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A ansiedade e a depressão são as condições psicopatológicas mais comuns na atualidade. As pesquisas científicas em neurociência, psicologia, psiquiatria e medicina geral procuram encontrar diferentes formas para o tratamento e prevenção. No entanto, a maioria das pesquisas não leva em conta as diferenças individuais ou história do individuo. Quase toda a investigação farmacológica é feita em populações heterogêneas de animais, conduzindo assim à \"média\" dos dados. Recentemente, no Laboratório de Neurociência Comportamental na Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RJ), duas novas linhagens de ratos Wistar foram selecionadas fenotipicamente da resposta emocional de congelamento em um teste de medo condicionado . Uma das linhagens, denominada Carioca High ConditionedFreezing (CHF), apresenta uma resposta significativamente aumentada de congelamento no teste, enquanto que a outra (Carioca Low Conditioned-Freezing, CLF) mostra uma resposta de congelamento baixa. Em todos os experimentos utilizamos a linhagem controle (Random, RND) Wistar resultado de cruzamento aleatório entre ratos Wistar. Aqui apresentamos dados de diversos experimentos que avaliaram as diferenças em condições basais e vulnerabilidade ao estresse entre as duas linhagens e a linhagem RND. A concentração plasmática de corticosterona dos ratos foi comparada entre as duas linhagens e o grupo RND, primeiramente no nível basal e posteriormente após a exposição ao mesmo teste, onde foram expostos ao medo condicionado, como estímulo aversivo. Também foi avaliada a proliferação celular e sobrevivência. A imuno-histoquímica para c-fos foi conduzida com o objetivo de se determinar as diferenças de atividade neural entre as duas linhagens e o grupo RND. Um teste farmacológico com ketanserina, antagonista 5-HT2A, foi realizado e os animais foram avaliados quanto à ansiedade e locomoção, no labirinto em cruz elevado. Todos os nossos resultados mostraram diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre as linhagens selecionadas. Estes resultados sugerem que as diferentes condições basais podem ter impacto sobre a reação de comportamento exibido por cada animal. Assim, o uso de grupos selecionados é melhor para se modelar transtornos de ansiedade e procurar quais são caraterísticas que protegem aos animais que não apresentam os sintomas modelados. A partir dos nossos resultados foi evidente que os perfis comportamentais e neuroquímicos dos três grupos CHF, CLF e RND foram qualitativamente e quantitativamente diferentes. Na linha de base após ser fenotipados foi observado que existem diferenças na proliferação celular. Após a reexposição ao contexto observaram-se diferenças na concentração de corticosterona e na ativação neuronal. O estresse crônico levou a respostas diferenciais no número de neurônios imaturos, e o teste farmacológico levou a respostas diferencias tanto a nível local como sistêmico. Os dados obtidos podem ajudar a um melhor entendimento às bases neurobiológicas de aspectos associados às psicopatologias como ansiedade e depressão que estão relacionadas com a vulnerabilidade ao estresse. / Anxiety and depression are the most common psychopathological conditions today. Scientific research in neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry and general medicine seeks to find different ways for treatment and prevention. However, most research does not take into account individual differences and history. Almost all pharmacological research is done in heterogeneous populations of animals, thereby leading to the \"average\" data. Recently, in the Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC - RJ), two new strains of rats were selected phenotypically by their emotional response (freezing) in a test of cond itioned fear. One of the lines, so called \"Carioca High Conditioned - Freezing\" (CHF) has an increased freezing in the test , whereas the other (\"Carioca Low -Conditioned Freezing \" CLF) shows low freezing response . In all experiments we used the Wistar control strain (RND) derived from random bred between Wistar rats. Here we present data from several experiments evaluating the differences in basal conditions and vulnerability to stress between the two strains and RND strain. The plasma corticosterone of rats was compared between the two lines and the RND group, first at baseline and then after exposure to the same test where the y were exposed to conditioned fear as aversive stimulus. We also analyzed the cell proliferation and survival in the hippocampus after chronic stress. Immunohistochemistry for c -fos was conducted in order to determine the differences in neural activity between the two strains and the RND group. A pharmacological test with ketanserin, 5 -HT2A antagonist, was performed and the animals were assessed for anxiety and locomotion in the elevated plus maze. All our results showed statistically significant differences between the selected strains. These results suggest that different baseline conditions may have an impact on the behavior exhibited by each animal. Thus the use of selected groups is better approach in order to model anxiety disorders and to determine which features prevent animal from presenting symptoms. It is evident that the neurochemical and behavioral profiles of the three groups CHF, CLF and RND were different qualitatively and quantitatively. At baseline after been phenotyped it has been observed that there are differences in cell proliferation and corticosterone concentration. After re-exposure to the context differences were observed in the concentration of corticosterone and neuronal activation. Chronic stress has led to differential responses in the number of immature neurons. And the pharmacological test led to differential responses at both local and systemic. The data obtained are useful for a better understanding of the neurobiological aspects associated with psychopathologies such as anxiety and depression that are associated with vulnerability to stress.

