Tendo em vista a questão de como formar uma personalidade ética, o objetivo deste trabalho foi o de realizar uma investigação teórica visando à compreensão de como se desenvolvem dois aspectos que compõem tal formação: a moral e a cognição. Buscou-se ainda comparar as semelhanças entre esses aspectos e observar intervenções pedagógicas que propiciassem o desenvolvimento de ambos. Para o estudo do desenvolvimento moral, analisaram-se os trabalhos do psicólogo americano Lawrence Kohlberg, que baseou sua investigação nos estudos de Dewey e Piaget, aprimorando uma sequência de etapas pelas quais as pessoas passam em sua formação. Além disso, o psicólogo e seus colaboradores pesquisaram quais condições favoreciam esse avanço de forma a propiciar que níveis mais elevados de desenvolvimento fossem atingidos. Para o estudo dos aspectos cognitivos de tal questão, buscou-se um autor holandês, que elaborou, na área da matemática, um modelo para o desenvolvimento do pensar geométrico: Pierre van Hiele. Apesar de ele ter elaborado um modelo específico para o pensar geométrico, afirma ser possível utilizar esse modelo para o estudo da cognição em outras áreas do conhecimento, não se restringindo apenas à geometria. Ao se compararem as semelhanças entre os dois estudos, foram observados elementos comuns a ambos, entre eles, a necessidade de se favorecer a ocorrência de conflitos cognitivos para o avanço de uma etapa à outra. A partir da semelhança das teorias, buscaram-se ações possíveis de aplicação em sala de aula que propiciassem esses desenvolvimentos de forma eficaz. Quanto às intervenções pedagógicas, foi destacado o diálogo a conversação, a argumentação e a discussão de dilemas morais como condição favorável em sala de aula. Verificou-se que a conversação apresenta o ganho de propiciar que os pensamentos dos alunos fiquem mais claros pela explicitação de suas ideias, além de enriquecer seu repertório a partir da visão alheia; a argumentação acresce, aos proveitos da conversação, a tomada de decisão, pois exige do aluno o posicionamento e uma escolha; a discussão de dilemas morais acrescenta, às intervenções anteriores, o benefício do trabalho com os valores pessoais de cada um e da exigência de uma hierarquização desses valores. Essas intervenções buscam o aumento do nível de consciência dos alunos, essencial para a formação da personalidade ética. / Aiming at forming an ethical personality, this paper carries out a theoretical investigation designed to understand how to develop two aspects that make up such formation: morality and cognition. It also compares the similarities between these aspects and the observed pedagogical interventions that provide for the development of both such aspects. For the study of moral development, the American psychologist Lawrence Kohlbergs work was looked into. He based his research on the studies of Dewey and Piaget, by improving a sequence of stages through which people undergo their formation. In addition the psychologist and his colleagues investigated what conditions favored this advance in order to allow for higher levels of development. In order to study the cognitive aspects of this question, Pierre van Hiele, a Dutch author in the field of mathematics, was studied. He developed a model for the development of geometric thinking. Although this author has prepared a specific model for geometric thinking, he claims one should be able to apply it to cognition studies not only in Geometry but also in regard with other fields. When comparing the similarities between the two studies, elements common to both were observed - among them the need to enable cognitive conflicts to advance from one stage to another. Based on the similarity of theories, the paper looked into other possible actions for implementation in the classroom that could effectively provide such development. Regarding the pedagogical interventions, dialogue (conversation, argument and debate on moral dilemmas) was highlighted as a favorable condition in the classroom. One observes that conversation includes the benefit to provide for clearer thoughts on the part of the students when elucidating their ideas. Also, it enriches their repertoire based on the view of others. To the advantage of conversation, argument adds decision making, for it requires the student\'s attitude and choice. And, to the previous interventions, debating moral dilemmas adds the benefit of working with the personal values of each one and of the requirement of a hierarchy of those values. These interventions seek to increase the level of students awareness, which is essential for the formation of the ethical personality.

