Os estudos dos processos cognitivos propiciam um cenário promissor para a realização de pesquisas visando uma maior compreensão de como o funcionamento do cérebro pode favorecer a educação, possibilitando o desenvolvimento de novas teorias e abordagens que estimulem a aprendizagem. O presente trabalho abordará principalmente como se dá a aquisição, o armazenamento, processamento e a recuperação do conhecimento do ponto de vista da neurociência e de que forma o mapa conceitual (MC) pode mapear o conhecimento do indivíduo. O MC pode ser utilizado tanto como uma estratégia de aprendizagem para a compreensão de conceitos-chave bem como as relações entre estes quanto para promover o pensamento crítico do indivíduo. É uma representação gráfica bidimensional cuja estrutura permite organizar visualmente as relações entre conceitos que podem ser indicadas por palavras, frases e símbolos. É usado para facilitar o aprendizado ao hierarquizar os conceitos por meio de construções significativas para o indivíduo. Os conceitos aparecem nas caixas e as relações nas linhas que os unem: a dois conceitos conectados chamamos de proposição. Durante a construção de um MC o indivíduo exercita a sua capacidade de estabelecer relações entre o conhecimento que já tem e o adquirido no decorrer da aprendizagem ao representar graficamente os conceitos sobre um determinado assunto. / The study of cognitive processes provide a promising scenario to research aimed at better understanding of how the functioning of the brain may promote the education, enabling the development of new theories and approaches that encourage learning. This work will mainly occurs as the acquisition, storage, processing and retrieval of knowledge from the viewpoint of neuroscience, and how the conceptual map can map the knowledge of the individual. The conceptual map (CM) can be used both as a strategy of learning for the understanding of key concepts and relations between them and to promote critical thinking of the individual. Two-dimensional graphical representation, the CM allows visually organize the relationships between concepts. This structure from the wider concepts up to less comprehensive and relations between them can be indicated by words, phrases and symbols. It is used to facilitate the learning concepts ranking by building significant to the individual. The concepts appear in the boxes and lines that unite them: two concepts connected call proposition. During the construction of a CM, the individual exercises its ability to establish relationships between knowledge that he has already acquired in the course of learning to represent graphically the concepts of a particular subject.

O processamento de sinais EEG permite interpretar, analisar, estudar, pesquisar e experimentar a atividade elétrica do cérebro como resposta para diferentes processos cognitivos, efeitos de drogas ou fármacos, estudo de doenças psiquiátricas ou neurológicas, entre outras. Esta dissertação é orientada ao reconhecimento de padrões cerebrais que permitam classificar estados cognitivos mediante os sinais de EEG registrados em sujeitos realizando tarefas programadas. Ademais espera-se obter a maior quantidade de padrões para cada estado cognitivo e procurar os parâmetros que oferecem maior informação, analisando as principais bandas cerebrais e todos os eletrodos disponíveis na base de dados. A metodologia usada compreende o registro de cinco tarefas cognitivas analisadas com três abordagens diferentes: análises de longe-range tenporal correlations com o algoritmo de Detrended Fluctuations Analysis (DFA), análise da potência dos sinais cerebrais utilizando a Transformada Ondeleta e finalmente o estudo da sincronia cerebral usando a Transformada de Hilbert. Conclui-se que as abordagens utilizadas nesta dissertação reportam alentadores resultados para diferenciar as tarefas cognitivas estudadas, demonstrando que a utilização da informação de todos os eletrodos e de suas principais bandas cerebrais contribuem de forma positiva. Também se consegue reconhecer e identificar quais parâmetros produzem maior informação para esta análise. / EEG signal processing allows interpreting, analyzing, studying, researching and experiencing the brain electrical activity in response to different cognitive processes, effects of drugs or drugs, the study of neurological or psychiatric diseases, among others. This thesis is oriented to the recognition of brain patterns to classify cognitive states using the EEG signals recorded from subjects performing mental tasks. Also, we expect to collect as many patterns as possible for each cognitive status and to seek parameters that provide more information, examine the major bands and all brain electrodes available in the database. The methodology used includes the registration of five cognitive tasks analyzed with three different approaches: analysis of long-range temporal-correlations with the Detrended Fluctuations Analysis (DFA) algorithm, the power analysis of brain signals using the Wavelet Transform and finally the study of phased looked brain using the Hilbert transform. The approaches used for this research report excellent results for differentiating the cognitive tasks studied, showing that the use of information from all the electrodes and their main brain bands contribute positively. Also, one can recognize and identify which parameters produce more information for this analysis.

