Esta investigación tiene como objetivo el estudio de las características del razonamiento configural en estudiantes para maestro cuando resuelven problemas de probar de geometría. Nuestra investigación se centra en el análisis de las relaciones entre los procesos de visualización y el conocimiento de geometría en la resolución de problemas de probar, que han puesto de manifiesto las dificultades que tienen algunos resolutores en aplicar el conocimiento de geometría previamente aprendido. Un aspecto del conocimiento de geometría del maestro está relacionado con el desarrollo de la visualización y los procesos de exploración vinculados a esta, que pueden favorecer que los estudiantes establezcan relaciones entre las definiciones y las propiedades geométricas. En este ámbito, la idea de razonamiento configural ayuda a comprender cómo los estudiantes para maestro resuelven los problemas de probar centrando la atención en la relación entre los procesos de visualización y el conocimiento de geometría, como una característica de su aprendizaje de los contenidos geométricos. En las conclusiones y la discusión sobre los resultados obtenidos se subrayan las características de la configuración inicial del problema y el conocimiento geométrico previo, el modo en que los estudiantes relacionan lógicamente la información generada en las aprehensiones discursivas, y el truncamiento del razonamiento configural interpretado como el cambio de estatus lógico de un hecho geométrico.

The dominant theory in facial expression research is the dual mode hypothesis. After reviewing the literature pertaining to the dual mode hypothesis within the recognition of facial identities and emotional expressions, seven experiments are reported testing the role of configural processing within the recognition of emotional expressions of faces. The main findings were that the dual mode hypothesis can be supported within the facial recognition of emotional expression. This and other more specific findings are then reviewed within the context of extant literature. Implications for future research and applications within applied psychology are then considered.

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Cognitive impairment is a key characteristic of schizophrenia and is a clear predictor of functional outcome. This thesis explores the relationship between cognitive ability relating to social and non-social processing. Schizophrenia patients demonstrate an impaired ability to recognise, label and discriminate emotional expression within the face. The underlying mechanisms behind this social cognitive impairment are not yet fully understood. This thesis explores the notion that a basic perceptual impairment in processing facial information adversely impacts on the perception of more complex information derived from faces, such as emotional expression. Face perception relies on processing the featural characteristics of a face as well as the relationship between these features. Information pertaining to the spatial distances between features is referred to as configural information. / A group of schizophrenia patients and healthy control participants completed a battery of tasks that assessed basic neurocognition, facial emotion processing and configural face processing. A model of face processing was proposed and used to systematically pinpoint specific deficits that may contribute to impaired face processing in schizophrenia. The results indicated that schizophrenia patients show impairments on three broad constructs; basic neurocognition, facial emotion processing, and most pertinently, deficits in configural processing. It was revealed that although neurocognitive and face processing both explained a significant proportion of the variance in facial emotion processing, the effect of neurocognition was indirect and mediated by face processing. / To investigate the diagnostic specificity of these findings, a group of bipolar disorder patients was also tested on the task battery. The results indicated that bipolar disorder patients also show social and non-social cognitive impairments, however, not as severe as that demonstrated by the schizophrenia patients. Furthermore, the effect of neurocognitive performance on facial emotion processing appeared more direct for bipolar disorder patients compared to schizophrenia patients. Although deficits in face processing were observable in bipolar, they were not specific to configural processing. Thus, deficits in emotion processing were more associated to neurocognitive ability in bipolar disorder patients, and more associated to configural face processing in schizophrenia patients. The configural processing deficits in schizophrenia are discussed as a lower-order perception problem. In conclusion, the results of this thesis are discussed in terms of their implication for treatment.