This thesis is devoted to the issue of understanding Romani and the majority languages by Romani preschoolers in order to consider the possibility of introducing Romani language in schools. Also it analyses the influence of using Romani language on the ability to perform age-appropriate tasks by Roma preschoolers. The work is divided into two parts. The first, theoretical part presents a summary of the relevant works on school failure of Romani children with an emphasis on their language handicap. We also pay attention to the theory of language shift, language code, and subtractive bilingualism. In the second, empirical part a primary research is carried out examining the degree of understanding Romani and majority languages in three locations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. As a methodology, a mixed research design was chosen. It was divided into two phases. During the first phase a field research was conducted, followed by quantitative evaluation of tasks performed by the Romani preschoolers in the second phase. Research has shown, that there are different linguistic situations in the surveyed locations and therefore no generic measure can be introduced. At the same time the outcomes rejected the presumption that children who speak Romani better than the majority language will be more successful in...

Studien har fokus på hur ett antal förskollärare tolkar sitt uppdrag när det gäller barns skriftspråkande i förskolan. De två problemformuleringen är följande; Hur tolkar ett antal förskollärare sitt uppdrag när det gäller barns lärande och villkor av skriftspråket? Hur ser ett antal förskollärare på sina förutsättningar att stödja barns skrivande med utgångspunkt i att barn är meningsskapande i sitt sätt att använda skriftspråket? Det teoretiska ramverket utgörs av tre förekommande perspektiv eller synsätt på barns skriftspråksutveckling. De är sociokulturellt perspektiv, kognitivt perspektiv och utvecklingspedagogiskt perspektiv. Begreppet livsvärld intar en övergripande ram för att ytterligare vägleda analysen av forskningsfrågorna utifrån att studiens studieobjekt är förskollärare. Metodansats är hermeneutisk eftersom det är förskollärarnas berättelser och deras tolkning av sitt uppdrag som är i fokus i studien och därmed används också intervjuer i form av samtalsguider. Förskollärarna tolkningar lyfts fram utifrån ett antal kategorier som framkom under arbetet med resultat och analys. I analysen av resultatet framkommer en splittrad bild men även till viss del en samstämmig bild av förskollärarnas tolkning av sitt uppdrag när det gäller skriftspråkande i förskolan. Den splittrade bilden handlar om hur barn lär om skriftspråket och vad som ska ingå i undervisningen om skriftspråket i förskolan. Samstämmigheten handlar om att utbildning behövs för att höja förskollärares kompetens. En slutsats blir att  det behövs tydliga direktiv om hur uppdraget ska tolkas gällande undervisning av skriftspråket i förskolan. I slutdiskussionen uppmärksammas också de möjligheter förskolebarn har att lära om skriftspråket utifrån förskolelärarnas tolkning av sitt uppdrag. / The study has a focus on the way that a number of preschool teachers interpret their assignment regarding children’s literacy in preschool. The two research questions are: how do these preschool teachers interpret their assignment regarding children’s literacy learning and opportunities? How do these preschool teachers regard their qualifications to support children’s writing with the starting point that children are using literacy meaningfully? The theoretical frameworks include three perspectives or approaches on children’s written language development. They are sociocultural perspective, cognitive perspective and developing educational perspective. The concept livsvärld or lifeworld provides an overall frame to further direct the analysis of the studies and research questions since the object of the study is the preschool teacher. The methodological approach is hermeneutic since it is the preschool teachers` narrative and interpretations of their assignment that are in focus, and therefore interviews have been used as a form of dialog guide. The preschool teachers’ interpretations highlight a number of categories that emerged from the analysis. In the analysis of the results, there emerged a fragmented picture but also some area of agreement and concordance amongst the views of the preschool teachers regarding their interpretations of their assignment regarding children’s literacy in preschool. The fragmented picture is about how preschool children learn about literacy and what should be included in teaching about literacy in preschool. The consistent picture is that there is a need for more training to increase their competence in relation to how preschool children learn about literacy. A conclusion is that there is a need for distinct guidance about how to interpret the assignment of beginning the teaching of literacy in preschool. In the final discussion, attention is also drawn to preschool children’s opportunity to learn about literacy based on the preschool teacher’s interpretation of their assignment.