A ansiedade e a depressão são as condições psicopatológicas mais comuns na atualidade. As pesquisas científicas em neurociência, psicologia, psiquiatria e medicina geral procuram encontrar diferentes formas para o tratamento e prevenção. No entanto, a maioria das pesquisas não leva em conta as diferenças individuais ou história do individuo. Quase toda a investigação farmacológica é feita em populações heterogêneas de animais, conduzindo assim à \"média\" dos dados. Recentemente, no Laboratório de Neurociência Comportamental na Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RJ), duas novas linhagens de ratos Wistar foram selecionadas fenotipicamente da resposta emocional de congelamento em um teste de medo condicionado . Uma das linhagens, denominada Carioca High ConditionedFreezing (CHF), apresenta uma resposta significativamente aumentada de congelamento no teste, enquanto que a outra (Carioca Low Conditioned-Freezing, CLF) mostra uma resposta de congelamento baixa. Em todos os experimentos utilizamos a linhagem controle (Random, RND) Wistar resultado de cruzamento aleatório entre ratos Wistar. Aqui apresentamos dados de diversos experimentos que avaliaram as diferenças em condições basais e vulnerabilidade ao estresse entre as duas linhagens e a linhagem RND. A concentração plasmática de corticosterona dos ratos foi comparada entre as duas linhagens e o grupo RND, primeiramente no nível basal e posteriormente após a exposição ao mesmo teste, onde foram expostos ao medo condicionado, como estímulo aversivo. Também foi avaliada a proliferação celular e sobrevivência. A imuno-histoquímica para c-fos foi conduzida com o objetivo de se determinar as diferenças de atividade neural entre as duas linhagens e o grupo RND. Um teste farmacológico com ketanserina, antagonista 5-HT2A, foi realizado e os animais foram avaliados quanto à ansiedade e locomoção, no labirinto em cruz elevado. Todos os nossos resultados mostraram diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre as linhagens selecionadas. Estes resultados sugerem que as diferentes condições basais podem ter impacto sobre a reação de comportamento exibido por cada animal. Assim, o uso de grupos selecionados é melhor para se modelar transtornos de ansiedade e procurar quais são caraterísticas que protegem aos animais que não apresentam os sintomas modelados. A partir dos nossos resultados foi evidente que os perfis comportamentais e neuroquímicos dos três grupos CHF, CLF e RND foram qualitativamente e quantitativamente diferentes. Na linha de base após ser fenotipados foi observado que existem diferenças na proliferação celular. Após a reexposição ao contexto observaram-se diferenças na concentração de corticosterona e na ativação neuronal. O estresse crônico levou a respostas diferenciais no número de neurônios imaturos, e o teste farmacológico levou a respostas diferencias tanto a nível local como sistêmico. Os dados obtidos podem ajudar a um melhor entendimento às bases neurobiológicas de aspectos associados às psicopatologias como ansiedade e depressão que estão relacionadas com a vulnerabilidade ao estresse. / Anxiety and depression are the most common psychopathological conditions today. Scientific research in neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry and general medicine seeks to find different ways for treatment and prevention. However, most research does not take into account individual differences and history. Almost all pharmacological research is done in heterogeneous populations of animals, thereby leading to the \"average\" data. Recently, in the Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC - RJ), two new strains of rats were selected phenotypically by their emotional response (freezing) in a test of cond itioned fear. One of the lines, so called \"Carioca High Conditioned - Freezing\" (CHF) has an increased freezing in the test , whereas the other (\"Carioca Low -Conditioned Freezing \" CLF) shows low freezing response . In all experiments we used the Wistar control strain (RND) derived from random bred between Wistar rats. Here we present data from several experiments evaluating the differences in basal conditions and vulnerability to stress between the two strains and RND strain. The plasma corticosterone of rats was compared between the two lines and the RND group, first at baseline and then after exposure to the same test where the y were exposed to conditioned fear as aversive stimulus. We also analyzed the cell proliferation and survival in the hippocampus after chronic stress. Immunohistochemistry for c -fos was conducted in order to determine the differences in neural activity between the two strains and the RND group. A pharmacological test with ketanserin, 5 -HT2A antagonist, was performed and the animals were assessed for anxiety and locomotion in the elevated plus maze. All our results showed statistically significant differences between the selected strains. These results suggest that different baseline conditions may have an impact on the behavior