Esta dissertação buscou analisar o efeito de priming semântico em uma tarefa de decisão lexical. No estudo 1, comparou-se o efeito de priming semântico entre crianças e universitários em dois SOAs (250ms e 500ms). Os resultados mostraram que no SOA de 250ms, apenas as crianças tiveram efeito de priming semântico. Quando o SOA foi de 500ms, ambos grupos apresentaram efeito de priming semântico, no entanto, este foi maior nas crianças. No estudo 2 foi investigada a relação entre o efeito de priming semântico nas crianças do estudo 1 e as variáveis força de associação e freqüência do alvo. Foram encontradas algumas fracas correlações entre estas variáveis. Conclui-se que variáveis como idade/escolaridade, SOA e força de associação são determinantes no efeito de priming semântico. / The aim of this study was to analyze the semantic priming effect in a lexical decision task. In study 1, the semantic priming effect in third graders and college students was compared. It was used two SOAs, 250ms and 500ms. The results showed that when SOA was 250ms, only third graders had semantic priming effects. When SOA was 500ms, both groups had semantic priming effects; however, the magnitude of it was bigger in children. In study 2, it was investigated the relation between semantic priming effects of third graders and the variables associative strength and frequency. Data demonstrated some weak correlations between these variables. We concluded that variables such age/educational group, SOA and associative strength are related to the semantic priming effect.

Embora a tecnologia nuclear tenha aplicações benéficas para diversas áreas, como saúde, indústria, agricultura, produção de energia, entre outras, a sua aceitação ainda é restrita e há várias barreiras para o seu uso. A falta de conhecimento assertivo sobre essa tecnologia gera preconceito com relação à sua utilização. Preconceitos podem ser explícitos, que são conscientes, ou implícitos, inconscientes. No entanto, conscientes ou inconscientes, eles influenciam o comportamento e as atitudes. As experiências nas memórias explícita e implícita podem ser transferidas de uma para a outra. Assim, preconceitos ou associações inconscientes podem ser modificados pela memória explícita, ou seja, um novo conhecimento pode reduzi-los ou revertê-los. Para uma educação transformadora, o professor tem um papel central; entretanto, para que ele transmita o conhecimento de forma imparcial, é necessário que tenha uma visão livre de preconceitos. Esse trabalho visa desenvolver uma metodologia com apoio em neurociências por meio da qual as associações implícitas referentes às aplicações da tecnologia nuclear por parte dos professores de ciências sejam identificadas e possíveis preconceitos implícitos sejam modificados por meio de novos conhecimentos explícitos. Para identificar preconceitos implícitos são necessários testes específicos de memória implícita. O Teste de Associação Implícita (TAI) foi selecionado para esse trabalho. Seguindo as etapas fornecidas pelo software FreeIAT, o TAI foi customizado a fim de comparar as associações implícitas de participantes com relação às áreas nuclear e petróleo e sua consistência foi averiguada por um pré-teste aplicado a um grupo de especialistas (grupo controle) e de leigos, cujos resultados determinaram um bom valor de Alfa de Cronbach. Um programa multissensorial de 5 horas foi desenvolvido e realizado no Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares (IPEN) para um grupo de professores de ciências. O TAI foi aplicado no início e ao término do programa e os resultados das associações implícitas foram comparados. Após seis meses, o TAI foi reaplicado ao mesmo grupo de professores para verificar se as associações implícitas se mantiveram estáveis. Esse programa multissensorial foi comparado com um programa de 12 semanas de ensino tradicional com aulas expositivas realizado no IPEN para alunos ingressantes na pós-graduação. O programa multissensorial foi efetivo para mudar e manter as associações implícitas dos professores referentes às aplicações benéficas da tecnologia nuclear, diferentemente do ensino tradicional com aulas expositivas. Esse trabalho demonstrou que é possível quebrar paradigmas e preconceitos. A abordagem multissensorial possibilitou um conhecimento enriquecido sobre as aplicações da tecnologia nuclear, ou seja, promoveu novas experiências na memória explícita que modificaram as associações prévias armazenadas na memória implícita. Assim, o programa multissensorial demonstrou ser uma ferramenta eficaz, capaz de produzir e manter mudanças nas associações implícitas, de baixo custo e pode ser aplicado em diversas áreas para mudar as associações implícitas e reverter preconceitos. Os resultados demonstraram que esse trabalho de doutorado teve êxito no que se propôs, contribuindo, assim, para a difusão do conhecimento das aplicações benéficas da tecnologia nuclear e, consequentemente, para a sua desmitificação. Essa metodologia completa poderá ser empregada em outras áreas para identificar, modificar e/ou reverter preconceitos ou estereótipos implícitos. / Although the applications of nuclear technology benefit several fields, such as health, industry, agriculture, energy production, among others, its public acceptance is still reduced and there are