The theoretical part of the thesis scrutinizes the principles of awareness raising and noticing in language teaching. Furthermore, it focuses on their implementation in pronunciation teaching and examines the possible limitations to these approaches imposed by learners' age and level of cognitive development. The practical part presents a research which consists of designing a battery of pronunciation activities promoting noticing and awareness raising, followed by their pilotage in five different groups of elementary school pupils. The aim of the research is to determine whether the piloted activities result in young learners noticing the target pronunciation features. The results of the research suggest positive impact of the noticing and awareness raising activities even among the pupils at lower stage of cognitive development. Key words: young learners, teaching pronunciation, consciousness raising, noticing, cognitive development, learners' involvement

The study is an exploratory investigation of early adolescents’ buying patterns with regards to clothing using social identity theory. Interviews were conducted with six early adolescents in Attridgeville suburb located in Tshwane (then called Pretoria) in South Africa. This research was prompted by insufficient archived studies which focus on black adolescents in South Africa. Early adolescents are conscious of the youth culture and utilities that are significant to them. The early adolescent stage construes young people as seeking an own identity both individually and within the group. Clothing apparel plays a significant role in the projection of adolescents’ identity in the peer group, and they participate in consumer behaviour that is influenced through socialization. Among others, peers and family circumstances play a central role as socialisation agents for the buying patterns of clothing during adolescence. In this study the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) was used to explore the processes involved in the buying patterns of clothing during early adolescence, particularly for black adolescents in an urban environment. Pictures, compiled in the format of a collage, were used as a projective technique to probe respondents’ constructions of their preferred buying patterns and consumer behaviour. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis as a procedure of qualitative research. Verification of transcripts and themes by an independent third party enhanced validity and reliability of findings. Themes indicate that early adolescents are quite involved in consumer behaviour and make decisions based on lifestyle, consumer socialisation, purchasing styles and filters. Both peers and family act as socialisation agents, and socio-structural factors such as birth order, financial aspects, attitudes, and retail outlets have an impact on the actual buying patterns of clothing. Further study is needed to determine the effect of media and learning styles on the consumer behaviour of black adolescents in a South African context. / Dissertation (MA (Research Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Psychology / unrestricted

La plupart des interactions sociales humaines font intervenir des objets, et ceci dès le plus jeune âge. Dans ces interactions, les enfants semblent prendre en compte qui est le propriétaire de l’objet. La notion de propriété ne concerne donc pas seulement une personne et un objet, mais constitue une relation entre différentes personnes vis-à-vis d’un objet. Cette relation est régie par un ensemble de règles ou droits de propriété. Nos travaux portent sur la compréhension qu’ont les enfants de la notion de propriété. A quel âge les enfants acquièrent-ils la compréhension des droits de propriété ? Avant de manier la notion de propriété de manière explicite, les enfants en ont-ils une compréhension plus implicite ? Plus particulièrement, nous avons exploré la compréhension et l’évaluation de transferts de propriété illégitimes et légitimes chez des enfants de 5 mois à 5 ans. Nous avons étudié deux types de transgressions de propriété : l’acquisition illégitime d’un objet (sans intention de transfert de la part du propriétaire) et l’absence de restitution d’un objet à son propriétaire. L’ensemble de nos études ont consisté à présenter aux enfants des transferts de propriété entre deux personnages de manière non verbale, dans des dessins animés ou des films mettant en scène des marionnettes, puis à mesurer la compréhension et l’évaluation de ces transferts par les enfants. Les études du Chapitre 2 (Etudes 1 et 2) se sont intéressées à l’évaluation que font les enfants de l’acquisition d’un objet. Les deux expériences de l’Etude 1 ont exploré la compréhension et l’évaluation de transferts de propriété illégitimes et légitimes par des enfants de 3 ans et 5 ans, ainsi que des adultes (population contrôle). Cette étude est la première à examiner simultanément la compréhension explicite et implicite qu’ont