exhibited by each animal. Thus the use of selected groups is better approach in order to model anxiety disorders and to determine which features prevent animal from presenting symptoms. It is evident that the neurochemical and behavioral profiles of the three groups CHF, CLF and RND were different qualitatively and quantitatively. At baseline after been phenotyped it has been observed that there are differences in cell proliferation and corticosterone concentration. After re-exposure to the context differences were observed in the concentration of corticosterone and neuronal activation. Chronic stress has led to differential responses in the number of immature neurons. And the pharmacological test led to differential responses at both local and systemic. The data obtained are useful for a better understanding of the neurobiological aspects associated with psychopathologies such as anxiety and depression that are associated with vulnerability to stress.

Despite high prevalence rates of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs), the causes and pathways of WMSD development are not fully understood. Multiple factors (physical, psychosocial, and individual) have been associated with WMSD development, but causal inferences are not available due to lack of experimental designs. Because the responses, validity, and reliability of measured outcomes under multiple-exposure environments are not known, the current work analyzed the effects of multiple WMSD risk factors on several measurement methods. Forty-eight participants completed four trials of simulated manufacturing work at different levels of physical and psychosocial exposure for one psychosocial dimension (job control, job demands, time pressure, or social support). The three independent variables significantly affected outcomes, including muscle activity, heart rate, task performance, discomfort and workload ratings, and psychosocial environment perceptions. Social interaction should take priority over working in isolation, and pressure to achieve high performance should be minimized to reduce WMSD risk. A secondary data analysis determined measurements that could estimate WMSD risk efficiently. Convergent and discriminant validity was assessed to retain methods that provided unique information and minimized overlap between similar methods. For the given manufacturing environment, one muscle activity measure, heart rate mean and variability, one set of workload and discomfort ratings, and a psychosocial questionnaire were the best WMSD risk measurement methods. The third study assessed the test-retest reliability of the outcome measures of an additional trial involving 24 participants. Workload and discomfort appeared reliable under high levels of physical exposure but not under psychosocial manipulations. Physiological measures were reliable for <50% of parameters. The psychosocial questionnaire was reliable under favorable social support but not high physical exposure and favorable job control. The final study determined the number of psychosocial factors experienced through factor analysis on psychosocial questionnaire responses from the main experiment. Participants could distinguish psychosocial dimensions in the work environment, and this questionnaire may be used in experimental settings to measure perceptions of the psychosocial environment. The current research provided a basis for measuring physical and psychosocial exposure simultaneously in occupational settings. Using this knowledge may allow practitioners to focus on interventions and designs that reduce WMSD risk exposure. / Ph. D.

Purpose: Listening effort has traditionally been measured using subjective rating scales and behavioral measures. Recent physiological measures of listening effort have utilized pupil dilation. Using a combination of physiological and subjective measures of listening effort, this study aimed to identify differences in listening effort during 2 auditory tasks: sentence recognition and word recognition. Method: Pupil dilation and subjective ratings of listening effort were obtained for auditory tasks utilizing AzBio sentences recognition and Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6 words recognition, across 3 listening situations: in quiet, at +6 dB signal-to-noise ratio, and at 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio. Task accuracy was recorded for each of the 6 conditions, as well as peak pupil dilation and a subjective rating of listening effort. Results: A significant impact of listening situation (quiet vs. noise) and task type (sentence recognition vs. word recognition) on both physiological and subjective measures was found. There was a significant interaction between listening situation and task type, suggesting that contextual cues may only be beneficial when audibility is uncompromised. The current study found no correlation between the physiological and subjective measures, possibly suggesting that these measures analyze different aspects of cognitive effort in a listening task.