Seres humanos e outros organismos geralmente descontam o futuro, preferindo receber recompensas imediatas a postergadas. Essa tendência comum é compreensível, em grande parte, porque preterir o consumo de benefícios aumenta amplamente o risco de perdê-los. Ademais, a impaciência intertemporal pode ser adaptativa. A reprodução antecipada, em comparação com a tardia, produz em média um aumento na taxa de sucesso reprodutivo. Entretanto, apesar de ser uma tendência geral, o desconto do futuro pode variar transitoriamente em função de estimulações contextuais, especialmente, pistas de oportunidades sexuais. O objetivo do presente trabalho foi investigar fontes situacionais de variabilidade na preferência temporal. Para tanto, foram realizados quatro estudos visando avaliar os efeitos de indicadores de reciprocidade social, elementos arbitrários condicionados e qualidade de recursos limitantes sobre os índices de desconto do futuro, usando: (1) imagens de pessoas do sexo oposto expressando emoções de alegria e nojo; (2) vídeos de pessoas engajadas em entrevistas amigáveis e não amigáveis; (3) cores do ambiente experimental associadas a imagens de pessoas do sexo oposto e (4) imagens de alimentos atraentes e não atraentes. Os efeitos de tais estímulos foram medidos através de uma tarefa que costuma ser usada para avaliar desconto de futuro, formada por dois conjuntos de escolhas monetárias feitas pelos participantes antes e após a estimulação. Cada escolha monetária constituiu de um par de opções entre um valor (x) amanhã ou outro (x + y) daqui (z) dias. Adicionalmente, foram investigadas fontes individuais de variação na preferência temporal. Para tanto, foi realizado um estudo correlacional e transversal usando questionários estruturados, investigando possíveis preditores de desconto do futuro. O intuito foi averiguar as relações entre taxas de desconto do futuro e diferenças individuais, tais como sexo, idade, propensão ao risco e índices socioeconômicos. Os resultados apontam que a tendência ao imediatismo pode ser acentuada em contextos com a presença de cor com comprimento de onda longo associada a estados de excitação, em contraposição à cor com menor comprimento de onda; e diminuída pela exposição a estímulos alimentares com alto valor calórico, em comparação a estímulos alimentares de baixo teor energético. Além disso, o desconto do futuro apresenta correlação negativa com status socioeconômico, podendo este último predizer altas taxas de desconto temporal. Conclui-se que o desconto do futuro pode variar em função da ativação de estados de excitação e de sistemas motivacionais básicos e em resposta a escassez de recursos materiais. Conjuntamente, os resultados são compatíveis com a interpretação de que escolhas imediatistas estão relacionadas ultimamente a maximização da aptidão em determinados contextos; e que a preferência temporal é um processo multidimensional, possivelmente, englobando o funcionamento de diferentes mecanismos voltados para operar em dimensões específicas / Humans and other organisms generally discount the future, preferring immediate over delayed rewards. This general preference is understandable, largely because delaying consumption increases the risk of losing the benefit. Moreover, the intertemporal impatience can be adaptive. Earlier reproduction produces an average increase in the rate of reproductive success than later reproduction. However, although it is a general tendency, the future discounting may vary temporarily due to contextual stimuli, especially cues of sexual opportunities. The objective of this study was to investigate situational sources of variability in time preference. To this end, four studies were conducted to evaluate the effects of cues of reciprocity, conditioned arbitrary contextual stimuli, and quality of limiting resources on the rate of future discounting, using: (1) images of the opposite sex expressing happiness and disgust, (2) videos of people engaged in friendly and non-friendly interviews, (3) colors of the experimental environment associated with images of the opposite sex, and (4) pictures of attractive and unattractive food. The effects of these stimuli were measured using a task that is often used to evaluate future discounting, formed by two sets of monetary choices completed by participants before and after the stimulation. Each monetary choice has two options: a monetary value for tomorrow (x) or more (x + y) in a specified future (z days). Additionally, we investigated individual sources of variation in time preference. For this purpose, a correlational and transversal study was conducted using structured questionnaires to investigate possible predictors of future discounting. The aim was to examine the relationship between future discounting rates and individual differences such as gender, age, risk propensity, and socioeconomic indexes. The results show that the future discounting rates can be increased in the presence of long-wavelength color associated with states of arousal as opposed to short-wavelength color, and decreased by exposure to high-calorie food stimuli compared to low-calorie food stimuli. Moreover, the future discounting shows a negative correlation with socioeconomic status, and that the latter can predict high rates of temporal discounting. It is concluded that the future discounting may vary depending on the activation of arousal state, basic motivational systems, and in response to scarcity of material resources. Jointly, the results are consistent with the interpretation that immediate choices are related in evolutionary terms to fitness maximization in certain environments, and that the time preference is a multidimensional process, possibly comprising distinct domain-specific mechanisms

