Ce travail de thèse s'inscrit dans le cadre des théories de l'appraisal (i.e., évaluation cognitive) et notamment du Modèle des Processus Composants qui postule que la pertinence d’un évènement (i.e., l'importance de cet évènement à un instant donné dans la hiérarchie des buts et des besoins de l’organisme) serait capable de moduler le traitement attentionnel de stimuli émotionnels (i.e., l'attention émotionnelle), et ce, de façon automatique. Ce modèle a l'avantage de replacer l'individu au centre des émotions. Lui seul peut déterminer si un évènement est susceptible d'attirer son attention et, à court terme de déclencher une émotion spécifique. Ce projet de recherche a pour but de tester l'hypothèse d'une attention émotionnelle qui serait guidée par l'appraisal de pertinence de l'individu et ce, quelles que soient les caractéristiques intrinsèques du stimulus. Le mécanisme d'appraisal de pertinence serait très précoce et pourrait se produire à des niveaux de traitements automatiques et non conscients permettant ainsi à l'organisme de s'ajuster rapidement à son environnement. Nous avons conduit quatre études expérimentales afin d'étudier l'influence du traitement non conscient de l'appraisal de pertinence sur l'attention émotionnelle. Pour ce faire, nous avons utilisé un paradigme innovant, la Continuous Flash Suppression, qui permet une présentation non consciente et de longue durée d'une information visuelle. Les résultats de nos études suggèrent qu'il est possible de manipuler la pertinence de stimuli initialement neutres et non pertinents afin de moduler leur capacité à provoquer des biais attentionnels en générant non consciemment un but temporaire chez nos participants. En effet, les résultats ont révélé des effets de capture attentionnelle par des stimuli devenus pertinents suite à une induction émotionnelle (i.e., dégoût) non consciente. De plus, nos données montrent que nous serions capables de détecter la présence d'un stimulus pertinent que nous ne percevons pas consciemment. En effet, après une induction émotionnelle consciente, des effets d'interférence attentionnelle ont été mis en évidence par des stimuli devenus pertinents, même si ceux-ci n'étaient pas perçus consciemment. Enfin, nos résultats suggèrent que l'appraisal de pertinence est efficient, que les stimuli pertinents utilisés soient des stimuli symboliques ou non (i.e., mots ou images). Plus largement, ce travail de thèse défend l'idée que l'appraisal de pertinence est un bon déterminant de l'attention émotionnelle et que ce mécanisme peut se déployer de façon automatique, en dehors de tout contrôle volontaire et même en condition de perception non consciente. / This thesis focuses on appraisal theories (i.e., cognitive evaluation) and more particularly on the Component Process Model. This model postulates that the relevance of an event (i.e., the importance of the event at a given time in the hierarchy of the goals and needs of the organism) is able to modulate the attentional processing of emotional stimuli (i.e., emotional attention) in an automatic way. This model has the advantage to place the individual at the center of his own emotions. The individual can determine if an event is likely to attract his attention and to trigger a specific emotion. The present research project aimed to test the hypothesis of an emotional attention that would be guided by the individual's appraisal of relevance, regardless of the intrinsic characteristics of the stimulus. The appraisal of relevance seems to occur very early in the appraisal sequence and could be deployed at different levels of processing, that is, in an automatic and non-conscious way, in order to allow the organism to adapt quickly to its environment. In order to test this hypothesis, we conducted four experiments in which we investigated the influence of non-conscious appraisal of relevance on emotional attention. To do so, we used an innovative paradigm, the Continuous Flash Suppression paradigm, allowing the non-conscious and long-term presentation of visual information. The results of our studies suggest that it is possible to manipulate the relevance of initially neutral and non-relevant stimuli, in order to generate non-consciously a temporary goal for our participants, which modulates the ability of stimuli to provoke attentional biases. Indeed, the results revealed attentional capture effects, as stimuli became relevant following a non-conscious emotional induction (i.e., disgust). In addition, our data support the idea that we are able to detect the presence of a relevant stimulus that we do not perceive consciously. Indeed, after a conscious emotional induction, attentional interference effects have been observed, generated by stimuli that became relevant, even if they were not perceived consciously. Finally, our results suggest that the appraisal of relevance is efficient both for symbolic relevant stimuli and non-symbolic relevant ones (i.e., words or pictures). In this thesis, we argue that the appraisal of relevance is a good determinant of emotional attention and that this mechanism can be deployed automatically, without any voluntary control and even in non-conscious perception conditions.

