s first national COVID-19 lockdown and included 556 participants (Mage = 30.06 years, range = 18–87) who completed well-known validated measures assessing symptom-levels of anxiety, depression, and insomnia. They also indicated their level of worry about the COVID-19 crisis, and provided sociodemographic and health status data. Responses were submitted to hierarchical linear regression and mediation analyses. In terms of prevalence of loneliness, 18.9% of participants reported severe loneliness. High levels of loneliness were significantly associated with the three mental health and behavioural outcomes. The loneliness – anxiety relationship was moderated by employment and working arrangements. The loneliness – insomnia relationship was moderated by living conditions, history of medical or psychological problems, and COVID-19-related worry. Further findings supported the indirect effects of COVID-related worry on pathways from loneliness to the three mental health and behavioural health outcomes. The mediation models accounted for 28.9%, 33.7%, and 15.0% of the variance in anxiety, depression, and insomnia. The present evidence-based findings revealed that loneliness and worry were major contributing factors of mental health and behavioural concerns during the COVID-19 lockdown. They could inform treatment recommendations for tackling prolonged-self isolation and loneliness in specific vulnerable groups. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-021-02246-w.

International audience

Background: Currently, usability assessments of home connected medical devices do not systematically take into account learnability metrics. In case of the Smart Angel device—designed for monitorin...

Background COVID-19 peritraumatic distress (CPD), an emerging trauma-related psychopathology, involves immediate physiological arousal as well as emotional and cognitive responses to the threat of the COVID-19 outbreak. This study examined the prevalence of and temporal changes in CPD, its early and follow-up predictors and the extent to which it was predictive of mental health problems. Methods The study took a two-wave design approach and was conducted during and 3–4 months after the nationwide lockdown in France. Baseline participants were 1123 (79.5% women; M age = 33.82; range: 18–80). They completed validated measures assessing CPD, posttraumatic stress (PTS), depression, and anxiety symptoms. Descriptive, correlational, and path model analyses were used. Findings Both baseline and follow-up groups presented similar psychosocial profiles. Overall, 35.5% (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 32.7–38.4) baseline participants and 17.2% (95% CI: 12.6–22.7) follow-up participants developed clinical cases of CPD. The baseline CPD levels predicted 14–20% of the variances of PTS (b = 0.55), depression (b = 0.16) and anxiety symptoms (b = 0.16). After accounting for the effect of the baseline CPD levels, the current CPD levels predicted the three investigated mental health outcomes in high proportions (43–47%). Further findings revealed important temporal changes in baseline predictors of CPD. However, the chronic CPD and PTS symptoms were prevalent among students and individuals developing worries about the COVID-19 crisis while depression and anxiety symptoms were prevalent among single people and those with pre-existing mental health problems. Limitations Data from self-report measures of mental health were used. The dropout rate between the two time assessments was relatively high. Conclusions These longitudinal findings call for clinical efforts in assessment of and intervention in trauma-related distress. These efforts should be put into the predictive role of CPD in subsequent development of PTS symptoms and comorbidities as long as the health, social and economic consequences of the pandemic linger.

