This thesis explores the use of artificial neural networks for modelling cognitive processes. It presents an exposition of the neural network paradigm, and evaluates its viability in relation to the classical, symbolic approach in cognitive science. Classical researchers have approached the description of cognition by concentrating mainly on an abstract, algorithmic level of description in which the information processing properties of cognitive processes are emphasised. The approach is founded on seminal ideas about computation, and about algorithmic description emanating, amongst others, from the work of Alan Turing in mathematical logic. In contrast to the classical conception of cognition, neural network approaches are based on a form of neurocomputation in which the parallel distributed processing mechanisms of the brain are highlighted. Although neural networks are generally accepted to be more neurally plausible than their classical counterparts, some classical researchers have argued that these networks are best viewed as implementation models, and that they are therefore not of much relevance to cognitive researchers because information processing models of cognition can be developed independently of considerations about implementation in physical systems. In the thesis I argue that the descriptions of cognitive phenomena deriving from neural network modelling cannot simply be reduced to classical, symbolic theories. The distributed representational mechanisms underlying some neural network models have interesting properties such as similarity-based representation, content-based retrieval, and coarse coding which do not have straightforward equivalents in classical systems. Moreover, by placing emphasis on how cognitive processes are carried out by brain-like mechanisms, neural network research has not only yielded a new metaphor for conceptualising cognition, but also a new methodology for studying cognitive phenomena. Neural network simulations can be lesioned to study the effect of such damage on the behaviour of the system, and these systems can be used to study the adaptive mechanisms underlying learning processes. For these reasons, neural network modelling is best viewed as a significant theoretical orientation in the cognitive sciences, instead of just an implementational endeavour. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

This project forms part of a growing engagement with biology by critical psychology and, more broadly, body studies. The specific focus is on the neurological body whose dogmatic exclusion from critical endeavours is challenged by arguing that neuroscience offers a vital resource for emancipatory agendas. Rather than conversely treating biology as a site for the factual supplementation of social theory the aim is to engage (negotiate) with neuroscience more directly and critically. In this process a discursive reductionism and attempted escape from complicity associated with critical psychology are addressed. Similarly a naïve and apolitical empiricism claimed by neuroscience is disrupted. The primary objective is however to demonstrate the utility of neuroscience in developing critical theory. These objectives are pursued through the ‘method’ of deconstruction, (mis)reading several highly regarded neuroscience texts written by prominent neuroscientists, working within the convolutions of these texts so as develop openings for critical conceptualisations of (neural) corporeality. In this manner the various spectres associated with neurology, including essentialism, determinism, individualism, reductionism and dualism, are displaced. This includes, amongst others, the omnipresent mind/body and body/society binaries. The (mis)readings address a number of prominent themes associated with contemporary neuroscience: Attempts at specifying an identity for (part of) the brain are shown to rely on a necessary relationship with the excluded other (such as the body, the socio-cultural, and the environment). Similarly, attempts at articulating a centre, a point from which agency can proceed, which finds existing identity in the functions of the prefrontal cortices, are also undone by the (multiple, affective, and unconscious) other which decentres the centre by being the essential supplement for any such claims. The causal metaphysic must likewise proceed within the play of différance, a logic of difference and deferral that undermines causal routes, innate origins and autocratic centres. Finally, reductionism must advance as a necessary strategy through which to engage with complexity, its ambitions always impossible as the aneconomic is forever in excess of any economy. The emancipatory viability of such (mis)readings is discussed within a context where the open and malleable body has been co-opted by contemporary neo-liberal geoculture. / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