O processamento de sinais EEG permite interpretar, analisar, estudar, pesquisar e experimentar a atividade elétrica do cérebro como resposta para diferentes processos cognitivos, efeitos de drogas ou fármacos, estudo de doenças psiquiátricas ou neurológicas, entre outras. Esta dissertação é orientada ao reconhecimento de padrões cerebrais que permitam classificar estados cognitivos mediante os sinais de EEG registrados em sujeitos realizando tarefas programadas. Ademais espera-se obter a maior quantidade de padrões para cada estado cognitivo e procurar os parâmetros que oferecem maior informação, analisando as principais bandas cerebrais e todos os eletrodos disponíveis na base de dados. A metodologia usada compreende o registro de cinco tarefas cognitivas analisadas com três abordagens diferentes: análises de longe-range tenporal correlations com o algoritmo de Detrended Fluctuations Analysis (DFA), análise da potência dos sinais cerebrais utilizando a Transformada Ondeleta e finalmente o estudo da sincronia cerebral usando a Transformada de Hilbert. Conclui-se que as abordagens utilizadas nesta dissertação reportam alentadores resultados para diferenciar as tarefas cognitivas estudadas, demonstrando que a utilização da informação de todos os eletrodos e de suas principais bandas cerebrais contribuem de forma positiva. Também se consegue reconhecer e identificar quais parâmetros produzem maior informação para esta análise. / EEG signal processing allows interpreting, analyzing, studying, researching and experiencing the brain electrical activity in response to different cognitive processes, effects of drugs or drugs, the study of neurological or psychiatric diseases, among others. This thesis is oriented to the recognition of brain patterns to classify cognitive states using the EEG signals recorded from subjects performing mental tasks. Also, we expect to collect as many patterns as possible for each cognitive status and to seek parameters that provide more information, examine the major bands and all brain electrodes available in the database. The methodology used includes the registration of five cognitive tasks analyzed with three different approaches: analysis of long-range temporal-correlations with the Detrended Fluctuations Analysis (DFA) algorithm, the power analysis of brain signals using the Wavelet Transform and finally the study of phased looked brain using the Hilbert transform. The approaches used for this research report excellent results for differentiating the cognitive tasks studied, showing that the use of information from all the electrodes and their main brain bands contribute positively. Also, one can recognize and identify which parameters produce more information for this analysis.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:23:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabiana Martins de Oliveira.pdf: 2599761 bytes, checksum: 32bfbb43f18c17407dfdf69a5efbd6a2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-12-09 / This study aims at the production of educational games that allow users to active participation in social and artistic contexts. Four are its aspects: first, the influence exerted by technological means to childhood. Second, the use of the simulation as a means of learning. Third, the free software use by students. And fourth, the objectives of arts education classes, which include the development of artistic and cultural understanding, obtaining self-esteem, individual expression, creativity and confidence. The union between postmodern virtual reality, conditions provided by the simulation environment, the target audience's behavior, and the influences of the artistic content, favor the production of a game with intercultural focus, which seeks to narrow the geographic and economic barriers existing between students from diverse backgrounds / Esse estudo objetiva a produção de jogos digitais educativos que possibilitem ao usuário a participação ativa em contextos sociais, culturais e artísticos. Quatro são suas vertentes: a influência dos meios tecnológicos na infância; o uso da simulação como meio de aprendizagem; a utilização de software livre por parte dos alunos e, os objetivos das aulas de educação artística. Todas as vertentes incluem o desenvolvimento das compreensões sociais, artísticas e culturais, a obtenção da autoestima, a expressão individual, a criatividade e a confiança. A união entre a realidade virtual na contemporaneidade, as condições proporcionadas pelo ambiente do simulacro, o comportamento do público alvo, e as influências dos conteúdos artísticos que favorecem a produção de jogos digitais com foco intercultural, e que, procura estreitar as barreiras geográficas e econômicas existentes entre estudantes de diversos contextos socioculturais

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:23:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcia Pereira Sebastiao.pdf: 3702893 bytes, checksum: d4ba8cf93f04f65d02bfe269e9d452f5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-04-27 / The e-learning has had an important role in contemporary education scenario in national and global. As experience grows with the systematic use of Virtual Learning Environments, problems arising from such use have been reported. Often, related to such factors as: a) the enormous amount of information that needs to be managed and at the same time, be available for teachers and students, b) the interactions between the various participants in the process, c) the difficulty of understand that the activities of others have a direct impact on their own activities. Therefore, there is a need for care related to the quality of interactions available in the Web Thus, developing an interface with an ease of navigation and interaction is crucial for the smooth running of courses developed in the e-learning. To this scenario, this research aims to investigate