Comment les différents aspects d'une scène visuelle sont-ils encodés en mémoire visuelle à court-terme (MVCT) ? S'il est communément admis que la MVCT ne peut stocker simultanément qu'un nombre extrêmement limité d'informations, la question du format des représentations est actuellement loin d'être résolue. Cette thèse avait pour objectif d'étudier les influences de l'organisation perceptive des différents éléments d'une scène visuelle sur la capacité de stockage de la MVCT. Pour ce faire, dix expériences, utilisant le paradigme de détection de changement (c'est-à-dire en présentant deux séries de stimuli séparées par un court laps de temps et en demandant aux participants de détecter un éventuel changement entre ces deux séries) ont été réalisées. La principale manipulation expérimentale était la comparaison entre différentes organisations perceptives des stimuli dans le champ visuel. Les résultats de nos recherches ont contribué de façon significative à une meilleure compréhension de la façon dont les différents aspects d'une scène visuelle sont traités et encodés en MVCT et suggèrent l'existence de différents types de représentations organisées hiérarchiquement. Tout d'abord, les relations spatiales entre tous les éléments d'une scène visuelle seraient encodées sous la forme d'une configuration spatiale. Cette représentation configurale permettrait, dans un deuxième temps, l'analyse et l'encodage de l'identité individuelle des différents éléments. A ce niveau, nous avons montré que le nombre d'éléments pouvant être simultanément encodés et maintenus en MVCT pourrait dépendre considérablement de la manière dont ils sont présentés dans le champ visuel des participants. Ainsi, lorsque différents traits (couleur, forme, texture, orientation, etc.) occupent la même localisation spatiale, formant ainsi une même partie d'un objet, ils seraient traités et encodés aussi efficacement qu'un simple trait. Dans ce cas, la capacité de stockage de la MVCT doit être comprise en terme d'objets intégrés. Par contre, lorsque les traits d'un objet sont spatialement séparés les uns des autres, constituant différentes parties d'objets, le nombre d'éléments pouvant être simultanément encodés en MVCT est fonction du nombre de traits présents dans le champ visuel, et non du nombre d'objets. L'organisation perceptive des informations visuelles a donc une influence directe sur le nombre d'éléments pouvant être simultanément encodés en MVCT en modifiant la nature des représentations./ How are the different aspects of a visual scene encoded in visual short-term memory (VSTM)? Although it is acknowledged that only a small number of information can be simultaneously stored in VSTM, the format of representation is far to be understood. The goal of the present thesis was to study the perceptual influences of the items in a visual scene on the VSTM storage capacity. Ten experiments, using the change detection paradigm (i.e., two stimuli arrays were presented and separated by a short period of time, and the task was to detect a possible change between the two arrays) were conducted. The major experimental manipulation was to contrast different perceptual organisations of the stimuli in an array. The results of those experiments have significantly contributed to a better understanding about how the different aspects of a visual scene are processed and encoded in VSTM and suggest the existence of different types of representation, hierarchically organised. Firstly, the spatial relations between items in a visual scene would be encoded though spatial configuration. Then, this configural representation would allow the processing and the encoding of the identities of each individual item. Here, the number of items that can be simultaneously encoded in VSTM might greatly depend on the way they are presented in the visual field. Indeed, we provided evidence that visual features (colour, shape, texture, orientation), that share the same spatial location, are encoded in VSTM as accurately as single features. In that case, the VSTM storage capacity must be understood in terms of integrated objects rather than in terms of single features. In contrast, when visual features are spatially distributed over different spatial locations, the limitation in the storage capacity is function of the number of features. The perceptual organisation of the visual information has thus a direct influence on the number of items that can be simultaneously encoded in VSTM by modulating the nature of representations.

Standard Configural Frequency Analysis (CFA) is a one-step procedure that determines which cells of a cross-classification contradict a base model. Selecting these cells out does not guarantee that the base model fits. Therefore, the role played by these cells for the base model is unclear, and interpretation of types and antitypes can be problematic. In this paper, functional CFA is proposed. This model of CFA pursues two goals simultaneously. First, cells are selected out that constitute types and antitypes. Second, the base model is fit to the data. This is done using an iterative procedure that blanks out individual cells one at a time, until the base model fits or until there are no more cells that can be blanked out. In comparison to standard CFA, functional CFA is shown to be more parsimonious, that is, fewer types and antitypes need to be selected out. In comparison to Kieser and Victor's CFA which focuses exclusively on optimizing the fit of the base model, functional CFA needs, in most cases, more iteration steps, but the overall goodness-of-fit for the base model is better. The methods are illustrated and compared using data examples from the literature. (author's abstract) / Series: Research Report Series / Department of Statistics and Mathematics