BACKGROUND The Smart Angel home medical device allows ambulatory surgery patients to monitor their own health by taking their blood pressure and oxygen levels and answering a health questionnaire from home. Currently, this device is a prototype in the design phase, and no usability evaluation has been performed. This preventive device must be usable by patients with different profiles; however, it is important to select patients carefully to ensure their safety when using the device. As such, it would be interesting to know how to select or exclude patients. However, the links between user characteristics and the usability of this home medical device remain unclear. OBJECTIVE This study aims to better understand the links between certain characteristics of potential patients (ie, age, education, technophilia, and health literacy) and the usability (ie, effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction) of Smart Angel, as defined by the ISO 9241-11. METHODS We conducted an experimental study involving 36 participants investigating the effects of 4 patient characteristics (ie, age, education, technophilia, and health literacy) on usability, measured in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. A mixed methods approach (subjective vs objective) using a variety of standard instruments was adopted (direct observation, video analysis, and questionnaires). First, to help participants project themselves into the real use of the Smart Angel device, they watched a scenario in a video. Second, the participants completed a set of questionnaires to show the extent of their health literacy level (Newest Vital Sign [NVS] and the Health Literacy Survey [HLS]) and then operated Smart Angel devices. Efficiency (ie, handling time) and effectiveness (ie, number of handling errors) measures were collected by video analysis. Satisfaction measures were collected by a questionnaire (System Usability Scale [SUS]). The qualitative observational data were coded using inductive analysis by 2 independent researchers specialized in cognitive psychology and cognitive ergonomics. RESULTS The results show a moderate and positive correlation between age and effectiveness (r=0.359; P=.03) and efficiency (r=0.357; P=.03). There is strong correlation between health literacy scored by the NVS and effectiveness (r=0.417; P=.01), efficiency (r=-0.38; P=.02), and satisfaction (r=0.45; P=.006). However, there is a weak correlation between technophilia and usability and no relationship between education level and usability. CONCLUSIONS Our results show that literacy level and age are 2 important factors to consider when selecting future users of the Smart Angel device to ensure patient safety. This study also serves as an example promoting mixed methodologies in assessments of medical device usability that cannot be performed under real-world conditions.

The Smart Angel connected medical device allows ambulatory surgery patients to monitor their health by taking their own blood pressure and oxygen levels and by answering a health questionnaire from home. This preventive device must necessarily be "usable" by patients with different profiles. The objective of this article is, therefore, to better understand the links between certain characteristics of potential patients and usability. We conducted an experimental study involving thirty-six participants, investigating the effects of four patient characteristics (i.e. age, education, technophilia and health literacy) on usability measured in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. The results show a moderate correlation between age, health literacy and usability. However, there is a weak correlation between technophilia and usability and no relationship between the level of education and usability. This study provides theoretical insights into the effects of user characteristics by means of personas in usability (ISO 9241-11).

BACKGROUND Studies on the usability of health care devices are becoming more common, although usability standards are not necessarily specified and followed. Yet, there is little knowledge about the impact of the context of use on the usability outcome. It is specified in the usability standard (ISO 9241-11, 2018) of a device that it may be affected by its context of use and especially by the characteristics of its users. Among these, prior health knowledge (ie, knowledge about human body functioning) is crucial. However, no study has shown that prior health knowledge influences the usability of medical devices. OBJECTIVE Our study aimed to fill this gap by analyzing the relationship between the usability of two home medical devices (soon to be used in the context of ambulatory surgery) and prior health knowledge through an experimental approach. METHODS For assessing the usability of two home medical devices (blood pressure monitor and pulse oximeter), user tests were conducted among 149 students. A mixed-methods approach (subjective vs objective) using a variety of standard instruments was adopted (direct observation, video analysis, and questionnaires). Participants completed a questionnaire to show the extent of their previous health knowledge and then operated both devices randomly. Efficiency (ie, handling time) and effectiveness (ie, number of handling errors) measures were collected by video analysis. Satisfaction measures were collected by a questionnaire (system usability scale [SUS]). The qualitative observational data were coded using inductive analysis by two independent researchers specialized in cognitive psychology and cognitive ergonomics. Correlational analyses and clusters were performed to test how usability relates to sociodemographic characteristics and prior health knowledge. RESULTS The results indicated a lack of usability for both devices. Regarding the blood pressure monitor (137 participants), users made approximately 0.77 errors (SD 1.49), and the mean SUS score was 72.4 (SD 21.07), which is considered “satisfactory.” The pulse oximeter (147 participants) appeared easier to use, but participants made more errors (mean 0.99, SD 0.92), and the mean SUS score was 71.52 (SD 17.29), which is considered “satisfactory.” The results showed a low negative and significant correlation only between the effectiveness of the two devices and previous knowledge (blood pressure monitor: r=−0.191, P=.03; pulse oximeter: r=−0.263, P=.001). More subtly, we experimentally identified the existence of a threshold level (χ²2,146=10.9, P=.004) for health knowledge to correctly use the pulse oximeter, but this was missing for the blood pressure monitor. CONCLUSIONS This study has the following two contributions: (1) a theoretical interest highlighting the importance of user characteristics including prior health knowledge on usability outcomes and (2) an applied interest to provide recommendations to designers and medical staff.