the usability of the application sites in e-learning, aiming to improve user interaction with the interface. Thus, the method used for data collection consists of: application of heuristic analysis, thematic content analysis of semi-open questionnaires applied of intertext harvested in the Community Course in screen: Curso de Mediação de Conflitos Socioambientais. The analysis of data collected was interpreted in the light of the following theoretical framework: the e-learning (historical, philosophical concepts, approaches educacioanis), cyberspace, usability and accessibility of digital devices and interfaces (heuristic analysis of Nielsen, CC-9 Resolution of the Government of State of São Paulo, 2005). The study demonstrates the usability of devices and digital interfaces as a key to the successful development of online courses. The analysis of interfaces in e-learning courses is of great importance, since the problem of non conductive interfaces, difficult learning and memory, and with high incidence of errors, tends to negatively impact the user. More than the ix technological sophistication, it is the serious study of the usability of the environment in question / A modalidade de Educação a Distância (EaD) tem tido um papel importante no cenário educacional contemporâneo, em nível nacional e mundial. À medida que crescem as experiências com o uso sistemático dos Ambientes Virtuais de Aprendizagem (AVA), problemas decorrentes desse uso têm sido relatados. Com frequência, relacionam-se a fatores como: a) a enorme quantidade de informação que precisa ser gerenciada e, ao mesmo tempo, estar disponível para professores e estudantes; b) as interações entre os diversos participantes do processo; c) a dificuldade de perceber que as atividades de outros têm impacto direto em suas próprias atividades. Portanto, verifica-se a necessidade de cuidados relacionados à qualidade das interações disponibilizadas na Web. Nesse sentido, desenvolver uma interface com uma facilidade de navegação e de interação é ponto fulcral para o bom andamento de cursos desenvolvidos na modalidade de Educação a Distância. Tendo em vista esse cenário, a presente pesquisa tem o objetivo de investigar a aplicação da usabilidade em sites de Educação a Distância, com vistas à melhor interação do usuário com a interface. Para tanto, o método de coleta de dados utilizado consiste em: aplicação de análise heurística e análise temática de conteúdo dos questionários semi-abertos aplicados e dos intertextos colhidos na Comunidade do curso em tela: Curso de Mediação de Conflitos Socioambientais. A análise dos dados coletados foi interpretada à luz do seguinte marco teórico: Educação a Distância (histórico, concepções epistemológicas, abordagens educacionais), Ciberespaço, usabilidade e acessibilidade dos dispositivos e interfaces digitais (análise heurística de Nielsen; Resolução CC-9 do Governo do Estado de São Paulo, 2005). O estudo evidencia a usabilidade dos dispositivos e interfaces digitais como instância fundamental ao bom desenvolvimento de cursos on-line. A análise das interfaces de cursos de EaD é de grande importância, uma vez que a problemática de interfaces não condutivas, de difícil aprendizado e memorização, e com grande incidência de erros, tende a impactar negativamente o usuário. Mais do que a sofisticação tecnológica, importa o estudo sério da usabilidade do ambiente em questão

A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo estudar a influência do sistema de verificação final de aprendizado sobre as práticas de ensino de Química no nível médio. Para tanto, identificamos e caracterizamos o nível de compreensão do conhecimento químico solicitado dos alunos egressos do ensino médio Brasileiro para seleção dos futuros universitários. Focamos nossas investigações sobre as questões das provas de Química da segunda fase dos concursos vestibulares da Universidade de São Paulo e da Universidade de Campinas, assim como nas provas de conhecimento específico para as carreiras das áreas de Ciências Biológicas e Ciências Exatas da Universidade Estadual Paulista e os relatórios de desempenho correspondentes, entre os anos de 1998 e 2008. O percurso metodológico desenvolvido analisa as questões em três eixos: (1) tema do ensino de química, que se utiliza da Proposta Curricular para o ensino de Química do estado de São Paulo de 1998; (2) processo cognitivo, que tem como referencia a Taxonomia de Bloom e (3) o desempenho médio dos candidatos nas questões das provas de Química. A triangulação dos dados evidenciou o caráter normativo, orientador e controlador destes exames sobre o sistema de ensino que os antecede. / This work aimed to study the influence of the system of final verification of learning on Chemistry teaching practices in high school. For that, we identified and characterized the level of chemical knowledge comprehension required from Brazilian students egress from high school for the selection of future undergraduates. We focused our investigations on the Chemistry questions of the second phase of the entrance tests from the University of São Paulo and the University of Campinas, as well as on the specific knowledge tests for careers in the field of Biological Sciences and Exact Sciences from the University of São Paulo State and the performance reports between the years of 1998 and 2008. Our methodological route follows the questions in three axes: (1) Chemistry teaching theme, which uses the Curriculum Proposition for the Chemistry teaching from the state of São Paulo from 1998; (2) cognitive process, whose reference is Bloom\'s Taxonomy and (3) average performance of the candidates in the questions in the Chemistry tests. The triangulation of data made clear the normative, guiding and controlling character of these exams on the teaching system that precedes them.