various barriers to its use. A lack of assertive knowledge about this technology generates prejudice against its use. Prejudices may be explicit at the conscious level or implicit operating outside awareness. Nevertheless, either conscious or unconscious, prejudices interfere with behavior and attitudes. The experiences in the explicit and implicit memories can be transferred from one to the other; thus unconscious prejudices or associations may be modified by the explicit memory, that is, new knowledge may reduce or even reverse them. The teachers play a critical role for transforming education; however, for sharing balanced knowledge they must have a perspective without prejudices. This work aims to develop a neuroscience-based methodology through which implicit associations of Brazilian science teachers towards nuclear technology may be assessed and possible implicit prejudices may be changed by new knowledge. In order to identify implicit prejudices, specific implicit memory tests are required. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) was chosen for this work. By following the steps provided by the software FreeIAT, the IAT was customized aiming to compare the implicit associations of respondents towards nuclear and oil. A pretest with nuclear specialists (control group) and lay people was administered to check the consistency of the customized IAT. The Cronbach\'s alpha was applied to measure the reliability of the test and showed good internal consistency. A 5-hour multisensory program for science teachers was designed and administered at the Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares (IPEN). The IAT was administered at the beginning and at the end of the program and the results of the implicit associations were compared. After a six-month period, the IAT was re-administered to the same group of teachers to verify whether the implicit associations remained stable. This multisensory program was compared to a 12-week traditional teaching program with lecture classes held at IPEN for incoming post-graduation students. The multisensory program was effective for changing and maintaining the implicit associations of teachers towards the beneficial applications of nuclear technology, unlike the traditional teaching program with lecture classes. This work demonstrated that it is possible to break paradigms and prejudices. The multisensory program enabled an enriched knowledge about the applications of nuclear technology, that is, it promoted new experiences in the explicit memory, which modified the previous associations stored in the implicit memory. Therefore, the multisensory program has proven to be a successful, cost-effective tool, which is able to cause and maintain changes in implicit associations and can be applied in several areas where changes in implicit associations and prejudice reversal are desired. The results demonstrated that the proposed doctoral research was effective, thus contributing to the diffusion of knowledge of the beneficial applications of nuclear technology and, consequently, to its demythification. This methodology may be administered to other fields to identify, modify and/or reduce implicit prejudices or stereotypes.

Prever eventos ambientais, com base em memórias sobre regularidades passadas, é uma das funções fundamentais de sistemas nervosos complexos. Eventos ordenados serialmente ou sequências estruturadas de estímulos permitem extrair informação passível de descrição formal que define seu padrão serial. Esse padrão inclui informações temporais e espaciais que facultam prever os próximos eventos da sequência, possibilitando a preparação prévia do organismo para lidar com sua ocorrência. Não surpreende que animais, incluindo o ser humano, aprendam, de maneira relativamente rápida, sobre regras e estruturas de padrões sequenciais de estímulos. O uso de tarefas de tempo de reação serial (TRS) é recorrente em estudos envolvendo a formação de associações, antecipação, atenção, as bases da memória e aprendizagem de relações complexas. Resumidamente, voluntários devem responder a estímulos apresentados em sequências repetitivas ou aleatórias. Com o treino, há redução no tempo de reação a cada estímulo, refletindo a aprendizagem de relações percepto-motoras. Essa redução, porém, é maior na sequência repetitiva em relação à sequência aleatória, indicando um aprendizado também sobre a sequência repetitiva, mesmo quando o voluntário não a percebe (conscientemente) e seja incapaz de relatar sua existência. Trata-se, portanto, de uma aquisição (inicialmente) implícita. A complexidade de uma sequência de estímulos pode ser expressa quantitativamente por meio de uma ferramenta matemática proposta por Shannon (1948), a entropia informacional (EI), que considera, entre outras coisas, a probabilidade de ocorrência dos estímulos em diferentes níveis. No presente trabalho, avaliamos em que extensão o conceito de EI permite prever o desempenho de ratos na tarefa de TRS envolvendo sequências com diferentes níveis de complexidade. Ratos foram treinados a reagir (1) a uma sequência repetitiva de estímulos, cuja quantidade de EI no nível 1 (que relaciona os estímulos da sequência 2 a 2) era 2,75. Após atingirem um nível assintótico de desempenho, os animais foram expostos (2) a sequências variáveis