We examined how mushroom experts organize and process their knowledge, compared with novices, and which types of arguments they use to process information. Mushroom experts and novices carried out an identification/memorization task, a free recall task, and a matching task. Results showed that experts performed better than novices on all three tasks. In the identification task, they named items at the subordinate level, whereas novices named them at the basic level. In the free recall task, experts recalled more items than novices, by grouping them into categories, while in the matching task, they used both similarity and dissimilarity criteria and provided conceptual and perceptual arguments. In conclusion, experts seem capable of carrying out two types of processing: relational processing, reflecting the ability to form categories at the basic level by considering the similarities of items belonging to the same category, and more analytical processing at the subordinate level, reflecting the ability to process difference in a context of similarity, indicating that experts are also able to use specific (distinctive) attributes, relying simultaneously on perceptual and conceptual information.

Background The Smart Angel home medical device allows ambulatory surgery patients to monitor their own health by taking their blood pressure and oxygen levels and answering a health questionnaire from home. Currently, this device is a prototype in the design phase, and no usability evaluation has been performed. This preventive device must be usable by patients with different profiles; however, it is important to select patients carefully to ensure their safety when using the device. As such, it would be interesting to know how to select or exclude patients. However, the links between user characteristics and the usability of this home medical device remain unclear. Objective This study aims to better understand the links between certain characteristics of potential patients (ie, age, education, technophilia, and health literacy) and the usability (ie, effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction) of Smart Angel, as defined by the ISO 9241-11. Methods We conducted an experimental study involving 36 participants investigating the effects of 4 patient characteristics (ie, age, education, technophilia, and health literacy) on usability, measured in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. A mixed methods approach (subjective vs objective) using a variety of standard instruments was adopted (direct observation, video analysis, and questionnaires). First, to help participants project themselves into the real use of the Smart Angel device, they watched a scenario in a video. Second, the participants completed a set of questionnaires to show the extent of their health literacy level (Newest Vital Sign [NVS] and the Health Literacy Survey [HLS]) and then operated Smart Angel devices. Efficiency (ie, handling time) and effectiveness (ie, number of handling errors) measures were collected by video analysis. Satisfaction measures were collected by a questionnaire (System Usability Scale [SUS]). The qualitative observational data were coded using inductive analysis by 2 independent researchers specialized in cognitive psychology and cognitive ergonomics. Results The results show a moderate and positive correlation between age and effectiveness (r=0.359; P=.03) and efficiency (r=0.357; P=.03). There is strong correlation between health literacy scored by the NVS and effectiveness (r=0.417; P=.01), efficiency (r=-0.38; P=.02), and satisfaction (r=0.45; P=.006). However, there is a weak correlation between technophilia and usability and no relationship between education level and usability. Conclusions Our results show that literacy level and age are 2 important factors to consider when selecting future users of the Smart Angel device to ensure patient safety. This study also serves as an example promoting mixed methodologies in assessments of medical device usability that cannot be performed under real-world conditions.

International audience; In response to Voitsidis et al. (2020) published in Psychiatry Research addressing the paucity of research on insomnia during a pandemic, we obtained data from an online cross-sectional survey by documenting the prevalence of clinical insomnia and its contributing factors in a French general public sample. Participants (N = 556) completed the Insomnia Severity Index, UCLA Loneliness scale, and provided information on sociodemographics, antecedents of mental and physical health conditions, and COVID-19-related stressful life events. In our sample, 19.1% met the diagnostic criteria of clinical insomnia, which was twice lower than that reported in the study by Voitsidis et al., but close to those found among Chinese and Italian populations. We confirmed COVID-19-related worries and loneliness to be the major contributing factors to clinical insomnia, in addition to education status, being infected by the virus and pre-existing mental health illness. These findings underscore that sleep-related problems should be an important component of mental health interventions during pandemics.