Contemporary theories on frequency processing have been developed in different sub-disciplines of psychology and have shown remarkable discrepancies. Thus, in judgment and decision making, frequency estimates on serially encoded events are mostly traced back to the availability heuristic (Tversky & Kahneman, 1973). Evidence for the use of this heuristic comes from several popular demonstrations of biased frequency estimates. In the area of decision making, these demonstrations led to the conclusion that frequency judgments were generally error-prone. On the other hand, in memory literature detailed computational memory models are used to explain frequency estimates. Although these models to some degree differ evidently in their specific representational assumptions, they all arrive at the basic prediction that frequency estimates should usually be quite accurate but regressed. This prediction was confirmed in numerous studies. However, up to now there have been no systematic efforts in memory literature to identify factors that cause biases in frequency judgments and to explain the demonstrations of erroneous estimates in the area of decision making. The two studies presented in this thesis pursue the questions whether memory models are able to explain errors in frequency judgments and to generate new predictions about biasing factors. In the focus of the first series of experiments is the "famous-names effect": If participants are presented with a list of names of female and male persons, then the frequency of that sex is overestimated that was represented with more famous names on the list. As more famous names are additionally recalled better, this effect was usually explained with the availability heuristic. An alternative account was suggested within the framework of the associationist-model PASS (Sedlmeier, 1999) and the multiple-trace model MINERVA-DM (Dougherty et al., 1999). According to this, the effect is primarily caused by the different pre-experimental frequencies of famous and non-famous names. If this is correct, the famous-names effect should generalize to any stimulus material. This hypothesis was tested in four experiments. The predictions of the memory models were compared with the predictions of a recall-estimate version of the availability heuristic (e.g. Watkins & LeCompte, 1991). Contrary to the predictions of all tested approaches, the participants were mostly able to judge the frequencies of the presented categories approximately correctly. The results indicate furthermore that systematic biases only occurred if the participants based their judgments at least partially on the recall-estimate strategy. However, as the participants only did this in exceptional cases the entire result pattern is explained best within a multiple strategy perspective (Brown, 2002). A re-analysis of the data from all four experiments suggests that the size of the sample of retrieved exemplars is the crucial factor for the (additional) use of the recall-estimate strategy. In the second study new predictions about the influence of associations on frequency estimates are derived from the PASS-model and tested. In two experiments words that were either strongly or weakly associated with each other were presented to the participants. Predictions of the PASS model for the frequency estimates about this stimulus material were gained by means of simulations. In a first step PASS acquired associations between the stimulus words from a large text corpus. Subsequently, the model encoded the experimental study lists. PASS expects higher frequency judgments for associated than for non-associated words. The size of this effect should be independent of the actual presentation frequencies of the words. Finally, the model expects that the frequencies of associated words are discriminated slightly worse than the frequencies of non-associated words. These predictions were largely confirmed in both experiments. The decision times required by the participants to generate their estimates indicate here that they did not base their judgments on the recall-estimate strategy. The results thus strengthen the assumption that the encoding and representation of frequency information are based on associative learning. / Aktuelle Theorien zur Häufigkeitsverarbeitung wurden in unterschiedlichen Teilgebieten der Psychologie entwickelt und weisen erstaunliche Diskrepanzen auf. So werden Häufigkeitsschätzungen über seriell enkodierte Ereignisse in der Urteils- und