Bibliography: leaves 194-220. / xv, 220 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1995?

The aim of this thesis is to examine the underlying cognitive and neural processes at play during retrieval of temporal and contextual source information. This was assessed across three experimental chapters. In the first experimental chapter, Chapter 2, the neural loci of context associations were assessed. Rats trained on an odour-context association task were given lesions to either the Lateral Entorhinal Cortex (LEC) or sham lesions. After surgery, performance on the odour-context task was assessed. It was hypothesised that memory for previously learned odour-context associations would be impaired following LEC lesions but not sham lesions. The results supported this hypothesis, demonstrating impaired memory for the previously learned odour-context associations in the LEC lesion group compared to the Sham lesion. In Chapter 3, the underlying retrieval processes used to retrieve time and context in human memory was assessed across three experiments. It was hypothesised that time would be remembered accurately using both recollection and familiarity, while correct context memory should rely on recollection alone. Two out of the three experiments supported this hypothesis, demonstrating that temporal information can be retrieved using familiarity in certain instances. The final experimental Chapter 4 used fMRI to extend Chapter 3 and examine whether neural activity would be greater in regions associated with recollection during memory for context, while activity in familiarity-related regions would be higher during memory for time. Results revealed no support for these predictions with no regions linked to recollection showing greater context-related activity, and no regions previously linked to familiarity exhibiting increased activation as temporal information was retrieved. The results are discussed in relation to established recollection and familiarity frameworks and previous work examining the neural substrates supporting memory for time and context.

Tous les enfants entre quatre et sept ans sont susceptibles de commettre des erreurs de confusion de caractères réversibles, dont le correspondant en miroir correspond à un autre caractère du système d'écriture (par exemple, b, d, p, et q dans l'alphabet latin). Ces erreurs sont le produit de la généralisation en miroir, une propriété du système visuel qui nous permet initialement de reconnaître un visage, un animal, un objet indépendamment de son orientation latérale. Elle s'applique automatiquement (elle est dite heuristique) lors de la lecture et de l'écriture. Pour apprendre à lire et à écrire, nous mobilisons en effet une partie des réseaux de neurones initialement dévolus au traitement visuel des visages, des animaux, et des objets, grâce à un processus de plasticité cérébrale nommé recyclage neuronal. La lecture et l'écriture héritent alors de la propriété de généralisation en miroir, bien que celle-ci soit non-pertinente pour la reconnaissance des lettres réversibles b, d, p, et q. Vers sept ans, la fréquence des erreurs de confusion des lettres réversibles chute brusquement. Le principal objectif de cette thèse est de tester l'hypothèse selon laquelle la généralisation en miroir n'est pas entièrement « désapprise » comme précédemment suggéré, mais activement inhibée. Pour cela, nous avons conçu des paradigmes d'amorçage négatif que nous avons proposés à des adultes lettrés et à des enfants d'école primaire dans quatre études empiriques. Une cinquième étude, théorique, propose une nouvelle loi des apprentissages d'objets culturels récents (langage écrit, mathématiques) sur la base du double processus de « recyclage neuronal + contrôle inhibiteur ». / Every child aged four to seven is likely to commit confusion errors on reversible characters, whose mirror-image counterpart is another character in the writing system (for instance, b, d, p, and q in the Latin alphabet). These errors are produced by the mirror generalization process, a property of the visual system that initially allows us to recognize a face, an animal, or an object independently of the perceived profile. It automatically applies (it is said to be heuristic) to reading and writing. We actually mobilize part of the neuronal networks initially allotted to the visual processing of faces, animals, and objects for learning to read and write, thanks to a process of brain plasticity called neuronal recycling. Thus, reading and writing inherits the mirror generalization property, although it is irrelevant for the recognition of reversible letters b, d, p, and q. Around seven years of age, the frequency of errors of reversible letters confusions suddenly drops. The main objective of the present thesis is to test the hypothesis that the mirror generalization process is not entirely "unlearned" as hypothesized by previous studies but rather actively inhibited. To this aim, we designed negative priming paradigms that we proposed to literate adults and primary school children in four empirical studies. A fifth study, more theoretical, proposes a new law of learning recent cultural objects (written language, mathematics), based on the dual process of "neuronal recycling + inhibitory control".