In the present study, we independently manipulated valence (positive, negative, or neutral) and emotional intensity (low, medium, or high), asking what impact they have on text comprehension (via surface, paraphrase, and inference questions) and memorization (via Remember/Know test) in adults. Results show that emotional contents, including valence and intensity affects comprehension. Emotional valence had a significant effect on text comprehension, with higher scores for positive and neutral texts than for negative ones. Participants scored higher on the surface questions for positive texts and on the inference questions for negative texts, with equivalent scores for paraphrase questions. Regarding emotional intensity, medium intensity generally fostered better comprehension of both positive and negative texts. High emotional intensity is beneficial for positively valenced texts, but hinders the understanding of negatively valenced ones. Regarding memorization, participants recalled more emotional words than neutral ones, and more words for positive texts than for either negative or neutral ones. In conclusion, our results show that emotions play an important role and improve the processing of information.

20th Congress of the International-Ergonomics-Association (IEA), Florence, ITALY, AUG 26-30, 2018; International audience; EHealth appears to be both an economic solution and a way to overcome the increase in health needs due to the ageing of the population and the increase of diseases. The presented project is aimed at developing individualized monitoring of patients who have undergone surgery and have been supported by a medical information system and connected devices. These connected systems have many benefits for healthcare system, but they also have disadvantages, relating to the complexity of their use. Their evaluation must be done in real work situations with health professionals and patients with different profiles (age, needs, skills, literacy, pathology, and expert/novice in technologies.). The aim of this work is to propose an integrative theoretical and methodological framework for a standardized evaluation of usability (including efficiency, effectiveness, satisfaction and understanding) in e-health in a user-centered design context. To do this, below is presented a state-of-the-art on usability evaluation. Finally, this work presents insights on how ergonomics and cognitive psychology approaches can contribute to greater understanding and the use of these devices in healthcare (patients, caregivers, family careers).

We investigated the kinds of biological properties that children aged 3–6 years attribute to animals, plants, and artifacts by administering a property attribution task and eliciting explanations for the resulting property attributions. Findings indicated that, from the age of 3 years, children more frequently attribute properties to animals than they do to plants or artifacts. Moreover, attributions increased with age for animals, decreased for artifacts, and remained constant for plants. Concerning the conceptual development of animals and plants, results showed that the properties subtending children's initial conceptualization of animals are movement and nutrition, followed by growth, backed up by perceptual, biological, and categorical explanations. By contrast, for plants, the properties are growth and then movement, backed up by perceptual and biological arguments. These findings provide some support for the idea that both conceptual information and perceptual cues influence children's conceptual development. Highlights This paper compares children's understanding of animals, plants, and artifacts between 3 and 6 years, in terms of property attributions and the spontaneous explanations of these objects. With a property attribution task, children more frequently attribute properties to animals than they do to plants or artifacts. Findings suggest that both conceptual information and perceptual cues influence children's conceptual development.

The learning of handwriting and calligraphy can be improved by supplementary sensory feedback. Emerging technologies such as mixed reality devices can implement appropriate visual, auditory, or proprioceptive feedback. Yet there have been few studies on supplementary visual feedback. Our study was designed to fill this gap, by comparing the effects of two visual feedback types implemented on a graphic tablet with touchscreen (PenWidthFB versus ColoredVelocityFB feedback), in two groups with different levels of expertise in calligraphy (novice versus expert). We collected measures of cognitive load, user experience and gestural performance. Results showed that 1) there was no significant difference in cognitive load between experts and novices, but PenWidthFB feedback created a higher cognitive load than ColoredVelocityFB feedback, 2) for the user experience, there were no obvious differences between experts and novices, and between the two feedback types, 3) concerning the gestural performance, the experts were faster than the novices, and the applied pressure with ColoredVelocityFB feedback was higher than with PenWidthFB feedback.