de estímulos com a mesma quantidade de EI no nível 1, porém, com maior quantidade de EI no nível 2 (que relaciona os estímulos da sequência 3 a 3). Numa etapa posterior os animais foram expostos (3) a uma nova sequência repetitiva de estímulos, cuja quantidade de EI no nível 1 era 3,00; por fim, os animais foram submetidos (4) a sequências variáveis com a mesma quantidade de EI no nível 1em relação à sequência anterior, porém, com maior quantidade de EI no nível 2 . Os resultados mostraram que os ratos aprenderam sobre os padrões seriais e, mais interessante, que seu desempenho esteve fortemente correlacionado à quantidade de EI no nível 2. Em outras palavras, quanto maior a EI, pior o desempenho dos animais tanto em termos do tempo de reação como em termos da percentagem de respostas corretas. Portanto, o conceito de EI permite não apenas quantificar a complexidade de sequências empregadas em estudos envolvendo aprendizagem serial, mas também prever o desempenho dos animais. / Prediction of environmental events, relying on memories of past regularities, is one of the fundamental functions of complex nervous systems. Sequences of serially ordered stimuli allow extracting information that defines its serial pattern. These patterns allow prediction of the next item in a sequence of events, facultating previous preparation to deal with its occurrence. Not surprisingly, animals, including humans, can identify rules present in serial structures of stimuli. Serial reaction time tasks (SRTT) have been extensively used in studies involving association, anticipation, attention, and learning and memory. Typically, subjects have to react to stimuli presented either in random or in repetitive sequences. As training proceeds, reaction time to each stimulus decreases, reflecting acquisition of this perceptual-motor skill. However, reaction time reduction is greater for repetitive sequences relative to the random sequences, indicating acquisition about the repetitive structure of the sequence. In human beings, this may occur even when the subject in uncapable of reporting the existence of a sequence, indicating that the acquisition was (at least initially) implicit rather than explicit. The complexity of a sequence of stimuli, at different levels, may be quantifyed by means of a mathematical tool proposed by Shannon (1948), the information entropy (IE). In this study we evaluated to which extent IE can predict performance of rats in SRTT involving sequences of stimuli organized at different levels of complexity. Rats were trained to react (1) a repeated sequence of stimuli which IE at the level \"1\" (i.e., expressing to which extent a given item allow prediction of the next) was 2.75. After reaching an asymptotic level of performance, the animals were exposed (2) a variable sequence of stimuli with the same amount of IE in the level \"1\", but with more IE in the level \"2\" (i.e., expressing to which extent two given items allow prediction of the next). Later the animals were exposed to (3) a new repeated sequence of stimuli, which IE at the level \"1\" was 3.00. Finally, the animals were submitted to (4) a random sequence of stimuli with the same amount of IE at the level \"1\", i.e., 3.00, but with greater IE in level 2. Results showed that rats learned about the serial patterns and, more interestingly, their performance strongly correlated to the amount of IE at the level \"2 \", both in terms of reaction times and in terms of percentage of correct responses. Therefore, IE allows not only to quantify complexity of sequences in studies involving serial learning, but also to predict performance of the subjects.

Embora a tecnologia nuclear tenha aplicações benéficas para diversas áreas, como saúde, indústria, agricultura, produção de energia, entre outras, a sua aceitação ainda é restrita e há várias barreiras para o seu uso. A falta de conhecimento assertivo sobre essa tecnologia gera preconceito com relação à sua utilização. Preconceitos podem ser explícitos, que são conscientes, ou implícitos, inconscientes. No entanto, conscientes ou inconscientes, eles influenciam o comportamento e as atitudes. As experiências nas memórias explícita e implícita podem ser transferidas de uma para a outra. Assim, preconceitos ou associações inconscientes podem ser modificados pela memória explícita, ou seja, um novo conhecimento pode reduzi-los ou revertê-los. Para uma educação transformadora, o professor tem um papel central; entretanto, para que ele transmita o conhecimento de forma imparcial, é necessário que tenha uma visão livre de preconceitos. Esse trabalho visa desenvolver uma metodologia com apoio em neurociências por meio da qual as associações implícitas referentes às aplicações da tecnologia nuclear por parte dos professores de ciências sejam identificadas e possíveis preconceitos implícitos sejam modificados por meio de novos conhecimentos explícitos. Para identificar preconceitos implícitos são necessários testes específicos de memória implícita. O Teste de Associação Implícita (TAI) foi selecionado para esse trabalho. Seguindo as etapas fornecidas pelo software FreeIAT, o TAI foi customizado a fim de comparar as associações implícitas de participantes com relação às áreas nuclear e petróleo e sua consistência foi averiguada por um pré-teste