[pt] A autocompaixão demonstrou ser uma ferramenta importante para lidar de maneira mais saudável consigo mesma, especialmente em tempos difíceis. Por outro lado, a autocrítica é considerada uma estratégia desadaptativa, com estudos experimentais demonstrando que traz consequências prejudiciais aos indivíduos. Considerando isso, o presente estudo teve como objetivo verificar o efeito da autocompaixão na ansiedade e na reatividade emocional, utilizando medidas de autorrelato e fisiológicas. / [en] Self-compassion has been shown to be an important tool to deal in a healthier manner with oneself, specially during difficult times. By contrast, selfcriticism is considered a maladaptive strategy, with experimental studies having shown that it brings harmful consequences to individuals. Considering this, the present study aimed to verify the effect of self-compassion in anxiety and emotional reactivity, using both self-report and physiological measures.

De plus en plus de recherches sur les Interactions Humain-Machine (IHM) tentent d’effectuer des analyses fines de l’interaction afin de faire ressortir ce qui influence les comportements des utilisateurs. Tant au niveau de l’évaluation de la performance que de l’expérience des utilisateurs, on note qu’une attention particulière est maintenant portée aux réactions émotionnelles et cognitives lors de l’interaction. Les approches qualitatives standards sont limitées, car elles se fondent sur l’observation et des entrevues après l’interaction, limitant ainsi la précision du diagnostic. L’expérience utilisateur et les réactions émotionnelles étant de nature hautement dynamique et contextualisée, les approches d’évaluation doivent l’être de même afin de permettre un diagnostic précis de l’interaction. Cette thèse présente une approche d’évaluation quantitative et dynamique qui permet de contextualiser les réactions des utilisateurs afin d’en identifier les antécédents dans l’interaction avec un système. Pour ce faire, ce travail s’articule autour de trois axes. 1) La reconnaissance automatique des buts et de la structure de tâches de l’utilisateur, à l’aide de mesures oculométriques et d’activité dans l’environnement par apprentissage machine. 2) L’inférence de construits psychologiques (activation, valence émotionnelle et charge cognitive) via l’analyse des signaux physiologiques. 3) Le diagnostic de l‘interaction reposant sur le couplage dynamique des deux précédentes opérations. Les idées et le développement de notre approche sont illustrés par leur application dans deux contextes expérimentaux : le commerce électronique et l’apprentissage par simulation. Nous présentons aussi l’outil informatique complet qui a été implémenté afin de permettre à des professionnels en évaluation (ex. : ergonomes, concepteurs de jeux, formateurs) d’utiliser l’approche proposée pour l’évaluation d’IHM. Celui-ci est conçu de manière à faciliter la triangulation des appareils de mesure impliqués dans ce travail et à s’intégrer aux méthodes classiques d’évaluation de l’interaction (ex. : questionnaires et codage des observations). / More and more researches on Human-Computer Interactions (HCI) are trying to perform detailed analyses of interaction to determine its influence on users’ behaviours. A particular emphasis is now put on emotional reactions during the interaction, whether it’s from the perspective of user experience evaluation or user performance. Standard qualitative approaches are limited because they are based on observations and interviews after the interaction, therefore limiting the precision of the diagnosis. User experience and emotional reactions being, by nature, highly dynamic and contextualized, evaluation approaches should be the same to accurately diagnose the quality of interaction. This thesis presents an evaluation approach, both dynamic and quantitative, which allows contextualising users’ emotional reactions to help identify their causes during the interaction with a system. To this end, our work focuses on three main axes: 1) automatic task recognition using machine learning modeling of eye tracking and interaction data; 2) automatic inference of psychological constructs (emotional activation, emotional valence, and cognitive load) through physiological signals analysis; and 3) diagnosis of users’ reactions during interaction based on the coupling of the two previous operations. The ideas and development of our approach are illustrated using two experimental contexts: e-commerce and simulation-based training. We also present the tool we implemented in order to allow HCI professionals (e.g.: user experience expert, training supervisor, or game designer) to use our evaluation approach to assess interaction. This tool is designed to facilitate the triangulation of measuring instruments and the integration with more classical Human-Computer Interaction methods (ex.: surveys and observation coding).