L'objectif de cette recherche est d'etudier la construction et la comprehension des categories taxonomiques des animaux, vegetaux et objets fabriques entre 3 et 6 ans. Une tâche de tri en trois etapes a ete utilisee. Initialement, un « tri libre » est demande, ensuite un « tri a trois tas », correspondant aux trois categories animaux, vegetaux, objets fabriques, enfin un « tri a deux tas », qui sous-entend la distinction vivant non vivant. Pour la construction des categories, le nombre d'exemplaires, utilise pour la realisation des tris, est pris en compte, et pour la comprehension, les justifications des tris. Les resultats montrent, que quel que soit l'âge les enfants n'ont pas reussi a construire entierement les 3 categories, ni celles correspondantes au vivant/non vivant. Toutefois, la construction et la comprehension des categories se developpent avec l'âge. Ce qui se traduit par une augmentation avec l'âge des tris taxonomiques et des justifications par la categorie d'appartenance. Les differences constatees suggerent que la construction des trois categories se realise par des voies d'acces differenciees. La categorie des vegetaux est construite de facon plus abstraite, etant donne que les enfants reunissent l'ensemble des exemplaires, en les justifiant plutot par la categorie d'appartenance. Pour les animaux, cette construction est progressive et se fait sur la base de l'appartenance categorielle et des proprietes biologiques definitoires. Les objets fabriques sont plus inseres dans des tris non-taxonomiques, avec des justifications liees a leurs fonctions.

Background : Regularity effect can affect performance in prospective memory (PM), but little is known on the cognitive processes linked to this effect. Moreover, its impacts with regard to aging remain unknown. To our knowledge, this study is the first to examine regularity effect in PM in a lifespan perspective, with a sample of young, intermediate, and older adults. Objective and design : Our study examined the regularity effect in PM in three groups of participants: 28 young adults (18–30), 16 intermediate adults (40–55), and 25 older adults (65–80). The task, adapted from the Virtual Week , was designed to manipulate the regularity of the various activities of daily life that were to be recalled (regular repeated activities vs. irregular non-repeated activities). We examine the role of several cognitive functions including certain dimensions of executive functions (planning, inhibition, shifting, and binding), short-term memory, and retrospective episodic memory to identify those involved in PM, according to regularity and age. Results : A mixed-design ANOVA showed a main effect of task regularity and an interaction between age and regularity: an age-related difference in PM performances was found for irregular activities (older < young), but not for regular activities. All participants recalled more regular activities than irregular ones with no age effect. It appeared that recalling of regular activities only involved planning for both intermediate and older adults, while recalling of irregular ones were linked to planning, inhibition, short-term memory, binding, and retrospective episodic memory. Conclusion : Taken together, our data suggest that planning capacities seem to play a major role in remembering to perform intended actions with advancing age. Furthermore, the age-PM-paradox may be attenuated when the experimental design is adapted by implementing a familiar context through the use of activities of daily living. The clinical implications of regularity effect are discussed. Keywords: regularity effect; age; lifespan; future intentions; episodic memory; planning; binding; spontaneous retrieval; multiprocess theory; clinical practice (Published: 21 October 2016) This paper is part of the Special Issue: Prospective Memory. More papers from this issue can be found at www.socioaffectiveneuroscipsychol.net Citation: Socioaffective Neuroscience & Psychology 2016, 6 : 31238 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/snp.v6.31238

International audience; We looked at how far students aged 10-17 years differentiate between the force and energy concepts for animates and inanimates. Within a structured interview format, participants described situations in which inanimate objects and animate agents interacted. Results showed that the younger students made no distinction between the two concepts for the inanimate objects. They regarded force and energy as the objects' intrinsic properties, related to their height and weight, and tended to attribute both concepts to animates rather than to inanimates. With age, force came to be seen in terms of interactions, while energy continued to be considered in relation to the physical dimensions that affected it (i.e., height or weight). Even so, force continued to impinge on energy, the reverse being less frequent. Conceptions remained unchanged for the animate agents, insofar as younger and older students alike expressed undifferentiated force/energy conceptions, relating both force and energy to the agents' effort or the results of their action.