Displays are a useful tool for users and operators to understand information quickly. Configural displays are effective in supporting focus and divided attention tasks through the use of emergent features. Emergent features are highly salient and are generally used to support divided attention task However, due to the salience of emergent features, a potential performance costs to focused attention tasks arises with configural displays. To address this cost, semantic mapping has been used to map salience techniques to information needed by focus attention tasks to increase their saliency (Bennett & Walters, 2001; Bennett et al., 2000). Semantic mapping is the process of mapping the domain constrains to the display, which in turn is mapped to the users capabilities and limitations to understand that domain data. The objective of this dissertation is to extend the use of semantic mapping to address potential performance costs of configural displays for hierarchical domains using the scenario-based training (SBT) instructor domain. Two studies were conducted to examine the effects of salience application and salience type on data extraction accuracy and response time performances at low-level, mid-level, high-level, and a remediation task. The first study examined the effects of one salience technique mapped to the display. This study employed a 2(low or mid application) X 3(baseline, color techniques, and alphanumeric techniques) mixed model design in which 63 participants completed 3 blocks of 32 trails each using displays with the salience techniques mapped to either low- or mid-level data. Results from the first study showed that salience type had a significant impact on multi-level data extraction performance, but interactions were not found. The second study changed the manipulation of application and mapped two salience techniques display at the same time, using either the same technique or a combination of different techniques. The same experimental design was utilized and 65 participants completed study 2. Results of study 2 showed that different application resulted in greater improvements of performance and specific salience combinations were found better support data extraction performance. Across study analyses were also performed and revealed that more salience is not better than less salience. Instead it is the specific mapping of salience type and application which improves performance the most. Overall, these findings have major implications for theories of semantic mapping, attention and performance, and display design of hierarchical domains.

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This study considers the ability of the audit team to configurally process information, that is, to piece together information cues held by individual team members and recognize the underlying pattern in the information. It also examines how the hierarchical structure of the audit team impacts the team's ability to process information and affects the quality of decisions made by the team. The study also considers the ability of a specific audit procedure, the fraud brainstorming session required by Statement on Auditing Standards No. 99, to overcome barriers to communication and improve team judgments in subsequent tasks. I recruited 57 dyads (114 professional auditors) from public accounting firms to complete an experimental instrument, and employed a 2x2 between-groups ANOVA, manipulating team structure (peer versus hierarchical teams) and the level of the counterfactual prime (team brainstorming session versus individual strategic prompting). I find evidence of a relationship between team structure and judgment quality, but interestingly it is in the opposite direction predicted. Research from other domains suggests differences in status within the hierarchical team may hinder communication and lead to process losses. However, I find the opposite to be true in the accounting domain. When auditors are paired in hierarchical dyads, the senior auditor assumes a leadership role, taking greater interest in the content of his/her teammate's workpapers, asking more questions, and motivating the staff auditor to volunteer a greater amount of information, which results in a higher quality judgment. Thus, this study provides initial evidence that the hierarchical nature of the audit team does not lead to the process losses documented in other domains as the assumption of a leadership role by the senior auditor allows the team to overcome any challenges inherent in the hierarchical structure. This study also considers the ability of the SAS 99 fraud brainstorming session, serving as a counterfactual prime, to lead to improved decisions later in the audit process. As predicted, the brainstorming session conducted during the planning stage of the audit increases the amount and quality of communication during the testing phase and leads to better judgments. These results are of importance for accounting firms as they determine which audit team members are required to participate in the brainstorming session. While a novice auditor may not make significant contributions to the planning decisions made during the brainstorming session, my study finds there are benefits from staff auditors participating in the brainstorming session, over and above what they are able to contribute to the session itself. Participation of staff auditors in the brainstorming session strengthens communication and enhances team-level cognition in subsequent tasks, improving the ability of the audit team to detect fraud throughout the course of the audit. These findings may be relevant for other forms of teamwork, including management teams, audit committees, and interdepartmental taskforces. / Ph. D.