Entscheidungsforschung zumeist auf die Verfügbarkeitsheuristik (Tversky & Kahneman, 1973) zurückgeführt. Evidenz für die Verwendung dieser Heuristik stammt aus einigen populären Demonstrationen fehlerhafter Häufigkeitsschätzungen. Diese Demonstrationen führten in der Entscheidungsforschung zu der Schlussfolgerung, dass Häufigkeitsurteile generell fehleranfällig seien. Demgegenüber wurden in der Gedächtnispsychologie detaillierte, computerimplementierte Gedächtnismodelle benutzt, um Häufigkeitsschätzungen zu erklären. Obwohl sich diese Modelle in ihren spezifischen Repräsentationsannahmen zum Teil deutlich unterscheiden, kommen sie alle zu der grundlegenden Vorhersage, dass Häufigkeitsschätzungen in der Regel recht genau, aber regrediert sein sollten. Diese Vorhersage wurde in zahlreichen Untersuchungen bestätigt. In der gedächtnispsychologischen Forschung hat es jedoch bisher kein systematisches Bemühen gegeben, Faktoren, die zu Verzerrungen in Häufigkeitsschätzungen führen, zu identifizieren und die Demonstrationen fehlerhafter Schätzungen aus der Entscheidungsforschung zu erklären. Die zwei in der vorliegenden Arbeit präsentierten Studien verfolgen die Fragestellung, inwieweit Gedächtnismodelle in der Lage sind, Fehler in Häufigkeitsurteilen zu erklären und neue Vorhersagen über verzerrende Faktoren zu generieren. Im Mittelpunkt der ersten Serie von Experimenten steht dabei der "Famous-Names Effekt": Nach der Präsentation einer Liste mit Namen weiblicher und männlicher Personen wird die Häufigkeit desjenigen Geschlechts überschätzt, das mit berühmteren Namen auf der Liste vertreten war. Da berühmtere Namen zudem besser erinnert werden, wurde dieser Effekt gewöhnlich auf die Verfügbarkeitsheuristik zurückgeführt. Eine Alternativerklärung wurde sowohl im Rahmen des assoziationistischen PASS-Modells (Sedlmeier, 1999) als auch innerhalb des Exemplarmodells MINERVA-DM (Dougherty et al., 1999) vorgeschlagen. Demnach wird der Effekt primär durch die unterschiedliche prä-experimentelle Häufigkeit berühmter und nicht-berühmter Namen verursacht. Ist diese Annahme korrekt, so sollte der Famous-Names Effekt auch auf anderes Stimulusmaterial generalisieren. Diese Hypothese wurde in vier Experimenten überprüft. Dabei wurden die Vorhersagen der Gedächtnismodelle mit den Vorhersagen einer "Recall-Estimate" Version der Verfügbarkeitsheuristik (z. B. Watkins & LeCompte, 1991) verglichen. Entgegen den Vorhersagen aller getesteten Ansätze waren die Teilnehmer in der Regel in der Lage, die Häufigkeit der verwendeten Kategorien recht gut einzuschätzen. Die Ergebnisse sprechen zudem dafür, dass systematische Fehler in den Häufigkeitsurteilen nur dann auftraten, wenn sich die Teilnehmer bei der Generierung ihrer Schätzungen zumindest teilweise auf die Recall-Estimate Strategie stützten. Da die Teilnehmer dies jedoch nur in Ausnahmefällen taten, kann das gesamte Ergebnismuster am besten innerhalb einer "Multiple Strategy Perspective" (Brown, 2002) erklärt werden. Eine Reanalyse der Daten aus allen vier Experimenten legt dabei die Schlussfolgerung nahe, dass die Stichprobengröße erinnerter Exemplare ausschlaggebend für die (zusätzliche) Verwendung der Recall-Estimate Strategie ist. In der zweiten Studie werden neuartige Vorhersagen über den Einfluss von Assoziationen auf Häufigkeitsschätzungen aus dem PASS-Modell abgeleitet und getestet. In zwei Experimenten wurden den Teilnehmern Wörter präsentiert, die untereinander entweder stark oder schwach assoziiert waren. Die Vorhersagen des PASS-Modells über die Häufigkeitsschätzungen zu diesem Stimulusmaterial wurden mit Hilfe von Simulationen gewonnen. In einem ersten Simulationsschritt erwarb PASS aus großen Textkorpora Assoziationen zwischen den Stimuluswörtern. Anschließend enkodierte das Modell die experimentellen Stimuluslisten. PASS erwartet, dass assoziierte Wörter höhere Schätzungen erhalten als nicht-assoziierte Wörter. Die Größe dieses Effekts sollte von der Präsentationshäufigkeit der Wörter unabhängig sein. Schließlich erwartet das Modell, dass die Häufigkeit assoziierter Wörter geringfügig schlechter diskriminiert wird als die Häufigkeit nicht-assoziierter Wörter. Diese Vorhersagen wurden in beiden Experimenten weitgehend bestätigt. Die Verwendung einer Recall-Estimate Strategie konnte dabei mit Hilfe von Reaktionszeitmessungen ausgeschlossen werden. Die Ergebnisse stützen damit die Annahme, dass die Enkodierung und Repräsentation von Häufigkeitsinformation auf assoziativem Lernen basiert.

