As informações acerca da performance e impacto socioambientais do fornecedor e do produto são necessárias para o exercício do consumo de forma sustentável. O conhecimento dos impactos socioambientais advindos da produção, uso e pós-consumo é requisito para a livre escolha dos consumidores por produtos que apresentem impactos socioambientais positivos em qualquer dessas fases de seu ciclo de vida. Um dos instrumentos para o alcance do desenvolvimento sustentável é possibilitar o consumo de produtos que utilizem menos recursos finitos da natureza e que tragam melhorias sociais como suas consequências. No Brasil, o fundamento para a inclusão dos dados socioambientais do produto nas informações veiculadas ao consumidor está presente no ordenamento jurídico, na garantia de acesso à informação e no direito à preservação do meio ambiente, ambos inseridos no rol dos direitos constitucionais fundamentais, ao lado do princípio da dignidade da pessoa humana, bem como em preceitos do Código de Defesa do Consumidor e da legislação ambiental. A função social da empresa decorrente do princípio constitucional da função social da propriedade também justifica o dever de veiculação dos dados referentes ao impacto socioambiental de seus produtos e acerca do comportamento socioambiental da empresa. A veiculação desses dados beneficia a concorrência, acarretando o aperfeiçoamento dos próprios meios de produção para atrair os consumidores que optam por produtos sustentáveis. Os deveres de clareza e veracidade, decorrentes do princípio da boa-fé objetiva previstos no CC e CDC, necessitam ser observados na veiculação dessas informações para evitar a maquiagem socioambiental, que é a divulgação da falsa imagem de preocupação socioambiental ao produto. A essencialidade ou utilidade das informações é o parâmetro para sua veiculação sob o risco de ocorrer seu excesso, que impede a correta compreensão de todos os dados apresentados. Até os riscos de impactos socioambientais ainda não comprovados cabem ser informados em atenção ao princípio da precaução. O repasse dessas informações pode e deve ocorrer por todos os meios de comunicação utilizados para a divulgação dos produtos, ressaltando-se o papel da rotulagem. / The information concerning the social-environmental impact of the product and the of the producers performance are necessary for the exercise of the sustainable consumption. The knowledge of the social-environmental impacts of the life cycle impact of the product is a requisite for the free choice of the consumers for products that present positive social-environmental impacts in any of these phases of its cycle of life. One of the instruments for the reach of the sustainable development is to make possible the consumption of products that use less finite resources of the nature and that they bring social improvements as its consequences. In Brazil, is possible to conclude that the legal system establishes the inclusion of the social-environmental data of the product in the information propagated to the consumer. Brazilian Constitution imposes the guarantee of access to the information, the consumer protection and the right of the preservation of the environment, as well as the dignity of the person human being. The social function of the companies, based in the constitutional principle of the social function of the property also justifies the duty of propagation of the referring data to the social-environmental impact of its products and concerning the social-environmental behavior of the company. In the legislative basis, there are strong rules concerning information in the Code of Defense of the Consumer and the environmental legislation. The propagation of these data benefits to the competition, creating incentives to the companies improving the means of production to attract the consumers that opt to sustainable products. The duties of clarity and veracity, attached with the good-faith principle established by Civil Code and Consumer Defense Code, need to be observed in the propagation of this information to prevent the greenwashing, that it is the propagation of the false image of social-environmental concern to the product. The essentiality or utility of the information is the parameter for its propagation under the risk to occur its excess, which hinders the correct understanding of all the presented data. Until the risks of social-environmental impacts not yet proven, they fit to be informed in attention to the Precautionary Principle. The view of this information can and must occur by all means of communication used for the spreading of the products, standing out itself the paper of the labeling.