International audience; A prior study by Wakebe, Hidaka, and Watamura, exploring the role of processing demands in analogical reasoning, showed that presenting a target problem in a foreign language decreases analogical problem-solving ability in a resource-independent manner. The present commentary, however, describes several factors that can affect the ability to draw analogies precisely by reducing processing resources, including working memory, executive functions, and relational knowledge. In future studies, it would therefore be interesting to ascertain whether the observed differences are due solely to the presentation of the target problem in a foreign language or also to the aforementioned factors.

International audience; The aim of the present study was to gain an insight into French young people’sconceptual development regarding the greenhouse effect. Because this effect cannotbe directly manipulated, we can assume that its conceptualization is mainlyshaped through the sharing of information. Eighty French students from GradeSeven through to adulthood responded to statements in a questionnaire on thegreenhouse effect’s causes, consequences and solutions. Unlike in previous studies,participants were asked to justify their choices, as some of the statementswere quite complex. Results showed that performances improved with grade,mainly between Grade Nine and adulthood, although participants continued tohave a weaker grasp of the causes of the greenhouse effect than of itsconsequences and solutions. Participants’ justifications also showed that theymisunderstood some of the statements.

The objective of this work was to highlight the conceptions offorce held by students aged 10-17 years old, in situations where animate and inanimate objects interact. In the proposed experimental situations, we varied parameters such as the motion and position of an object and the agent's effort. We asked questions about both inanimate and animate objects. Results show that pupils are able to use a small number of conceptions coherently, but that these are influenced by the context. For inanimate objects, conceptions develop gradually. Initially, force is regarded as a property of objects related to their weight and/or motion/position. With age, however, pupils begin to regard it as a process of interaction. For animates, conceptions evolve much more slowly, insofar as all pupils consider force to be a human property related to the result that is obtained and/or the agent's effort.

We compared the effects of two media (paper vs. computer) on reading comprehension and memorization among students in their third or fourth year of secondary school. To assess comprehension, we constructed and validated a text with a carefully controlled hierarchical structure, accompanied by a questionnaire containing three types of questions (surface, semantic, inference). Memory of the text was assessed with a test based on the Remember-Know (R/K) paradigm. The results of the comprehension and R/K tests indicated that there was no difference between the two media. Regardless of medium, surface comprehension was better than either semantic or inference comprehension. The R/K test indicated that memorization was better for the surface elements of the text (more R than K responses). In conclusion, overall results show that if we fulfil?all the conditions of paper-based versus computerized presentation (text structure, presentation on a single page, screen size, several types of questions measuring comprehension and memory performances), reading performances are not significantly different. The objective was to compare reading from paper versus computers.We developed a one-page text with a specific structure.We measured comprehension and memorization from paper and computer.Results did not reveal any difference between paper and computer.

International audience; The usability of interactive whiteboards vs. computers was evaluated on three dimensions (visibility, legibility and comprehension) in the secondary school pupils. The visibility assessment consisted in detecting a visual stimulus varying in luminance using a staircase procedure, legibility was assessed with a target-search task, and we administered narrative and explanatory texts with or without illustrations to evaluate comprehension. The results of the visibility test showed that pupils found the light signal easier to detect on the IWB. For the legibility test, we observed differences in error rates and discriminability according to medium, font size and congruence between target and the distractor letters. Performances in the comprehension test were similar for both explanatory and narrative texts. Moreover, the presence of illustrations does not improve comprehension. These results could be related to the hierarchical structure of the texts, which facilitate comprehension.