Dans les dernières décennies, le présumé déclin de la compétence scripturale des élèves québécois a soulevé les passions. Force est d’admettre que leurs compétences sont lacunaires : tant les rapports du ministère de l’Éducation (Jalbert, 2006; Ouellet, 1984) que les études scientifiques ou gouvernementales (Bureau, 1985; Groupe DIEPE, 1995; Roberge, 1984) révèlent leur incapacité à s’approprier l’écriture. Les TIC pourraient bien faire partie de la solution : on sait pertinemment qu’elles favorisent la réussite scolaire dans certains contextes (Barayktar, 2001; Christmann & Badgett, 2003; Waxman, Lin, & Michko, 2003). Toutefois, modifient-elles le processus scriptural au point d’en faciliter l’apprentissage? Cette question constitue le cœur de l’actuel projet de recherche. Les modèles du processus d’écriture comme celui de Hayes et Flower (Flower & Hayes, 1981; Hayes, 1995; Hayes & Flower, 1980) rappellent que les TIC font partie du contexte de production; à ce titre, elles influencent autant la qualité des textes que les processus cognitifs et la motivation. Elles libèrent notamment des ressources cognitives, puisqu’elles prennent en charge certaines opérations, comme la calligraphie (Daiute, 1983). Partant, le scripteur peut se concentrer davantage sur des tâches plus complexes. Des méta-analyses (Bangert-Drowns, 1993; Goldberg, Russell, & Cook, 2003) attestent que le traitement de texte exerce un effet minime, mais statistiquement significatif sur la qualité de l’écriture. Toutefois, il est associé à des révisions en surface (Faigley & Witte, 1981; Figueredo & Varnhagen, 2006). Rares sont les projets de recherche qui explorent simultanément l’impact du traitement de texte sur plusieurs dimensions du processus scriptural; plus rares encore sont les travaux qui se sont intéressés à ce sujet depuis les années 1990. Pour pallier ce manque, cette thèse de doctorat vise à 1) mesurer l’effet des TIC sur la qualité de l’écriture; 2) décrire l’impact des TIC sur les processus cognitifs de révision et de traduction; 3) mesurer l’impact des TIC sur la motivation à écrire. Pour y arriver, nous recourons à une méthodologie mixte. D’une part, un devis de recherche quasi expérimental nous permet de comparer les scripteurs technologiques aux scripteurs traditionnels; d’autre part, une approche qualitative nous laisse accéder aux pensées et aux perceptions des utilisateurs de l’ordinateur. Les trois articles qui constituent le cœur de cette thèse rapportent les résultats relatifs à chacun des objectifs spécifiques de recherche. Dans le premier texte, nous avons mesuré les effets du traitement de texte sur la compétence scripturale. L’analyse statistique des données colligées nous a permis de dégager une amélioration des performances, strictement en orthographe d’usage. En comparaison, les élèves du groupe témoin se sont améliorés davantage en cohérence textuelle et ont mieux performé en orthographe grammaticale. Le deuxième article propose de faire la lumière sur ces résultats. Nous y étudions donc l’impact des TIC sur le processus cognitif de révision. Ce volet, basé sur une approche qualitative, recourt largement à l’observation vidéographiée. Nous y mettons d’abord en évidence le grand nombre d’erreurs commises lors des séances d’écriture technologiques; nous faisons également ressortir la sous-utilisation du vérificateur linguistique, qui pose peu de diagnostics appropriés ou qui est souvent ignoré des scripteurs. Toutefois, malgré cette sous-utilisation du traitement de texte, des entrevues de groupe font état de perceptions positives à l’égard des TIC; on leur prête des vertus certaines et elles sont jugées motivantes. Ce phénomène constitue le cœur du dernier article, au cours duquel nous tâchons de mesurer l’impact du mode d’écriture sur la motivation à écrire. Nous menons ce volet dans une perspective quantitative. La motivation des participants a été mesurée avec une échelle de motivation. L’analyse statistique des données montre que les élèves technologiques sont motivés intrinsèquement par les technologies, tandis que leurs pairs du groupe témoin sont amotivés. Lors du chapitre conclusif, nous mettons ces résultats en relation, tentant d’expliquer globalement l’impact des TIC dans le processus scriptural. Au terme de notre thèse, nous formulons des recommandations destinées aux praticiens et aux décideurs engagés dans le système éducatif. / The supposed decline of writing skills in Quebecois students’ during the last decades has raised vigorous debates. Admittedly, their competencies show deficiencies. Indeed, reports by the Ministry of Education (Jalbert, 2006; Ouellet, 1984) and research, both scientific and governmental (Bureau, 1985; Groupe DIEPE, 1995; Roberge, 1984), reveal their incapacity to appropriate the writing process. ICT might well be part of the solution : it is a well-known fact that they encourage scholastic achievement in certain contexts (Barayktar, 2001; Christmann & Badgett, 2003; Waxman, et al., 2003). However, do they modify the writing process so as to facilitate its learning? This question is at the heart of the current research project. Writing process models, such as those of Hayes and Flower (1981; 1995; 1980), remind us that ICT are a part of the Context component; as such, they influence the quality of the texts as much as cognitive processes and motivation. They unburden the cognitive process by taking on certain functions such as calligraphy (Daiute, 1983). Consequently, the writer may concentrate on more complex tasks. Meta-analyses (Bangert-Drowns, 1993; Goldberg, et al., 2003) show that the use of word processors has a small yet statistically significant effect on the quality of writing. That being said, they are mainly linked to surface changes (Faigley & Witte, 1981; Figueredo & Varnhagen, 2006). Research projects that explore the impact of word processors on the writing process and its various dimensions simultaneously are rare, even more so since the last twenty years. To satisfy this research gap, the present thesis