Les cinq études détaillées au cours de cette thèse interrogent divers aspects de la théorie de l’esprit, de la conscience de soi ainsi que du lien (multiple ou unique) qui unit ces deux capacités sociocognitives si particulières. Les deux premières études mettent en évidence différentes variables qui peuvent – ou non- influencer l’attribution d’intention et de fausse croyance à autrui. La troisième étude porte plus précisément sur les différents composants de la conscience de soi et sur leur trajectoire développementale. La quatrième étude interroge le lien développemental entre la théorie de l’esprit et la conscience de soi, alors que la dernière étude questionne la présence de ce lien chez les chimpanzés (Pan Troglodytes). Nous démontrerons, tout au long de cette thèse, que la théorie de l’esprit et la conscience de soi sont composées de différents éléments et que leur acquisition est graduelle. / Doctorat en Sciences Psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Psychological research suggests that children acquire cultural concepts through early developing cognitive mechanisms combined with specific cultural learning. An understudied area of cultural acquisition is children’s understanding of non-human minds, such as God. This thesis gives evidence that young children need not anthropomorphize non-human minds in order to understand them. Instead, children have a general “theory of mind” that is tailored through experience to accommodate the various important minds in their cultural environment. The intuitive default is toward super-attributes, making children naturally inclined or “prepared” to acquire god concepts. Four empirical studies were conducted with 75 British and 66 Israeli preschool-aged children. In Study 1, children participated in an ignorance-based theory-of-mind task and were asked to consider the mental states of human and supernatural agents. Children at all ages attributed correct knowledge to the supernatural agents and ignorance to the human agents. In Study 2, children participated in two perception-based theory-of-mind tasks and were asked to consider the perspective of two super-perceiving animals, God, and two human agents. Three-year-olds attributed knowledge to the animals and God and, by age four, children could distinguish among agents correctly. Also, by age four, children recognized that aging limits the perception of human agents but not God’s. In Study 3, children participated in a memory-based theory-of-mind task in which they were asked to consider the memory of God and differently aged agents Children at all ages responded that God would remember something that the children themselves had forgotten. By age five, children responded that a baby and granddad would have forgotten. These results propose that preschool-aged children regard individual constraints when considering mental states. Study 4 focused on children’s notions of immortality. Cultural differences were found. British children attributed immortality to God before correctly attributing mortality to human agents, and Israeli children attributed immortality to God and mortality to humans more consistently than did British children. Collectively, these studies indicate that children do not have to resort to anthropomorphism to reason about non-human agents but instead have the cognitive capacity to represent other types of minds because of early cognitive capacities. It appears that concepts vary in their degree of fit with early-developing human conceptual systems, and hence, vary in their likelihood of successful cultural transmission.

Stunned by the implications of Colage's analysis of the cultural activation of the brain's Visual Word Form Area and the potential role of cultural neural reuse in the evolution of biology and culture, the authors build on his work in proposing a context for the first rudimentary hominin moral systems. They cross-reference six domains: neuroscience on sleep, creativity, plasticity, and the Left Hemisphere Interpreter; palaeobiology; cognitive science; philosophy; traditional archaeology; and cognitive archaeology's theories on sleep changes in Homo erectus and consequences for later humans. The authors hypothesize that the human genome, when analyzed with findings from neuroscience and cognitive science, will confirm the evolutionary timing of an internal running monologue and other neural components that constitute moral decision making. The authors rely on practical modern philosophers to identify continuities with earlier primates, and one major discontinuitysome bright white moral line that may have been crossed more than once during the long and successful tenure of Homo erectus on Earth.

