This dissertation explored the way in which bumblebees' visual system helps them discover their first flower. Previous studies found bees have unlearned preferences for parts of a flower, such as its colour and shape. The first study pitted two variables against each other: pattern type: sunburst or bull's eye, versus the location of the pattern: shapes appeared peripherally or centrally. We observed free-flying bees in a flight cage using Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tracking. The results show two distinct behavioural preferences: Pattern type predicts landing: bees prefer radial over concentric patterns, regardless of whether the radial pattern is on the perimeter or near the centre of the flower. Pattern location predicts exploration: bees were more likely to explore the inside of artificial flowers if the shapes were displayed near the centre of the flower, regardless of whether the pattern was radial or concentric. As part of the second component, we implemented a mathematical model aimed at explaining how bees come to prefer radial patterns, leafy backgrounds and symmetry. The model was based on unsupervised neural networks used to describe cognitive mechanisms. The results captured with the results of multiple behavioural experiments. The model suggests that bees choose computationally "cheaper" stimuli, those that contain less information. The third study tested the computational load hypothesis generated by the artificial neural networks. Visual properties of symmetry, and spatial frequency were tested. Studying free-flying bees in a flight cage using motion-sensitive video recordings, we found that bees preferred 4-axis symmetrical patterns in both low and high frequency displays.

This dissertation explored the way in which bumblebees' visual system helps them discover their first flower. Previous studies found bees have unlearned preferences for parts of a flower, such as its colour and shape. The first study pitted two variables against each other: pattern type: sunburst or bull's eye, versus the location of the pattern: shapes appeared peripherally or centrally. We observed free-flying bees in a flight cage using Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tracking. The results show two distinct behavioural preferences: Pattern type predicts landing: bees prefer radial over concentric patterns, regardless of whether the radial pattern is on the perimeter or near the centre of the flower. Pattern location predicts exploration: bees were more likely to explore the inside of artificial flowers if the shapes were displayed near the centre of the flower, regardless of whether the pattern was radial or concentric. As part of the second component, we implemented a mathematical model aimed at explaining how bees come to prefer radial patterns, leafy backgrounds and symmetry. The model was based on unsupervised neural networks used to describe cognitive mechanisms. The results captured with the results of multiple behavioural experiments. The model suggests that bees choose computationally "cheaper" stimuli, those that contain less information. The third study tested the computational load hypothesis generated by the artificial neural networks. Visual properties of symmetry, and spatial frequency were tested. Studying free-flying bees in a flight cage using motion-sensitive video recordings, we found that bees preferred 4-axis symmetrical patterns in both low and high frequency displays.