Summary : Exploration and planning with the Chinese rings puzzle, discovering object properties Solving the Chinese Rings Puzzle (ChRP, or baguenaudier) consists of removing tokens according to a recursive rule. Contrary to other puzzle problems, such as the Tower of Hanoi, the ChRP problem space is linear and a 21-state path leads from the initial to the final state : to reach the goal, it is enough to never return backwards. However, in practice, participants make up to 300 moves to solve the ChRP. We show that the heuristic « reduce the distance that separates the current state from the goal state (hill climbing) » and states informativeness are some of the factors explaining ChRP difficulty., Contrairement aux autres problèmes récursifs de type puzzle, comme la Tour d'Hanoi, l'espace de recherche du problème des Anneaux chinois (PAC ou baguenaudier) est linéaire : il n'y a qu'un seul chemin de 21 états qui mène de l'état initial à l'état final, si bien que pour atteindre le but, il suffit de ne pas revenir en arrière. Or en pratique, PAC se révèle être un problème très difficile : les participants mettent jusqu'à plus de 300 coups pour le résoudre. Nous montrons qu'une part de cette difficulté provient de l'heuristique « ne pas s'éloigner du but » appliquée à la configuration des états mais que, d'autre part, la correspondance entre les règles du problème et la configuration des états favorise l'apprentissage à partir de la découverte des propriétés pertinentes., Megalakaki Olga, Tijus Charles-Albert. Exploration et planification dans le problème des anneaux chinois : la découverte des règles à partir des propriétés. In: L'année psychologique. 2005 vol. 105, n°4. pp. 625-647.

How students acquire physics concepts is still an open research question, since the knowledge is complex and requires a long time to be acquired. Within this perspective, this paper presents an analysis of student’s cognitive processes and their evolution during the resolution of a succession of teaching tasks specifically designed to put into play a modelling activity in physics. We particularly focused on cognitive processes which establish relations between the world of objects and events (experimental field) and that of the theory/model. We observe the evolution from simple cognitive processes to more complex ones throughout the successive tasks. This evolution is only possible because the students can simultaneously process elements of the theory/model and the experimental field.

The present study explored the links between cognitive restraint and body image in obese adolescents when compared with normal-weight adolescents according to sex. Body image was measured on the Body Esteem Scale and cognitive restraint by means of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire Revised 18-item version (TFEQ-R18). Although the results did not reveal any significant correlation between overall scores on these two measures, subscale scores showed that the obese adolescents used cognitive restraint more than the normal-weight adolescents did as a strategy for regulating their diet and were less satisfied with their body image. The normal-weight adolescents’ use of cognitive restraint was correlated with body-weight dissatisfaction. Despite these differences, the two populations shared several characteristics. All the adolescents were dissatisfied with the way they thought that others saw them. The loss of control was one of their major concerns, although in the obese adolescents, it went hand in hand with major emotional investment. The results suggest that these are the variables responsible for adolescents’ eating habits, regardless of their weight. The most discriminating variable when crossed with weight was sex, with girls being less satisfied with their body image, especially when they were obese.

This article reports a study carried out in order to measure how semantic factors affect reductions in the difficulty of the Chinese Ring Puzzle (CRP) that involves removing five objects according to a recursive rule. We hypothesised that semantics would guide inferences about action decision making. The study involved a comparison of problem solving for two semantic isomorphic variants of the CRP ( fish and fleas ) with problem solving for the puzzle's classic variant (the Balls and Boxes problem; Kotovsky & Simon, 1990). Our results showed that the number of moves was reduced by 47% in the fish version and by 51% in the flea version. We discuss these results in terms of semantic inferences and reductions in relational complexity. During the exploratory stage of problem solving participants discover the dependent relations between elements in the puzzle. Initially these relations are processed separately; learning involves generalising the relations within a coherent, interconnected whole that makes up t...

In the present psychology-informed literature review we address some aspects of the nature of creativity from cognitive and confluence perspectives. The authors begin by discussing models of creativity offered by cognitive and confluence approaches, focusing on the transition from univariate to multivariate models. The article explores what these literatures suggest about factors that can influence creativity, including cognitive conative and environmental ones. The article goes on to present the overlaps and distinctiveness between creativity and innovation and the vexed question of the evaluation of creativity exploring two contrasting stances of psychometric and componential approaches. The review concludes by acknowledging the complexity of the phenomenon of creativity explored here mainly through cognitive and confluence lenses touching on psychometric and social-personality approaches, and recognizes the potential of other lenses in psychology such as psychodynamic, humanistic and evolutionary, for understanding creativity.