Dans le domaine aéronautique, comme dans de nombreux autres domaines de la vie courante ou professionnelle, les erreurs ont souvent été associées à des défaillances attentionnelles. Nos travaux s’insèrent dans cette problématique, et sont plus particulièrement focalisés sur les variations de la capacité à allouer son attention sur une tâche donnée à la suite d’une interruption. Dans un premier temps, nous avons mis en place des expérimentations qui permettent d’évaluer l’étendue des variations de performances obtenues dans une tâche à la suite d’une interruption, en fonction des composantes attentionnelles sollicitées dans la tâche à exécuter. Dans un second temps, nous avons mis en place un indicateur fiable et objectif mettant en évidence des différences dans le fonctionnement physiologique cérébral en fonction de ces composantes attentionnelles. Dans un troisième temps, nous avons été amenés à vérifier l’effet de diverses interruptions dans des situations aéronautiques réalistes. Nos travaux permettent de conclure à l’existence de fluctuations de l’attention à la suite d’une interruption, fluctuations dont la conséquence peut se traduire par des variations de performances et par différentes stratégies de gestion des erreurs et des activités. / In the aviation field, as in many other areas of personal or professional life, errors have often been associated with attentional failures. Our work is related to this issue, and is more particularly focused on variations of attention following an interruption. In a first step, we have set up experiments to measure changes in performance obtained in a task after an interruption. These variations are studied systematically according to various attentional components requested in the task at hand. In a second step, we have set up an indicator showing differences in the physiological functioning of the brain depending on these attentional components. Thirdly, we have tested the effect of various interruptions in realistic aeronautical situations. From our work, we conclude that there is a variation in attention after an interruption, the consequences of which can result in errors, performance variations, and differences in the management of errors and activities.

Background music is often used in preschool classrooms with the belief that music makes children smarter and increases attention. The purpose of this study was to determine if background music increased children's focused attention during play activities. Focused attention occurs when children maintain attention to a task regardless of distractions. This quasiexperimental study investigated background music and play in a laboratory setting. I videotaped individual children during play with math manipulatives in a pretest-posttest research design with background music used as the treatment. Forty-three 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds played for 15 minutes. The first 5 minutes of play had no music (pretest), the second 5-minute play episode had background music (treatment), and the final 5-minute play episode had no background music (posttest). Data were analyzed using one-way repeated measures analysis of variance. Findings revealed that the subjects paid less attention to the play task with background music than they did during the pretest, with no music. Another key finding was that children with more musical experiences at home, as reported by the Child's Home Musical Experience Survey (CHIMES), exhibited longer periods of focused attention with background music. This study confirmed previous research that 3-year-old children have shorter focused attention than 4- and 5-year-old children with and without background music. These findings have implications for teachers and parents that background music, instead of increasing attention in children, might indeed decrease children's focused attention during play activities.