De plus en plus de recherches sur les Interactions Humain-Machine (IHM) tentent d’effectuer des analyses fines de l’interaction afin de faire ressortir ce qui influence les comportements des utilisateurs. Tant au niveau de l’évaluation de la performance que de l’expérience des utilisateurs, on note qu’une attention particulière est maintenant portée aux réactions émotionnelles et cognitives lors de l’interaction. Les approches qualitatives standards sont limitées, car elles se fondent sur l’observation et des entrevues après l’interaction, limitant ainsi la précision du diagnostic. L’expérience utilisateur et les réactions émotionnelles étant de nature hautement dynamique et contextualisée, les approches d’évaluation doivent l’être de même afin de permettre un diagnostic précis de l’interaction. Cette thèse présente une approche d’évaluation quantitative et dynamique qui permet de contextualiser les réactions des utilisateurs afin d’en identifier les antécédents dans l’interaction avec un système. Pour ce faire, ce travail s’articule autour de trois axes. 1) La reconnaissance automatique des buts et de la structure de tâches de l’utilisateur, à l’aide de mesures oculométriques et d’activité dans l’environnement par apprentissage machine. 2) L’inférence de construits psychologiques (activation, valence émotionnelle et charge cognitive) via l’analyse des signaux physiologiques. 3) Le diagnostic de l‘interaction reposant sur le couplage dynamique des deux précédentes opérations. Les idées et le développement de notre approche sont illustrés par leur application dans deux contextes expérimentaux : le commerce électronique et l’apprentissage par simulation. Nous présentons aussi l’outil informatique complet qui a été implémenté afin de permettre à des professionnels en évaluation (ex. : ergonomes, concepteurs de jeux, formateurs) d’utiliser l’approche proposée pour l’évaluation d’IHM. Celui-ci est conçu de manière à faciliter la triangulation des appareils de mesure impliqués dans ce travail et à s’intégrer aux méthodes classiques d’évaluation de l’interaction (ex. : questionnaires et codage des observations). / More and more researches on Human-Computer Interactions (HCI) are trying to perform detailed analyses of interaction to determine its influence on users’ behaviours. A particular emphasis is now put on emotional reactions during the interaction, whether it’s from the perspective of user experience evaluation or user performance. Standard qualitative approaches are limited because they are based on observations and interviews after the interaction, therefore limiting the precision of the diagnosis. User experience and emotional reactions being, by nature, highly dynamic and contextualized, evaluation approaches should be the same to accurately diagnose the quality of interaction. This thesis presents an evaluation approach, both dynamic and quantitative, which allows contextualising users’ emotional reactions to help identify their causes during the interaction with a system. To this end, our work focuses on three main axes: 1) automatic task recognition using machine learning modeling of eye tracking and interaction data; 2) automatic inference of psychological constructs (emotional activation, emotional valence, and cognitive load) through physiological signals analysis; and 3) diagnosis of users’ reactions during interaction based on the coupling of the two previous operations. The ideas and development of our approach are illustrated using two experimental contexts: e-commerce and simulation-based training. We also present the tool we implemented in order to allow HCI professionals (e.g.: user experience expert, training supervisor, or game designer) to use our evaluation approach to assess interaction. This tool is designed to facilitate the triangulation of measuring instruments and the integration with more classical Human-Computer Interaction methods (ex.: surveys and observation coding).

Schema acquisition processes comprise an essential source of cognitive demands in learning situations. To shed light on related mechanisms and influencing factors, this study applied a continuous multi-measure approach for cognitive load assessment. In a dual-task setting, a sample of 123 student participants learned visually presented symbol combinations with one of two levels of complexity while memorizing auditorily presented number sequences. Learners’ cognitive load during the learning task was addressed by secondary task performance, prosodic speech parameters (pauses, articulation rate), and physiological markers (heart rate, skin conductance response). While results revealed increasing primary and secondary task performance over the trials, decreases in speech and physiological parameters indicated a reduction in the overall level of cognitive load with task progression. In addition, the robustness of the acquired schemata was confirmed by a transfer task that required participants to apply the obtained symbol combinations. Taken together, the observed pattern of evidence supports the idea of a logarithmically decreasing progression of cognitive load with increasing schema acquisition, and further hints on robust and stable transfer performance, even under enhanced transfer demands. Finally, theoretical and practical consequences consider evidence on desirable difficulties in learning as well as the potential of multimodal cognitive load detection in learning applications.

No description available.