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Introduction. Adopting a conceptual change perspective yields information not only about the organization of students’ conceptions and the mechanisms behind their changes, but also about the most effective teaching interventions for promoting conceptual change. In experimental science, modelling constitutes a basic activity for acquiring and using scientific concepts, and a key method for eliciting conceptual change. The aim of this study was to investigate how modelling activities can elicit conceptual changes concerning the notion of energy.Method. 40 students aged 16-17 years, working in pairs had to construct symbolic representations of three materially present experiments (Battery-bulb, Falling object and Rising object) drawing on a simple model that introduced them to the properties of energy. In order to track changes in their cognitive processes, we defined a number of specific modelling categories.Results. Results showed that students implemented increasingly complex cognitive processes to solve the three problems. Modelling activities enhance the ability to process the material world and the world of theories and models simultaneously, even when there is no isomorphism between the two.Discussion. The modelling activities we administered to students promoted efficient learning, insofar as the conceptual change mechanism was put in place. Solving the three problems allowed students to draw on their prior knowledge but also to develop new knowledge about the material and theoretical worlds. They acquired the ability to process representations simultaneously from concrete and conceptual worlds and to move freely between them, despite their lack of isomorphism.

EnglishThe aim of this work was to study the organization, coherence and evolution of naives conceptions of digestion for children from 7 to 10 years old. The children draw itinerary and future of an apple in the body and answer a series of questions. We studied - the structure of the digestive system, - the progressive transformations of food in the body, - intestinal absorption and the passage of food in blood. Results show that the children use a small number of consistent conceptions to explain digestion and its processes, which evolve significantly. The children advance from conceptions where they consider the digestive system as a "free movement of food in the body" or as a "containing body", towards conceptions where both digestive and circulation systems are considered at first independently and then as two systems in relation. francaisL'objectif de cet article etait d'etudier l'organisation, la coherence et l'evolution des conceptions naives de la digestion chez des enfants âges de 7 a 10 ans. Les enfants devaient dessiner le trajet et le devenir d'une pomme dans le corps et repondre a une serie de questions. Nous avons etudie trois themes : -- la structure du systeme digestif, -- les transformations progressives des aliments dans le corps, -- l'absorption intestinale et le passage des aliments dans le sang. Les resultats montrent que les enfants utilisent un petit nombre de conceptions coherentes pour expliquer la digestion et ses processus, et que ces conceptions evoluent significativement. Les enfants progressent depuis des conceptions ou ils considerent le systeme digestif comme une « libre circulation des aliments dans le corps » ou d'un « corps contenant », vers des conceptions du type « tuyauterie continue » pour arriver a des conceptions ou les deux systemes digestif et circulatoire sont consideres au depart independamment l'un de l'autre et ensuite comme deux systemes en relation.

Introduction. The purpose of the present study was to explore the educational and cognitive aspects of an innovative approach to Internet use within an interdisciplinary, integrated framework for activities set up to enable students to acquire knowledge informally. These activities had the potential to provide real-world results through a model that was easily applicable in current educational practice.Method. Adopting a constructivist, “learning by doing” approach, a network of five European secondary schools and educational and technological research institutes developed a web-enabled application for teaching various topics related to the e-commerce of agricultural products (AGROweb). This generated a business microcosm in the different schools, allowing students to have contacts with producers, win orders via the Internet and deal with payment and shipping issues. This marketplace was supplemented with a flexible virtual environment where students and teachers could continuously discuss and exchange ideas, and familiarize themselves with the new interactive tools.Results. The AGROweb project forced students to tackle the problems of the real business world (i.e., establishing contacts with producers, winning orders via the Internet, handling shipping-related issues and payment requirements). For the students, working on the project gave them a desire to broaden their knowledge of computing at various levels, namely web design, animation, software development, databases, and so on. During the project, teaching and learning were no longer perceived of as opposites, but instead as complementary activities.Conclusion. Technology-based learning environments like AGROweb provide opportunities for acquiring both declarative and procedural knowledge. Similarly, their multidisiplinarity helps learners to develop general strategies and to transfer these strategies from one specific context to another. However, a very careful assessment is needed whenever changes and new learning strategies are involved, in order to measure the impact of these changes from a psychological and educational point of view and define the formal directions to follow.