Malgré l’histoire très récente de la psychologie et des psychothérapies (environ un siècle), le 21ème siècle aura connu une explosion du nombre de psychothérapies. Nous pouvons en dénombrer près de 450 à ce jour (S. Ionescu, 2000). Pour éviter le syndrôme de la tour de Babel où, devant la multiplicité des approches et des langages, la communication était devenue impossible, la nécessité d’intégrer ces différentes approches devient évidente. Quelle serait cette approche intégrative et à partir de quelles influences théoriques cette intégration serait possible ? Un courant intégratif a fait irruption dans le monde des psychothérapies à la fin du 20ème siècle, les thérapies cognitives dites de la troisième voie. L’objectif est ainsi d’intégrer les thérapies dites de la troisième voie dans une approche théorique articulée à partir des éléments comparés. La méthodologie de ces différents modèles psychothérapeutiques est essentiellement comparative. Ce travail a pour vocation de présenter une approche pratique (thèse professionnelle et théorique) permettant d’articuler les différents points communs des thérapies de la troisième voie, intégrant les approches humanistes, constructivistes, phénoménologiques et cognitives. Pour terminer ce travail, en conclusion, une mise en perspective sera réalisée à partir de la théorie du chaos et des systèmes dynamiques complexes non-linéaires. L’hypothèse est qu’un évitement émotionnel peut inscrire l’individu dans une trajectoire chaotique, à partir du postulat que les individus fonctionnent dans une dynamique (existentielle) complexe non-linéaire. / Despite the very recent psychology and psychotherapy (about a century) history, the 21st century has seen an explosion in the number of psychotherapies. We can count nearly 450 to date (S. Ionescu, 2000). To avoid the syndrome of the tower of Babel, where before the multiplicity of approaches and languages, communication was impossible, the need to integrate these different approaches becomes evident. What would this integrative approach from theoretical influences what this integration possible? An integrative stream broke into the world of psychotherapy in the late 20th century, cognitive therapies called the Third Way. The objective is to integrate the so-called Third Way in an articulated from the elements compared theoretical approach therapies. The methodology of these different psychotherapeutic models is essentially comparative. This work aims to present a practical approach (professional and academic thesis) for articulating the different common therapies of the third way, integrating humanistic approaches, constructivist, phenomenological and cognitive. To complete this work, in conclusion, a perspective will be made from chaos theory and complex nonlinear dynamic systems. The hypothesis is that emotional avoidance may register the individual in a chaotic trajectory, starting from the premise that individuals operate in a dynamic (existential) complex non-linear.

This study explored longitudinal change in executive function (EF) and episodic memory (EM) related to multimorbidity, number of chronic conditions, change in chronic conditions overtime in a nationally representative sample of young, middle-aged,and older adults. Participants were from the second (2004-2006) and third (2013-2015) waves of the Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS; N=2,532). Participants completed telephone interviews and questionnaires providing information on demographics and chronic conditions. The Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone (BTACT) assessedcognitive function. The BTACT includes measures of EM (ex. word list recall) and EF (ex. digits backward, category fluency, etc.).Overall, only change in chronic conditions was associated with EF decline in the whole sample. In young adults multimorbidity and number of chronic conditions was significantly associated with both EF and EM decline, whereas only change in number of chronic conditions was significantly associated with EF decline in middle aged adults.Future research is needed to assess a broader range of chronic conditions to determine their overall burden on EF and EM over time.

A disseminação do uso de robôs na sociedade moderna é uma realidade. Do começo restrito às operações fabris como pintura e soldagem, até o início de seu uso nas residências, apenas algumas décadas se passaram. A robótica social é uma área de pesquisa que visa desenvolver modelos para que a interação direta de robôs com seres humanos ocorra de forma natural. Um dos fatores que compromete a rápida evolução da robótica social é a dificuldade em integrar sistemas cognitivos e robóticos, principalmente devido ao volume e complexidade da informação produzida por um mundo caótico repleto de dados sensoriais. Além disso, a existência de múltiplas configurações de robôs, com arquiteturas e interfaces distintas, dificulta a verificação e repetibilidade dos experimentos realizados pelos diversos grupos de pesquisa. Esta tese contribui para a evolução da robótica social ao definir uma arquitetura, denominada Cognitive Model Development Environment (CMDE) que simplifica a conexão entre sistemas cognitivos e robóticos. Essa conexão é formalizada com uma ontologia, denominada OntPercept, que modela a percepção do ambiente a partir de informações sensoriais captadas pelos sensores presentes no agente robótico. Nos últimos anos, diversas ontologias foram propostas para aplicações robóticas, mas elas não são genéricas o suficiente para atender completamente às necessidades das áreas de robótica e automação. A formalização oferecida pela OntPercept facilita o desenvolvimento, a reprodução e a comparação de experimentos associados a robótica social. A validação do sistema proposto ocorre com suporte