les enfants de la notion de propriété. En effet, les questions posées concernent respectivement les droits de propriété, ainsi que l’évaluation sociale et morale des agents impliqués. Dans l’Etude 1a, les participants ont vu un personnage acquérir un objet soit de manière illégitime (condition vol), soit de manière légitime (condition réception par don). Dans l’Etude 1b, c’est une action illégitime (condition vol) qui était comparée à une action légitime (condition don). Les enfants de 5 ans (comme les adultes) ont montré une compréhension de la notion de propriété à la fois implicite par leur évaluation sociale/morale, en préférant l’agent de la condition légitime (receveur du don ou donneur) par rapport à l’agent de la condition illégitime (voleur), et explicite par leur capacité à attribuer des droits de propriété différents selon la légitimité du transfert. Les enfants de 3 ans n’ont pas distingué les conditions illégitime et légitime, ni dans leur évaluation, ni dans leur attribution de droits de propriété. Ces résultats suggèrent que les enfants acquièrent simultanément les compréhensions implicite et explicite de la propriété. Dans l’Etude 1, aucune réaction émotionnelle n’était présente. Nous avons examiné dans l’Etude 2 le rôle des émotions du premier possesseur dans l’évaluation que font les enfants de 3 ans de l’acquisition d’un objet. En présence d’indices émotionnels (les mêmes dans la condition légitime et illégitime : le premier possesseur étant triste après le transfert dans les deux cas), les enfants de 3 ans sont parvenu à distinguer les deux conditions dans leur évaluation sociale/morale. Cette distinction n’a pu être basée uniquement sur la présence de l’émotion négative étant donné que l’émotion présentée était la même dans les deux conditions. Nous suggérons que les enfants de 3 ans ont détecté la transgression morale dans le cas du vol, et se sont basés sur l’émotion négative pour la confirmer. Les études du Chapitre 3 (Etudes 3 à 5) se sont intéressées à l’évaluation que font les enfants de la restitution d’un objet à son propriétaire… / Since a very young age, the majority of human social interactions involve objects. In these interactions, children seem to take into account who owns what. The notion of ownership thus does not involve only a person and an object, but is a relationship between several persons with respect to an object. This relationship is organized by a set of rules or property rights. Our work deals with children’s understanding of the notion of ownership. At what age do children acquire the understanding of property rights? Before an explicit mastery of the notion of ownership, do children have a more implicit understanding of it? More precisely, we explored the understanding and evaluation of illegitimate and legitimate transfers of property in children from 5 months to 5 years of age. We studied two types of ownership transgressions: illegitimate acquisition of an object (without owner’s intention to transfer it), and absence of restitution of an object to its owner. In all our studies, we presented to children property transfers between two characters using non-verbal animated cartoons or movies with puppets as actors, and then measured children’s understanding and evaluation of those transfers. The studies in Chapter 2 (Studies 1 and 2) assessed children’s evaluation of different modes of acquisition of an object. The two experiments of Study 1 explored 3- and 5-year-olds’s understanding and evaluation of illegitimate and legitimate property transfers. Adults were also tested as a control population. This study is the first one to investigate simultaneously children’s explicit and implicit understanding of the notion of ownership, by asking questions about property rights, as well as social and moral evaluations of the characters implicated in the transfers, respectively. In Study 1a, participants saw a character acquiring an object either in an illegitimate way (theft condition) or in a legitimate one (gift-reception condition). In Study 1b, an illegitimate action (theft) was compared to a legitimate action (giving). 5-year-old children (as adults) showed both an implicit understanding of ownership through their social/moral evaluation (preferring the legitimate agent (gift recipient or giver) compared to the illegitimate agent (thief)), and an explicit understanding of ownership through their ability to attribute different property rights considering the legitimacy of the transfer. 