aplicado a um grupo de especialistas (grupo controle) e de leigos, cujos resultados determinaram um bom valor de Alfa de Cronbach. Um programa multissensorial de 5 horas foi desenvolvido e realizado no Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares (IPEN) para um grupo de professores de ciências. O TAI foi aplicado no início e ao término do programa e os resultados das associações implícitas foram comparados. Após seis meses, o TAI foi reaplicado ao mesmo grupo de professores para verificar se as associações implícitas se mantiveram estáveis. Esse programa multissensorial foi comparado com um programa de 12 semanas de ensino tradicional com aulas expositivas realizado no IPEN para alunos ingressantes na pós-graduação. O programa multissensorial foi efetivo para mudar e manter as associações implícitas dos professores referentes às aplicações benéficas da tecnologia nuclear, diferentemente do ensino tradicional com aulas expositivas. Esse trabalho demonstrou que é possível quebrar paradigmas e preconceitos. A abordagem multissensorial possibilitou um conhecimento enriquecido sobre as aplicações da tecnologia nuclear, ou seja, promoveu novas experiências na memória explícita que modificaram as associações prévias armazenadas na memória implícita. Assim, o programa multissensorial demonstrou ser uma ferramenta eficaz, capaz de produzir e manter mudanças nas associações implícitas, de baixo custo e pode ser aplicado em diversas áreas para mudar as associações implícitas e reverter preconceitos. Os resultados demonstraram que esse trabalho de doutorado teve êxito no que se propôs, contribuindo, assim, para a difusão do conhecimento das aplicações benéficas da tecnologia nuclear e, consequentemente, para a sua desmitificação. Essa metodologia completa poderá ser empregada em outras áreas para identificar, modificar e/ou reverter preconceitos ou estereótipos implícitos. / Although the applications of nuclear technology benefit several fields, such as health, industry, agriculture, energy production, among others, its public acceptance is still reduced and there are various barriers to its use. A lack of assertive knowledge about this technology generates prejudice against its use. Prejudices may be explicit at the conscious level or implicit operating outside awareness. Nevertheless, either conscious or unconscious, prejudices interfere with behavior and attitudes. The experiences in the explicit and implicit memories can be transferred from one to the other; thus unconscious prejudices or associations may be modified by the explicit memory, that is, new knowledge may reduce or even reverse them. The teachers play a critical role for transforming education; however, for sharing balanced knowledge they must have a perspective without prejudices. This work aims to develop a neuroscience-based methodology through which implicit associations of Brazilian science teachers towards nuclear technology may be assessed and possible implicit prejudices may be changed by new knowledge. In order to identify implicit prejudices, specific implicit memory tests are required. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) was chosen for this work. By following the steps provided by the software FreeIAT, the IAT was customized aiming to compare the implicit associations of respondents towards nuclear and oil. A pretest with nuclear specialists (control group) and lay people was administered to check the consistency of the customized IAT. The Cronbach\'s alpha was applied to measure the reliability of the test and showed good internal consistency. A 5-hour multisensory program for science teachers was designed and administered at the Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares (IPEN). The IAT was administered at the beginning and at the end of the program and the results of the implicit associations were compared. After a six-month period, the IAT was re-administered to the same group of teachers to verify whether the implicit associations remained stable. This multisensory program was compared to a 12-week traditional teaching program with lecture classes held at IPEN for incoming post-graduation students. The multisensory program was effective for changing and maintaining the implicit associations of teachers towards the beneficial applications of nuclear technology, unlike the traditional teaching program with lecture classes. This work demonstrated that it is possible to break paradigms and prejudices. The multisensory program enabled an enriched knowledge about the applications of nuclear technology, that is, it promoted new experiences in the explicit memory, which modified the previous associations stored in the implicit memory. Therefore, the multisensory program has proven to be a successful, cost-effective tool, which is able to cause and maintain changes in implicit associations and can be applied in several areas where changes in implicit associations and prejudice reversal are desired. The results demonstrated that the proposed doctoral research was effective, thus contributing to the diffusion of knowledge of the beneficial applications of nuclear technology and, consequently, to its demythification. This methodology may be administered to other fields to identify, modify and/or reduce implicit prejudices or stereotypes.