do simulador Robot House Simulator (RHS), que fornece um ambiente onde, o agente robótico e o personagem humano podem interagir socialmente com níveis crescentes de processamento cognitivo. A proposta da CMDE viabiliza a utilização de qualquer sistema cognitivo, em particular, o experimento elaborado para validação desta pesquisa utiliza Soar como arquitetura cognitiva. Em conjunto, os elementos: arquitetura CMDE, ontologia OntPercept e simulador RHS, todos disponibilizados livremente no GitHub, estabelecem um ambiente completo que propiciam o desenvolvimento de experimentos envolvendo sistemas cognitivos dirigidos para a área de robótica social. / The use of robots in modern society is a reality. From the beginning restricted to the manufacturing operations like painting and welding, until the beginning of its use in the residences, only a few decades have passed. Social robotics is an area that aims to develop models so that the direct interaction of robots with humans occurs naturally. One of the factors that compromises the rapid evolution of social robotics is the difficulty in integrating cognitive and robotic systems, mainly due to the volume and complexity of the information produced by a chaotic world full of sensory data. In addition, the existence of multiple configurations of robots, with different architectures and interfaces, makes it difficult to verify and repeat the experiments performed by the different research groups. This research contributes to the evolution of social robotics by defining an architecture, called Cognitive Model Development Environment (CMDE), which simplifies the connection between cognitive and robotic systems. This connection is formalized with an ontology, called OntPercept, which models the perception of the environment from the sensory information captured by the sensors present in the robotic agent. In recent years, several ontologies have been proposed for robotic applications, but they are not generic enough to fully address the needs of robotics and automation. The formalization offered by OntPercept facilitates the development, reproduction and comparison of experiments associated with social robotics. The validation of the proposed system occurs with support of the Robot House Simulator (RHS), which provides an environment where the robotic agent and the human character can interact socially with increasing levels of cognitive processing. All together, the elements: CMDE architecture, OntPercept ontology and RHS simulator, all freely available in GitHub, establish a complete environment that allows the dev

Ce travail herméneutique interdisciplinaire où littérature et philosophie intimement s’entremêlent et dialoguent avec les sciences dites dures, s’est tout d’abord employé à définir la notion de mythe comme type de récit littéraire illustrant une prise de position quant à une question métaphysique et a révélé le récit ovidien de Pygmalion comme un mythe génésiaque au cœur duquel se trouve l’homme. Cheminant du XVIIIe au XXe siècle au fil de l’histoire des idées européennes, il s’est ensuite arrêté sur les différentes productions littéraires allemandes, françaises et italiennes réinvestissant le mythe à la lumière de la problématique dégagée du texte mère : celle de l’ampleur du pouvoir créateur de l’homme, afin d’en extraire les caractéristiques communes. Dans leur traitement de l’eros et de l’art, ces dernières posent un rapport à autrui et au monde orienté vers une dynamique de création se réalisant à travers un processus analogue, reposant sur les représentations ainsi que l’implication et les dispositions mentales et personnelles du sujet, l’extase, la volonté et la foi. Forts de leurs enseignements et de ce constat, il s’est à son tour emparé de cette question à travers l’élaboration d’un mythologisme anthroposophique convoquant des découvertes ayant eu lieu au XXIe siècle dans le domaine des neurosciences, de la physiologie, de la sémiostylistique, de l’éthique et de l’esthétique. Ce système de pensée, dans une quête de compréhension de ce processus créatif, a mené à la redéfinition d’un Homme alors compris comme essentiellement mû par un instinct représentationnel, un mouvement plasmateur, évoluant entre Créativité, Plaisir et Beauté, à travers l’exercice duquel il réalise sa Liberté. / This hermeneutic interdisciplinary work, where literature and philosophy are tightly intertwined and converse with the so-called hard sciences, first proceeds to define the notion of myth as a literary type of story that illustrates a stance on a metaphysical question. It reveals Ovid’s story of Pygmalion as a genesiac myth in which mankind is at the heart. Progressing from the XVIIIe to the XXe century along the history of European ideas, it then halts at the French, German and Italian literary works that revisit the myth, in light of the question drawn from the source text – that of the extent of Man’s creative power – in order to extract the common characteristics. In their study of Art and Eros, they present a relationship to the world and to the others that is directed toward a dynamic of creation that is realized through a similar process based on the representations along with the mental and personal implication and dispositions of the subject, ecstasy, will and faith. In turn, drawing on their lessons and this observation, this work eventually answers this question by elaborating an anthroposophical mythologism that call upon XXIe century discoveries in neurosciences, physiology, semiostylistic, esthetic and ethic. This system, in its quest of understanding this creative process, has led to the redefinition of a Man essentially led by a representational instinct, a creative gesture, moving from Creativity, to Pleasure and Beauty, by which he achieves his Freedom.