3-year-old children did not make any distinction between the illegitimate and legitimate conditions in their evaluation, neither in their attribution of property rights. These results suggest that children acquire implicit and explicit understanding of ownership at the same time. In Study 1, no emotional reaction was present. We examined in Study 2 the role of the first possessor’s emotions in 3-year-olds’ evaluation of object acquisition. The same cue was present in the legitimate and illegitimate conditions: the first possessor being sad after both transfers. In the presence of this emotional cue, 3-year-olds managed to distinguish between the two conditions in their social/moral evaluation. This distinction could not have been based solely on the presence of a negative emotion, as the emotion displayed was the same in both conditions. We suggest that 3-year-old children detected the moral transgression in the theft condition, and used the negative emotion to confirm it. The studies in Chapter 3 (Studies 3 to 5) examined children’s evaluations of the restitution of an object to its owner. Young children (2-3-year-old) have a bias to consider that the first possessor of an object is its “owner” and that the object cannot be definitively transferred to someone else. We thus investigated whether 3-year-old children (Studies 3 and 4) implicitly evaluate the absence of restitution as a transgression, and evaluate it negatively compared to the restitution of an object to its first possessor…

[EN] The stupefying success of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for specific problems, from recommender systems to self-driving cars, has not yet been matched with a similar progress in general AI systems, coping with a variety of problems. This dissertation deals with the long-standing problem of creating more general AI systems, through the analysis of their development and the evaluation of their cognitive abilities. Firstly, this thesis contributes with a general-purpose learning system that meets several desirable characteristics in terms of expressiveness, comprehensibility and versatility. The system works with approaches that are inherently general: inductive programming and reinforcement learning. The system does not rely on a fixed library of learning operators, but can be endowed with new ones, so being able to operate in a wide variety of contexts. This flexibility, jointly with its declarative character, makes it possible to use the system as an instrument for better understanding the role (and difficulty) of the constructs that each task requires. The learning process is also overhauled with a new developmental and lifelong approach for knowledge acquisition, consolidation and forgetting, which is necessary when bounded resources (memory and time) are considered. Secondly, this thesis analyses whether the use of intelligence tests for AI evaluation is a much better alternative to most task-oriented evaluation approaches in AI. Accordingly, we make a review of what has been done when AI systems have been confronted against tasks taken from intelligence tests. In this regard, we scrutinise what intelligence tests measure in machines, whether they are useful to evaluate AI systems, whether they are really challenging problems, and whether they are useful to understand (human) intelligence. Finally, the analysis of the concepts of development and incremental learning in AI systems is done at the conceptual level but also through several of these intelligence tests, providing further insight for the understanding and construction of general-purpose developing AI systems. / [ES] El éxito abrumador de la Inteligencia Artificial (IA) en la resolución de tareas específicas (desde sistemas de recomendación hasta vehículos de conducción autónoma) no ha sido aún igualado con un avance similar en sistemas de IA de carácter más general enfocados en la resolución de una mayor variedad de tareas. Esta tesis aborda la creación de sistemas de IA de propósito general así como el análisis y evaluación tanto de su desarrollo como de sus capacidades cognitivas. En primer lugar, esta tesis contribuye con un sistema de aprendizaje de propósito general que reúne distintas ventajas como expresividad, comprensibilidad y versatilidad. El sistema está basado en aproximaciones de carácter inherentemente general: programación inductiva y aprendizaje por refuerzo. Además, dicho sistema se basa en una biblioteca dinámica de operadores de aprendizaje por lo que es capaz de operar en una amplia variedad de contextos. Esta flexibilidad, junto con su carácter declarativo, hace que sea posible utilizar el sistema de forma instrumental con el objetivo de facilitar la comprensión de las distintas construcciones que cada tarea requiere para ser resuelta. Por último, el proceso de aprendizaje también se revisa por medio de un enfoque evolutivo e incremental de adquisición, consolidación y olvido de conocimiento, necesario cuando se trabaja con recursos limitados (memoria y tiempo). En segundo lugar, esta tesis analiza el uso de tests de inteligencia humana para la evaluación de sistemas de IA y plantea si su uso puede constituir una alternativa válida a los enfoques actuales de evaluación de IA (más orientados a tareas). Para ello se realiza una exhaustiva revisión bibliográfica de aquellos sistemas de IA que han sido utilizados para la resolución de este tipo de problemas. Esto ha permitido analizar qué miden