Notre but de comprendre les mécanismes constitutifs de la déficience intellectuelle et de la dyspraxie verbale, deux pathologies qui affectent les performances aux tests psychométriques. Nous avons sélectionné plusieurs processus pouvant contribuer à l’explication de ces troubles : la vitesse de traitement de l’information et la mémoire travail pour la déficience intellectuelle ; et l’apprentissage procédural pour la dyspraxie verbale. Dans une première étude, nous avons montré que dans la population « tout venant » d’enfants non déficients, la vitesse de traitement augmente avec l’âge. Notre seconde expérience a montré que des patients déficients intellectuels avaient la même vitesse de traitement que des enfants plus jeunes appariés sur l’âge mental. Par ailleurs, nous avons montré que ce ralentissement est similaire dans le syndrome de l’X-Fragile et dans la Trisomie 21. Inversement, la vitesse de traitement des enfants dyspraxiques verbaux est préservée. Ces résultats viennent discuter les deux modèles théoriques de l’intelligence que nous avons choisis comme référence, le modèle en cascade de Fry & Hale (1996) et le modèle d’Anderson (1992). Dans le second volet de nos recherches, nous avons mis en évidence un apprentissage procédural implicite comparable dans deux groupes d’enfants d’âges chronologiques différents malgré des temps de réaction plus importants chez les plus jeunes. La seconde étude montre une préservation de l’apprentissage procédural implicite dans le syndrome de l’X-Fragile et une altération spécifique dans la Trisomie 21. Cela démontre que ce processus est indépendant du QI et varie selon les syndromes. Notre dernière étude montre un trouble important de l’apprentissage procédural implicite dans la dyspraxie verbale, confortant notre hypothèse de départ. L’ensemble de ces résultats est discuté au regard des travaux antérieurs et des modèles théoriques afin de proposer des ouvertures tant théoriques que cliniques. / Our aim is to understand previous process in mental retardation and childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). There are both neurodevelopmental disorders which affect psychometric assessment. We have selected several processes which could explain these disorders such has speed of information processing, working memory for mental retardation and implicit procedural learning for childhood apraxia of speech. In our first study, we have demonstrated within two groups of typical children without disorders that speed of processing increased with chronological age. In the second study, our results have demonstrated the same speed of processing between a group with mental retardation and with mental age matched control group. Moreover, Down and Fragile X syndrome have the same speed of information processing. On the contrary, in our third study, children with CAS and chronological age matched control group have the same speed as process visual information. All results are important to discuss both theories of intelligence we have chosen: the cascade model (Fry and Hall, 1990) and the minimal cognitive architecture (Anderson, 1992). In the second experimental part, our first results have shown a different reaction time between the two groups of young children but both have learned the sequence in a serial reaction time task (implicit procedural learning test). The second study have demonstrated preserved implicit learning in Fragile X but altered learning in Down syndrome. The difference between to these two genetics syndromes is a proof of implicit sequence learning is independent of IQ. The latest results have shown severe implicit procedural learning impairment in CAS. We conclude that this is the cause of CAS.Our discussion is about all results and links between intelligence and disorders with regard to previous studies. Those results aim for both theorical and clinical openings.

Prever eventos ambientais, com base em memórias sobre regularidades passadas, é uma das funções fundamentais de sistemas nervosos complexos. Eventos ordenados serialmente ou sequências estruturadas de estímulos permitem extrair informação passível de descrição formal que define seu padrão serial. Esse padrão inclui informações temporais e espaciais que facultam prever os próximos eventos da sequência, possibilitando a preparação prévia do organismo para lidar com sua ocorrência. Não surpreende que animais, incluindo o ser humano, aprendam, de maneira relativamente rápida, sobre regras e estruturas de padrões sequenciais de estímulos. O uso de tarefas de tempo de reação serial (TRS) é recorrente em estudos envolvendo a formação de associações, antecipação, atenção, as bases da memória e aprendizagem de relações complexas. Resumidamente, voluntários devem responder a estímulos apresentados em sequências repetitivas ou aleatórias. Com o treino, há redução no tempo de reação a cada estímulo, refletindo a aprendizagem de relações percepto-motoras. Essa redução, porém, é maior na sequência repetitiva em relação à sequência aleatória, indicando um aprendizado também