What or who is the modern subject? Are people sovereign, filled with passion, creativity, freedom and autonomy; or are we slaves, robots and automatons forever tied to the chains of civilization? It is very common to critique modernity. From the Frankfurt school to Foucault, many seem to have focused primarily on its negative characteristics including the promotion of narcissism and its contribution to alienation and depression. However, this work arose from my general ambivalence toward how society, and ideology, impacts notions of the self or, more importantly, self-consciousness and autonomy. In this work I tried to offer a framework that not only challenges the tenets of a way of conceptualising the human subject by means of extreme objectivity, which is aligned with notions of cognitivism and stems, I argue, from the worldview of Protestantism, but also its antithesis, extreme subjectivity that manifests itself in intense hubris that can present a very real danger to the very foundations of civilization. Thus, the work takes aim at both the consequence of extreme objectivity i.e. nihilism, inherent within some of the tenets of contemporary capitalism, and extreme subjectivity i.e. relativism. This work provides a historical analysis starting with the Protestant Reformation and ending with Contemporary Capitalism. By doing so, I was able to emphasise a new conceptualisation of the master-slave dialectic into a hierarchal structure beginning with the Absolute Master and ending with the Quinary Master vis-à-vis death to work. What I demonstrated, and reinforced, is the notion that human consciousness is a highly complex hybrid of interacting master-slave dynamics that is fuelled by fantasy, structured by the law, is seized upon by the government and the marketplace and finally put to work. However, the essential core of the subject is a radical void that simply punches a hole through the processes of the unconscious, which is swallowed up by the desire of the other i.e. the desire of these given masters. Depression's genesis I view as the subject yielding too much to the desire of a specific type of societal structure. This reached its peak with the Puritans in England during the 16th and 17th century that aimed to purge any type of transcendent experience, which is characteristic of fantasy and led to widespread misery. On the other hand, the period of Romanticism led to a colossal eruption of the imagination that attempted to bypass established conventions and flooded the world with colour. However, this anarchistic worldview presented an extremely dangerous threat to the very foundation of society and thus had to be brought to heel by an evolved state structure. The overall structure of the work is based on a gradual unfolding of a hierarchical system starting with the very foundations of the subject, through the complexities of ideological influence and ending with the subject under contemporary capitalism. The final two chapters aimed to contemporise the critiques from Romanticism toward the Enlightenment by attacking the tenets of cognitivism as being indicative of a system put forward by thinkers prevalent in the 18th century that abstracted the human condition and tried to objectify the psyche. The scope of the work is large and diverse and hopes to contribute to psychoanalytical and philosophical literature by providing a hierarchical system of the master-slave dialectic in the development of self-consciousness. The work also provides a critique of ideology by highlighting how a certain structure of society can contribute to neurosis by either prohibiting or liberating fantasy. I do not endorse the cliché and wholly hostile view toward capitalism, but support the notion that one should remain ambivalent. That is to say that the work highlights that the free market is indeed innocent but only becomes problematic when it begins to work in collusion with a specific state system. In supporting the argument of Protestantism being closely tied to the development of capitalism, what should be viewed with great precaution is the very definition of what is deemed a beneficial characteristic. This meritocratic worldview is indeed essential to stave off overreach from politics, however, and as Rousseau addressed, the concept of meritocracy can promote a society of selfishness and pride as well as reinforce what I call the standard route via new forms of management, leading to a reduction of autonomy and enhancement of conformity. In attempting to generate this framework, I have utilised multiple philosophical paradigms including ancient Greek, Continental, Romantic, Idealist, Psychoanalysis and more to provide an eclectic approach to this inquiry. What the reader will take away from this project is a unique and new understanding of the individual, how the subject is impacted from engaging with different societal systems and a warning of what can happen if one submits too much to passion or reason.