realmente los tests de inteligencia en los sistemas de IA, si son significativos para su evaluación, si realmente constituyen problemas complejos y, por último, si son útiles para entender la inteligencia (humana). Finalmente se analizan los conceptos de desarrollo cognitivo y aprendizaje incremental en sistemas de IA no solo a nivel conceptual, sino también por medio de estos problemas mejorando por tanto la comprensión y construcción de sistemas de propósito general evolutivos. / [CAT] L'èxit aclaparant de la Intel·ligència Artificial (IA) en la resolució de tasques específiques (des de sistemes de recomanació fins a vehicles de conducció autònoma) no ha sigut encara igualat amb un avanç similar en sistemes de IA de caràcter més general enfocats en la resolució d'una major varietat de tasques. Aquesta tesi aborda la creació de sistemes de IA de propòsit general així com l'anàlisi i avaluació tant del seu desenvolupament com de les seues capacitats cognitives. En primer lloc, aquesta tesi contribueix amb un sistema d'aprenentatge de propòsit general que reuneix diferents avantatges com ara expressivitat, comprensibilitat i versatilitat. El sistema està basat en aproximacions de caràcter inherentment general: programació inductiva i aprenentatge per reforç. A més, el sistema utilitza una biblioteca dinàmica d'operadors d'aprenentatge pel que és capaç d'operar en una àmplia varietat de contextos. Aquesta flexibilitat, juntament amb el seu caràcter declaratiu, fa que siga possible utilitzar el sistema de forma instrumental amb l'objectiu de facilitar la comprensió de les diferents construccions que cada tasca requereix per a ser resolta. Finalment, el procés d'aprenentatge també és revisat mitjançant un enfocament evolutiu i incremental d'adquisició, consolidació i oblit de coneixement, necessari quan es treballa amb recursos limitats (memòria i temps). En segon lloc, aquesta tesi analitza l'ús de tests d'intel·ligència humana per a l'avaluació de sistemes de IA i planteja si el seu ús pot constituir una alternativa vàlida als enfocaments actuals d'avaluació de IA (més orientats a tasques). Amb aquesta finalitat, es realitza una exhaustiva revisió bibliogràfica d'aquells sistemes de IA que han sigut utilitzats per a la resolució d'aquest tipus de problemes. Açò ha permès analitzar què mesuren realment els tests d'intel·ligència en els sistemes de IA, si són significatius per a la seua avaluació, si realment constitueixen problemes complexos i, finalment, si són útils per a entendre la intel·ligència (humana). Finalment s'analitzen els conceptes de desenvolupament cognitiu i aprenentatge incremental en sistemes de IA no solament a nivell conceptual, sinó també per mitjà d'aquests problemes millorant per tant la comprensió i construcció de sistemes de propòsit general evolutius. / Martínez Plumed, F. (2016). Incremental and developmental perspectives for general-purpose learning systems [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/67269 / TESIS

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a meal supplement fortified with micronutrients would, statistically, significantly improve the intelligence scores of Grade 3 and 4 learners. The data collection procedures in this study took the form of a pre-test – post-test control group design. The Paper and Pencil Games (PPG) Level 3, a standardised psychological test, was administered before and after the respondents were exposed to the meal supplements. For a treatment period of 16 weeks the experimental group received the meal supplement fortified with micronutrients and the control group the meal supplement without any added micronutrients. Data analysis took the form of statistical analysis to determine whether the meal supplements consumed by those in the experimental group could significantly contribute to improving their intelligence scores. The results indicated statistically significant increases in scores, between the pretest and post-test on the various scales of the PPG, of both the experimental and control group on the one hand, but no statistically significant differences between the two treatment groups on the post-test on the other. The null hypothesis that there are no (statistically significant) differences between the average post-test scores (V, NV, and T) of the experimental and control groups could not be rejected. However, the increase between the pre-test and post-test stanine scores of the two treatment groups has led to recommendations for further research. Copyright / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