sobre a sequência repetitiva, mesmo quando o voluntário não a percebe (conscientemente) e seja incapaz de relatar sua existência. Trata-se, portanto, de uma aquisição (inicialmente) implícita. A complexidade de uma sequência de estímulos pode ser expressa quantitativamente por meio de uma ferramenta matemática proposta por Shannon (1948), a entropia informacional (EI), que considera, entre outras coisas, a probabilidade de ocorrência dos estímulos em diferentes níveis. No presente trabalho, avaliamos em que extensão o conceito de EI permite prever o desempenho de ratos na tarefa de TRS envolvendo sequências com diferentes níveis de complexidade. Ratos foram treinados a reagir (1) a uma sequência repetitiva de estímulos, cuja quantidade de EI no nível 1 (que relaciona os estímulos da sequência 2 a 2) era 2,75. Após atingirem um nível assintótico de desempenho, os animais foram expostos (2) a sequências variáveis de estímulos com a mesma quantidade de EI no nível 1, porém, com maior quantidade de EI no nível 2 (que relaciona os estímulos da sequência 3 a 3). Numa etapa posterior os animais foram expostos (3) a uma nova sequência repetitiva de estímulos, cuja quantidade de EI no nível 1 era 3,00; por fim, os animais foram submetidos (4) a sequências variáveis com a mesma quantidade de EI no nível 1em relação à sequência anterior, porém, com maior quantidade de EI no nível 2 . Os resultados mostraram que os ratos aprenderam sobre os padrões seriais e, mais interessante, que seu desempenho esteve fortemente correlacionado à quantidade de EI no nível 2. Em outras palavras, quanto maior a EI, pior o desempenho dos animais tanto em termos do tempo de reação como em termos da percentagem de respostas corretas. Portanto, o conceito de EI permite não apenas quantificar a complexidade de sequências empregadas em estudos envolvendo aprendizagem serial, mas também prever o desempenho dos animais. / Prediction of environmental events, relying on memories of past regularities, is one of the fundamental functions of complex nervous systems. Sequences of serially ordered stimuli allow extracting information that defines its serial pattern. These patterns allow prediction of the next item in a sequence of events, facultating previous preparation to deal with its occurrence. Not surprisingly, animals, including humans, can identify rules present in serial structures of stimuli. Serial reaction time tasks (SRTT) have been extensively used in studies involving association, anticipation, attention, and learning and memory. Typically, subjects have to react to stimuli presented either in random or in repetitive sequences. As training proceeds, reaction time to each stimulus decreases, reflecting acquisition of this perceptual-motor skill. However, reaction time reduction is greater for repetitive sequences relative to the random sequences, indicating acquisition about the repetitive structure of the sequence. In human beings, this may occur even when the subject in uncapable of reporting the existence of a sequence, indicating that the acquisition was (at least initially) implicit rather than explicit. The complexity of a sequence of stimuli, at different levels, may be quantifyed by means of a mathematical tool proposed by Shannon (1948), the information entropy (IE). In this study we evaluated to which extent IE can predict performance of rats in SRTT involving sequences of stimuli organized at different levels of complexity. Rats were trained to react (1) a repeated sequence of stimuli which IE at the level \"1\" (i.e., expressing to which extent a given item allow prediction of the next) was 2.75. After reaching an asymptotic level of performance, the animals were exposed (2) a variable sequence of stimuli with the same amount of IE in the level \"1\", but with more IE in the level \"2\" (i.e., expressing to which extent two given items allow prediction of the next). Later the animals were exposed to (3) a new repeated sequence of stimuli, which IE at the level \"1\" was 3.00. Finally, the animals were submitted to (4) a random sequence of stimuli with the same amount of IE at the level \"1\", i.e., 3.00, but with greater IE in level 2. Results showed that rats learned about the serial patterns and, more interestingly, their performance strongly correlated to the amount of IE at the level \"2 \", both in terms of reaction times and in terms of percentage of correct responses. Therefore, IE allows not only to quantify complexity of sequences in studies involving serial learning, but also to predict performance of the subjects.