Une question centrale des recherches sur la lecture concerne la nature séquentielle ou parallèle de l’identification des mots pendant la lecture de phrases. L’hypothèse dominante postule que l’attention spatiale est allouée à un seul mot à la fois, et qu’avec cette contrainte, l’identification des mots doit forcément s’opérer de manière séquentielle. Cependant, un certain nombre de résultats suggèrent, au contraire, que l’attention spatiale peut être allouée à plusieurs mots à la fois, de manière distribuée. Cette attention disbribuée pourrait permettre l’identification en parallèle de plusieurs mots de manière simultanée, et les travaux présentés dans cette thèse cherchent à déterminer la viabilité de cette hypothèse. Notamment, nos travaux visent à préciser le niveau de traitement (visuel, orthographique, lexical, sémantique ou syntaxique) permis par cette attention distribuée. / This thesis addresses one of the most hotly debated issues in reading research: Are words processed serially or in parallel during reading? One could argue that this is primarily a question of visuo-spatial attention: is attention distributed across multiple words during reading? The research presented here suggests that attention can indeed be allocated to multiple words at once. It is further established that attention is a key factor driving (sub-lexical) orthographic processing. The next question, then, is whether multiple lexical representations can be activated in parallel. This thesis comprises a wealth of evidence for parallel lexical activation: firstly we have found that readers activate embedded words (e.g., ‘use’ in ‘houses’) alongside the word that is to be recognized, indicating that parallel lexical processing would occur even if readers could effectively focus their attention on single words. Moreover, we have found that semantic and syntactic categorization decisions about foveal target words are influenced by the semantic and syntactic aspects of surrounding words, even when all these words are presented for a duration shorter than the average time needed to recognize a single word. Hence, given that readers’ attention is spread across multiple words and that multiple lexical representations can be activated in parallel, it seems reasonable to claim that the reading system is in principle a parallel processing system.

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A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment for the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2004. / The use of drug stimulation to treat children who have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) sparks much controversy. Parental perception of this practise is crucial since it is the parents that have the task of making this sensitive decision. In order to subjectively explicate parental feelings regarding this issue, a qualitative approach was considered appropriate in this study. The study sought to highlight the views of parents around the use of stimulant medication in the treatment of ADHD. In- depth interviews of the four participants were audio taped and then transcribed verbatim. The interviews were unstructured and an open- ended question guideline was utilised. The interviews underwent stringent thematic analysis. Amongst others, the major themes that emerged were those of guilt, frustration, resignation and the strained mother- child relations associated with infant behaviour and the diagnosis. Findings revealed mixed feelings around the use of medication with Ritalin being the most commonly prescribed. However, even though there are mixed feelings associated with medication use, the positive outcomes of this practise outweigh the negative aspects. Although the benefits are great, the future risk of long-term use of stimulant medication is unknown

The research described here examines infant and parent attention to a familiar baby video. Also of interest, was if infant viewing behaviors influenced parent viewing behaviors, and vice versa. Subjects were 12-15 and 18-21 month-old infants who were observed watching a familiar baby video with one parent. Overall infants and adults spent less than one-third of the time watching the television. This measure varied greatly across dyads. However, there was a strong, positive relationship within dyads, suggesting that infants and parents may be influencing each other’s viewing behavior. Further analyses revealed that there was a social component that influenced when infants and parents initiated and terminated looks to the television that extended above and beyond the common influence of the formal features of the program. Though this influence was mutual for both the infant and parent, overall, infants tended to ‘lead’ their parents’ looks more frequently than parents’ led their infants’.

The current study examined verbal and visuospatial memory abilities as potential mediators of the relationship among ADHD behavior problems and near- and long-term scholastic achievement. Scholastic achievement was measured initially and at 4-year follow-up in an ethnically diverse sample of children (N = 325). Nested composite (reading, math, language) and domain-specific reading structural equation models revealed that ADHD behavior problems exerted a negative influence on scholastic achievement measures, both initially and at follow-up. Much of this influence, however, was mediated by verbal memory’s contribution to near-term achievement, whereas visuospatial memory contributed more robustly to long-term achievement. For the domain-specific math achievement model, the collective influence of verbal and visuospatial memory fully mediated the direct influence of ADHD behavior problems on nearterm math achievement, and visuospatial memory alone contributed to both near- and long-term achievement. In all models, measured intelligence made no contribution to later achievement beyond its initial influence on early achievement. The results contribute to the understanding of the developmental trajectory of scholastic achievement, and have potential implications for developing remedial programs targeting verbal and visual memory deficits in children with ADHD behavior problems

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