Les risques psychosociaux sont un enjeu de santé publique majeur, en particulier à cause des troubles qu'ils peuvent engendrer : stress, changements d'humeurs, burn-out, etc. Bien que le diagnostic de ces troubles doive être réalisé par un professionel, l'Affective Computing peut apporter une contribution en améliorant la compréhension des phénomènes. L'Affective Computing (ou Informatique Affective) est un domaine pluridisciplinaire, faisant intervenir des concepts d'Intelligence Artificielle, de psychologie et de psychiatrie, notamment. Dans ce travail de recherche, on s'intéresse à deux éléments pouvant faire l'objet de troubles : l'état émotionnel et l'état dépressif des individus.Le concept d'émotion couvre un très large champ de définitions et de modélisations, pour la plupart issues de travaux en psychiatrie ou en psychologie. C'est le cas, par exemple, du circumplex de Russell, qui définit une émotion comme étant la combinaison de deux dimensions affectives, nommées valence et arousal. La valence dénote le caractère triste ou joyeux d'un individu, alors que l'arousal qualifie son caractère passif ou actif. L'évaluation automatique des états émotionnels a suscité, dans la dernière décénie, un regain d'intérêt notable. Des méthodes issues de l'Intelligence Artificielle permettent d'atteindre des performances intéressantes, à partir de données capturées de manière non-invasive, comme des vidéos. Cependant, il demeure un aspect peu étudié : celui des intensités émotionnelles, et de la possibilité de les reconnaître. Dans cette thèse, nous avons exploré cet aspect au moyen de méthodes de visualisation et de classification pour montrer que l'usage de classes d'intensités émotionnelles, plutôt que de valeurs continues, bénéficie à la fois à la reconnaissance automatique et à l'interprétation des états.Le concept de dépression connaît un cadre plus strict, dans la mesure où c'est une maladie reconnue en tant que telle. Elle atteint les individus sans distinction d'âge, de genre ou de métier, mais varie en intensité ou en nature des symptômes. Pour cette raison, son étude tant au niveau de la détection que du suivi, présente un intérêt majeur pour la prévention des risques psychosociaux.Toutefois, son diagnostic est rendu difficile par le caractère parfois anodin des symptômes et par la démarche souvent délicate de consulter un spécialiste. L'échelle de Beck et le score associé permettent, au moyen d'un questionnaire, d'évaluer la sévérité de l'état dépressif d'un individu. Le système que nous avons développé est capable de reconnaître automatiquement le score dépressif d'un individu à partir de vidéos. Il comprend, d'une part, un descripteur visuel spatio-temporel bas niveau qui quantifie les micro et les macro-mouvements faciaux et, d'autre part, des méthodes neuronales issues des sciences cognitives. Sa rapidité autorise des applications de reconnaissance des états dépressifs en temps réel, et ses performances sont intéressantes au regard de l'état de l'art. La fusion des modalités visuelles et auditives a également fait l'objet d'une étude, qui montre que l'utilisation de ces deux canaux sensoriels bénéficie à la reconnaissance des états dépressifs.Au-delà des performances et de son originalité, l'un des points forts de ce travail de thèse est l'interprétabilité des méthodes. En effet, dans un contexte pluridisciplinaire tel que celui posé par l'Affective Computing, l'amélioration des connaissances et la compréhension des phénomènes étudiés sont des aspects majeurs que les méthodes informatiques sous forme de "boîte noire" ont souvent du mal à appréhender. / Psychosocial risks are a major public health issue, because of the disorders they can trigger : stress, mood swings, burn-outs, etc. Although propoer diagnosis can only be made by a healthcare professionnel, Affective Computing can make a contribution by improving the understanding of the phenomena. Affective Computing is a multidisciplinary field involving concepts of Artificial Intelligence, psychology and psychiatry, among others. In this research, we are interested in two elements that can be subject to disorders: the emotional state and the depressive state of individuals.The concept of emotion covers a wide range of definitions and models, most of which are based on work in psychiatry or psychology. A famous example is Russell's circumplex, which defines an emotion as the combination of two emotional dimensions, called valence and arousal. Valence denotes an individual's sad or joyful character, while arousal denotes his passive or active character. The automatic evaluation of emotional states has generated a significant revival of interest in the last decade. Methods from Artificial Intelligence allow to achieve interesting performances, from data captured in a non-invasive manner, such as videos. However, there is one aspect that has not been studied much: that of emotional intensities and the possibility of recognizing them. In this thesis, we have explored this aspect using visualization and classification methods to show that the use of emotional intensity classes, rather than continuous values, benefits both automatic recognition and state interpretation.The concept of depression is more strict, as it is a recognized disease as such. It affects individuals regardless of age, gender or occupation, but varies in intensity or nature of symptoms. For this reason, its study, both at the level of detection and monitoring, is of major interest for the prevention of psychosocial risks.However, his diagnosis is made difficult by the sometimes innocuous nature of the symptoms and by the often delicate process of consulting a specialist. The Beck's scale and the associated score allow, by means of a questionnaire, to evaluate the severity of an individual's state of depression. The system we have developed is able to automatically recognize an individual's depressive score from videos. It includes, on the one hand, a low-level visual spatio-temporal descriptor that quantifies micro and macro facial movements and, on the other hand, neural methods from the cognitive sciences. Its speed allows applications for real-time recognition of depressive states, and its performance is interesting with regard to the state of the art. The fusion of visual and auditory modalities has also been studied, showing that the use of these two sensory channels benefits the recognition of depressive states.Beyond performance and originality, one of the strong points of this thesis is the interpretability of the methods. Indeed, in a multidisciplinary context such as that of Affective Computing, improving knowledge and understanding of the studied phenomena is a key point that usual computer methods implemeted as "black boxes" can't deal with.

This thesis focuses on fuzzy neural networks. The combination of the fuzzy logic and artificial neural networks leads to the development of more robust systems. These systems are used in various field of the research, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and control theory. First, we provide a quick overview of underlying neural networks and fuzzy systems to explain fundamental ideas that form the basis of the fields, and follow with the introduction of the fuzzy neural network theory, classification and application. Then we describe a design and a realization of the fuzzy associative memory, as an example of these systems. Finally, we benchmark the realization using the pattern recognition and control tasks. The results are evaluated and compared against existing systems.