La prise de décision sous ambiguïté est au cœur de notre existence. En effet, nous devons sans cesse effectuer des choix sans pour autant en connaître les conséquences potentielles, ni les probabilités qui régissent ces conséquences. Afin de mieux définir les processus en jeu dans le développement de ces capacités décisionnelles sous ambiguïté, nous avons choisi de tester la théorie incontournable dans ce domaine, à savoir : L’Hypothèse des Marqueurs Somatiques (HMS). Cette hypothèse accorde un rôle adaptatif aux émotions et suppose que l’individu réalise au cours de sa vie un apprentissage de nature émotionnelle qui guiderait ses choix dans des conditions d’ambiguïté. Nous avons réalisé trois études expérimentales issues de l’association des approches de la psychopathologie, de la psychologie cognitive et de la psychologie du développement. Dans une première étude nous avons ainsi vérifié l’implication de l’alexithymie, un trouble spécifique de l’identification et de la régulation des émotions, dans le déficit décisionnel observé chez les joueurs pathologiques. En étudiant le cas particulier du jeu pathologique, nous avons pu étayer indirectement l’HMS, en démontrant que l’alexithymie pouvait être à la source du déficit décisionnel observé au sein de cette population. Dans une deuxième étude réalisée chez le sujet sain, nous avons développé un nouveau paradigme expérimental d’amorçage émotionnel afin de répondre aux critiques persistantes quant au rôle des processus émotionnels dans la décision sous ambiguïté. Nos données conduisent à penser que la prise de décision sous ambiguïté reposerait bien sur le développement d’un signal émotionnel intégral (i.e., en réponse aux feedbacks), en montrant pour la première fois la possibilité de renforcer ce signal pour une meilleure prise de décision. Dans une troisième étude nous avons examiné le développement, de l’enfance à l’âge adulte, des capacités de prise de décision sous ambiguïté sous l’angle des processus émotionnels mais également des processus cognitifs, et en particulier les stratégies d’ajustement suite aux feedbacks. Cette perspective développementale nous a permis de mieux définir les processus cognitifs essentiels à cette prise de décision sous ambiguïté en suggérant la nécessité d’inhiber une tendance spontanée à modifier son choix après une perte afin de permettre l’apprentissage émotionnel au cœur de la prise de décision sous ambiguïté. En conclusion, les résultats de cette thèse nous ont permis d’enrichir l’HMS, en soulignant la nécessité de prendre en compte les processus émotionnels et cognitifs dans le cadre de la prise de décision sous ambiguïté. / Decision-making under ambiguity is critical in our everyday life. Indeed, we make most of our choices with no information on the potential consequences of these choices or on the probabilities that govern these consequences. To better characterize the underlying mechanisms engaged in this complex ability, we tested the Somatic Marker Hypothesis (SMH), a key theory in this field. This theory posits that decision-making under ambiguity relies on the development of emotional responses to the world (i.e., an integral emotional signal) that bias people toward advantageous choices in ambiguous circumstances. Thus, the goal of this thesis was to test (i) the role of emotional processes and (ii) the possible implication of cognitive processes in our ability to choose advantageously in ambiguous context. In our first study, we investigated the factors at the root of the decision-making deficit of pathological gamblers by assessing the impact of alexithymia – a recurrent emotional disorder in this population – on their decision-making skills. In line with the SMH, we found that alexithymia was a key factor to understand pathological gamblers’ decision-making deficit. In a second study, we designed an emotional priming paradigm to provide direct evidence that decision making relies on the creation of an integral emotional signal in healthy adults. Our data supports the SMH by evidencing that decision-making can be improved when the integral emotional signal is reinforced. Finally, in our third study, we investigated the development of decision-making abilities by focusing on the strategic adjustments in children, adolescents and adults. Our data suggest that the inhibition of a spontaneous tendency to shift after a loss might be critical to choose advantageously. In conclusion, the results of this thesis broadened the scope of the HMS by emphasizing the need to study both emotional and cognitive processes to better understand decision making under ambiguity. Keywords: Decision-making under ambiguity; Emotional processes; Cognitive processes; Cognitive development the SMH by evidencing that decision-making can be improved when the integral emotional signal is reinforced. Finally, in our third study, we investigated the development of decision-making abilities by focusing on the strategic adjustments in children, adolescents and adults. Our data suggest that the inhibition of a spontaneous tendency to shift after a loss might be critical to choose advantageously. In conclusion, the results of this thesis broadened the scope of the HMS by emphasizing the need to study both emotional and cognitive processes to better understand decision making under ambiguity.

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".