aims at 1) measuring ICT effect upon the quality of writing; 2) describe ICT impact on the cognitive processes of translating and reviewing; 3) measure ICT impact on motivation to write. To this objective, we utilize a mixed methodology. On one hand, a quasi-experimental design allows for a comparison of technological writers to traditional writers; on the other, a qualitative approach provides access to the thoughts and perceptions of computer users. The three articles that constitute the heart of this thesis relate the results pertaining to the stated research objectives. In the first text, we measured the effects of word processing on the quality of writing. The statistical analysis of the dataset allowed us to observe an improvement in spelling, but not grammatical spelling. In comparison, students of the control group showed improvements in their texts’ logical coherence and grammatical orthography. The second article intends to shed light on these results. The impact of ICT on the cognitive processes of translating and reviewing is studied to that effect. This aspect, which is based on a qualitative approach, is largely based on video observation. First, are highlighted the many errors committed when word processing is used. Then, is underlined the poor use of spell checking tools, that oftentimes provide inappropriate diagnostics or that are simply ignored by users. However, group interviews have shown positive perceptions vis-à-vis ICT, despite their poor use. Indeed, they are considered motivating and their benefits, although recognized, do not seem to have an impact. The motivating factor is at the heart of the last article, which measures the impact of writing methods on the motivation to write. A quantitative analysis is used to that effect. The participants’ motivation was measured using a motivational scale. The statistical analysis of the dataset demonstrates that technological students are intrinsically motivated by ICT, whereas their peers of the control group are amotivated. In the concluding chapter, we put theses results in relation with one another so as to explain the impact of ICT on the writing process as a whole. Lastly, we hope to provide possible recommendations to practitioners and decision makers within the educational system.

A primary goal of education is the acquisition of durable knowledge which challenges the use of efficient pedagogical methods of how to best facilitate learning. Research in cognitive psychology has demonstrated that repeated testing during the learning phase improves performance on later retention tests compared to restudy of material. This empirical phenomenon is called the testing effect. The testing effect has shown to be robust across different kinds of material and when compared to different pedagogical methods. Despite the extensive number of published papers on the testing effect, the majority of the studies have been conducted in the laboratory. More specific, few studies have examined the testing effect in authentic settings when using course material during the progress of a course. Further, few studies have investigated the beneficial effects with test-enhanced learning by the use of neuroimaging methods (e.g. fMRI). The aim with the thesis was to investigate the effects of test-enhanced learning in an authentic educational context and how this is related to individual differences in working memory capacity (Study I and II) as well as changes in brain activity involved in successful repeated testing and long term retention (Study III). In study I, we examined whether repeated testing with feedback benefitted learning compared to rereading of introductory psychology key concepts in a sample of undergraduate students. The results revealed that repeated testing with feedback was superior compared to rereading both immediate after practice and at longer delays. The effect of repeated testing was beneficial for students irrespectively of WMC. In Study II, we investigated test-enhanced learning in relation to the encoding variability hypothesis for the learning of mathematics in a sample of fifth-grade children. Learning was examined in relation to both practiced and transfer tasks. No differences were found for the practiced tasks. Regarding the transfer tasks, the results gave support for the encoding variability hypothesis, but only at the immediate test. In contrast, when we followed up the durability of learning across time, the results showed that taking the same questions over and over again during the intervention resulted in better performance across time compared to variable encoding. Individual differences in WMC predicted performance on the transfer tasks, but only at the immediate test, regardless of group. Together, the results from Study I and Study II clearly indicate that testenhanced learning is effective in authentic settings, across age-groups and also produces transfer. Integrate current findings from cognitive science, in terms of test-enhanced learning, by the use of authentic materials and assessments relevant for educational goals can be rather easily done with vi computer based tasks. The observed influence of individual differences in WMC between the studies warrant further study of its specific contribution to be able to optimize the learning procedure. In Study III, we tested the complementary hypothesis regarding the mechanisms behind memory retrieval. Recurrent retrieval may be efficient because it induces representational consistency or, alternatively, because it induces representational variability - the altering or adding of underlying representations as a function of successful repeated retrieval. A cluster in right superior parietal cortex was identified as important for items successfully repeatedly retrieved Day 1, and also correctly remembered Day 7, compared to those successfully repeatedly retrieved Day 1 but forgotten Day 7. Representational similarity analysis in this region gave support for the theoretical explanations that emphasis semantic elaboration.