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L’étude de la mémoire, du point de vue de son fonctionnement et de ses troubles, entre neurosciences cognitives et psychanalyse, avec comme maillon intermédiaire la psychologie développementale, permet une lecture d’éléments entrant en résonance les uns avec les autres ainsi qu’une matière composite propre à enrichir l’ensemble de ces disciplines. Il ne s’agit pas d’effectuer un amalgame de concepts dont la source est différente, mais de saisir comment des analogies entre ces concepts peuvent créer un nouvel espace pour une compréhension des processus de représentation et de façon corollaire pour une compréhension des processus de la mémoire. Pour entrer dans le champ des troubles de la mémoire, cette étude met en évidence deux fils rouges, la désarticulation du système perception-conscience en tant qu’elle est la signature des phénomènes psychiques dans lesquels prédomine un amorçage perceptif et l’émotion en tant qu’elle est un processus dont l’aboutissement conduit à la création des représentations de choses. Celles-ci marquent l’entrée du moi naissant dans une temporalité primaire, nécessaire à la future mémoire des souvenirs dont le développement est plus tardif au niveau des processus cérébraux. D’un point de vue psychique, la seule maturité cérébrale n’est pas suffisante pour la production des souvenirs, leur entrée dans le champ de la conscience passe par des conditions d’admissibilité de l’affect, encore faut-il qu’une représentation de l’affect ait été produite. Des hypothèses de travail sous-tendent l’élaboration de trois cas cliniques. Elles sont fondées sur la nécessité de la présence empathique de l’objet maternel primaire dans les états précoces de la psyché, afin de soutenir l’œuvre des processus de représentation et conséquemment celle des processus mnésiques. A contrario, son absence lors des situations de détresse éprouvées par l’enfant comporte le risque d’une atteinte portée aux processus de représentation et le risque de la production d’une mémoire demeurant sous l’emprise de stases émotionnelles. / The study of memory, regarding how it works and its disorders, between cognitive neuroscience and psychoanalysis, added to the intermediate link of developmental psychology, enables to read elements which start to resonance one with another and also offers composite material helping to enhance both these disciplins. This doesn’t mean making an amalgam of concepts from different origins, but to grasp how the analogies between these concepts can create a new approach in order to understand the process of representation and consequently to understand the process of memory. To enter the field of memory disorders, this study follows two red lines, the dislocation of the perception-conscience system as being the signature of psychic phenomena dominated by a perceptual priming and emotion as the process ending up in thing representations. These are the signs of the ego being born in primary temporality, a necessity for the future capacity to remember which is a cerebral process appearing later. From the psychological point of view, cerebral maturity is not solely required in order to produce recollections, their entry into the field of consciousness requires the possibility of acceptance of affect, gathering that the representation of affect has been produced. Working hypothesis are entwined with three clinical cases. They are grounded on the need for the empathic presence of the primary maternal object in the initial states of the psyche, in order to underline the work of the process of representation and, consequently, those of the memory process. On the contrary, if it is missing when the child is distressed, there is a risk of interference with the representation process and the risk of producing a memory in the grip of emotional stasis.

每個人遇到曾經看過的物體時，辨識該物體速度會增加（或辨識的正確率增加），這個現象稱為促發(priming)效果（簡稱P-P促發），同樣地，閱讀某物體的名稱（亦即文字）後，隔幾分鐘後再看該物體的圖形，這樣也會產生一種促發量（簡稱W-P促發）。許多研究都指出W-P促發是一種內隱(implicit)記憶，亦即，個體不需要刻意想起曾經看過的物件，促發效果仍會產生，而且P-P促發量都高於W-P促發量。然而，一些研究卻發現W-P促發量等於P-P促發量，顯然地，內隱記憶理論無法對於這種反直覺現象提出合理的解釋。 根據Paivio的雙重收錄理論(dual coding theory)(Paivio, 1986, 1991)，辨識具體(concrete)名詞（例如，物體的名稱）會同時觸及(access)或激發兩種知識表徵，一種是涉及左腦的口語(verbal)表徵，另一種是涉及左腦與右腦的影像(image)表徵，而許多神經語言學研究皆指出，涉及處理具體名詞的神經機制不只包含左腦，同時也包含右腦，是以，閱讀具體名詞可能會觸及或激發物體的內在表徵，如果物體輪廓相當獨特或明顯，那麼閱讀此類型物體之名稱可能會觸及或激發此類物體的完整或重要表徵，致使W-P促發量等於P-P促發量現象。因此本研究試圖操弄物體輪廓診斷性來解釋W-P促發量等於P-P促發量之現象。 實驗一與實驗二分別以「圖形唸名」以及「圖形知覺辨識作業」來檢驗「物體輪廓診斷性」對促發的影響，結果顯示，「整體診斷性不高」物體（globally non-diagnostic object，簡稱GN類物體）的P-P促發量高於W-P促發量，和先前許多研究結果一致，然而，「整體診斷性高」物體（globally diagnostic object，簡稱GD類物體）的W-P促發量等於P-P促發量，顯示「物體輪廓診斷性」會影響促發的表現，同時也顯示閱讀GD類物體名稱可以觸及或激發GD類物體的整體或必要的知識表徵。 實驗三以分視野(divided visual field)呈現方式檢驗GD類物體的W-P促發之腦側化現象。本研究發現，顯著的W-P促發只出現在右腦，顯示W-P促發主要經由右腦來處理，根據Paivio的雙重收錄理論來推論，W-P促發之本質可能主要涉及以影像為基礎的(image-based)的知識表徵。 本研究同時操弄外顯記憶以檢驗外顯記憶是否污染W-P促發而導致W-P促發量等於P-P促發量，結果顯示，不管哪一種物體，P-P情境的再認記憶表現都顯著比W-P情境好，顯示GD類物體的促發表現與外顯記憶表現之間有單一分離(single dissociation)的關係，換言之，GD類物體之W-P促發並不受外顯記憶影響或污染。此外，實驗四顯示刻意的心像策略並不涉及W-P促發，顯示閱讀GD類物體名稱觸及GD類物體概念表徵是一種自動化而且相當快速的歷程。 / Implicit memory is usually assessed by showing repetition priming effects, when better performance in accuracy or response time for stimuli that have been previously encountered in comparison with performance with new stimuli. Picture-naming priming has been examined in studies that compared priming in participants who named pictures in the study phase and named those same pictures in the test phase (P-P condition) versus participants who read words that were the names of pictures in the study phase and named pictures cor-responding to those words in the test phase (W-P condition). Many studies demonstrated W-P priming is less than P-P priming in the picture-naming task and other similar object recognition tasks. However, in sharp contrast to the above studies, some studies reported equivalent magnitudes of P-P and W-P naming priming. Theories of implicit memory cannot account for the counter-intuitive phenomenon. According to Paivio’s dual-coding theory, the processing of abstract nouns (e.g., justice) relies on verbal code representations of the left cerebral hemisphere only, whereas concrete nouns (e.g., airplane) additionally access a second image-based processing system in the right cerebral hemisphere (Paivio, 1986, 1991). Paivio’s theory is supported by many researches on neurolinguistics. If the contour of an object is very distinctive or diagnostic, there should be the possible result that reading the name of the distinctive objects could access the whole or essential representation of the object. Following the idea, I manipulated global diagnosticity of object contour to examine whether P-P priming is always larger than W-P priming. I found P-P priming was equivalent to W-P priming on “globally diagnostic” (GD) objects, but the P-P priming was still larger than W-P priming on “glob-ally non-diagnostic” (GN) objects. This phenomenon appeared on both pic-ture-naming (Experiment 1) and picture perceptual-identification (Experiment 2) tasks. Experiment 3 showed that significant W-P priming appeared only when GD objects in the test phase were presented to the right cerebral hemi-sphere (in the left visual field). Based on the Paivio’s dual coding theory (Paivio, 1986, 1991) and research on neurolinguistics, the nature of W-P priming for GD objects was inferred to be image-based processing. Better explicit (conscious) memory performance (recognition memory) in P-P condition than that in W-P condition showed that equivalent priming across P-P and W-P conditions on GD objects was dissociated from the influence of conscious recognition memory. Experiment 4 showed that the intentional strategy of generating mental imagery was not necessarily involved in the W-P priming. These results suggested that reading names of globally diagnostic objects can access, automatically and unconsciously, the representation or essential features of globally diagnostic objects, and right cerebral hemisphere might be responsible for the processing.

The purpose of this thesis was to develop methodology by which treatments for the cognitive impairments in Huntington's disease (HD) could be tested. As such, the thesis focused mainly on evaluating rats with quinolinic acid (QA) lesions of the striatum, as this manipulation mimics some aspects of the neural damage in Huntington's disease, to try to identify cognitive deficits of HD resulting from cell loss in the striatum. In the first part (Chapters 3-5), the role of the striatum in implicit memory was investigated. Chapter 3 compared the performance of rats and humans on a reaction time task that evaluated implicit memory by presenting visual stimuli with differing probabilities which change over time. Although rats made higher percentage of incorrect responses and late errors, both groups showed a similar pattern of reaction times. Chapter 4 investigated whether implicit memory (the computation of probabilities to predict the location of a stimulus) was affected by selective blockade of dopaminergic transmission at the D1 or D2 receptors by SCH-23390 and raclopride, respectively. Reaction times were slower with SCH-23390 and raclopride, but only SCH-23390 reduced errors to the least probable target location. Chapter 5 used the same task to evaluate implicit memory in rats with QA lesions of the dorsomedial striatum (DMS). Implicit memory was not affected by lesions of the DMS, which suggested that once a task that requires implicit memory has been learned, the DMS was not involved in sustaining the performance of the task. The second part of this thesis (Chapter 6), explored the contribution of the DMS in habit formation. DMS lesioned rats did not show habitual responding, and were not impaired in learning a new goal-directed behaviour. The third part (Chapters 7 and 8), investigated the role of the dorsal striatum in reversal learning, attentional set-formation, and set-shifting. Dorsal striatum lesioned rats were not impaired in reversal learning, but had a diminished shift-cost, which suggested that dorsal striatum lesions disrupted the formation of attentional sets. These results showed that although QA lesions of the dorsal striatum mimic some aspects of the neural damage in HD, they did not result in the same cognitive deficits observed in patients with HD, at least using the tasks presented in this thesis. However, other animal models of HD could be evaluated using the different tasks presented in this thesis to continue the search of a reliable animal model of HD in which treatments for the disease could be evaluated.