Cette thèse examine deux modèles alternatifs de prises de décision motrice à travers des données comportementales humaines et des données électrophysiologiques de singes obtenues lors d'une tâche de décision multi-attributs. Les théories psychologiques classiques suggèrent que la prise de décision soit une fonction de l'exécutif central (EC). En accord avec cela, de nombreuses études ont montré des modulations neuronales concernant les décisions dans le cortex préfrontal (PFC), renforçant la notion que les décisions sont prises à un niveau abstrait dans l'exécutif central du cerveau : le PFC. Cependant, de telles corrélations neuronales se trouvent également dans les régions sensorimotrices, qui étaient traditionnellement considérées externes à l’EC. Cela a conduit à un modèle alternatif de prise de décision dans un EC, impliquant plusieurs zones cérébrales, y compris les zones exécutives et sensorimotrices. Ce second modèle suggère qu'une décision est prise lorsque les compétitions au sein et entre les aires cérébrales arrivent à une résolution, ce qui permet d'atteindre un consensus distribué (CD). L'objectif principal de cette thèse est de tester les prédictions faites par ces deux modèles. Pour ce faire, nous avons conçu une tâche d'atteinte basée sur la valeur d'attributs multiples et créé une situation dans laquelle les deux modèles font des prédictions neuronales distinctes. Dans cette tâche, deux attributs visuels indépendants indiquaient le montant de la récompense associé à chaque cible. L'un était un degré de luminosité, information ascendante (BU pour "bottom-up"), ciblant le réseau de saillance par le biais de la voie visuelle dorsale. L'autre était un indice d'orientation de ligne, information descendante (TD pour "top-down"), ciblant le réseau de catégorisation basé sur la connaissance par le biais de la voie visuelle ventrale. Nous avons effectué des enregistrements dans la région d’atteinte pariétale (PRR) et le cortex pré-moteur dorsal (PMd) du singe, dont les activités neuronales ont été précédemment impliquées comme étant modulées par des attributs BU et TD similaires. Dans la plupart des essais, les deux attributs étaient congruents – tous les deux favorisant la même cible. Cependant, un sous-ensemble d'essais avait des cibles avec la même valeur de récompense totale, mais où les deux attributs étaient en conflit (les caractéristiques BU et TD favorisant des cibles opposées). Le modèle de l'EC prédit que dans ce cas, l’activité neuronale la plus précoce doit apparaître dans une région exécutive et que les régions sensorimotrices doivent recevoir la diffusion de cette décision. Ainsi, ce modèle prédit que la différence du temps de réaction entre le PRR et le PMd sera constante, quelle que soit la manière dont la décision est prise. En revanche, le modèle CD prédit que l’intervalle de décision doit refléter le rôle d'une région dans la décision en cours. Plus précisément, si PRR et PMd font tous deux parties du réseau de décision distribué et jouent un rôle dans l'évaluation des attributs BU et TD, un choix en faveur de l'attribut BU devrait apparaître d'abord dans le PRR et par la suite dans le PMd, tandis qu'un choix en faveur de l'attribut TD devrait apparaître dans l'ordre inverse. Notre étude démontre que le temps de réaction des participants humains était plus rapide dans les essais congruents et lors de l'utilisation de l'information BU par rapport à l'utilisation de l'information TD. La distribution ne reflétait pas linéairement la complexité de l'attribut et semblait plutôt suggérer une intégration incomplète des informations disponibles. Ainsi, le résultat n'était pas entièrement explicable par un modèle d'EC pur. Le temps de réaction des participants était également plus rapide lorsqu'ils choisissaient entre deux options de grande valeur par rapport aux options de faible valeur, ce qui suggère que la loi de Weber ne s'applique pas aux attributs visuels indiquant des informations de valeur. La distribution du temps de réaction de notre premier singe était similaire à celle des participants humains. Sur le plan neuronal, l’intervalle de décision du PMd était presque toujours plus rapide que celle du PRR et le PRR ne précédait jamais le PMd; aussi, la différence de l’intervalle de décision entre ces régions n'était pas constante. Le PMd a montré un biais de base pré-stimulus dans les essais de choix libre, alors que ce n’était pas le cas pour le PRR. La distribution de l’intervalle de décision dans le PMd variait également en fonction des conditions d'essai, tandis que celle du PRR ne distinguait que les cibles uniques des cibles multiples. Une tendance similaire a été observée dans les analyses préliminaires des potentiels de champ locaux (LFP). Enfin, les résultats préliminaires suggèrent des effets plus cohérents de la micro-stimulation dans le PMd que dans le PRR. Nos résultats soutiennent le rôle causal du PMd, mais pas celui du PRR. Nos résultats sont cohérents avec les rapports précédents sur l'activité neuronale liée au choix dans les régions pariétales, car l'activité du PRR reflétait le choix du singe dans notre tâche. Nos résultats sont également cohérents avec d'autres études montrant l'absence de preuves du rôle causal des régions pariétales dans la prise de décision, car l'ordre relatif de l'activité prédictive du choix dans le PRR et le PMd ne variait pas entre les différentes conditions. À la lumière de ces deux modèles, nos résultats suggèrent une troisième alternative, qui inclut potentiellement le PMd en tant que partie du réseau de décision, mais pas le PRR. / This thesis examines two alternative models of action decisions through human behavioural and monkey electrophysiological data obtained during a multi-attribute decision task. Classic psychological theories suggest that decision-making is a function of the Central Executive (CE). In line with this, many studies showed neural correlates of decision variables in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), strengthening the notion that decisions are made at an abstract level in the brain’s central executive: PFC. However, such neural correlates are also found in sensorimotor areas, which were traditionally considered outside the CE. This has led to an alternative model to the decision making in a CE, involving multiple brain areas including both executive and sensorimotor areas. This second model suggests that a decision is made when competitions within and across brain areas come to a resolution, thus a Distributed Consensus (DC) is achieved. The main objective of this thesis is to test the predictions made by these two models. To do so, we designed a multi-attribute value-based reaching task, and created a situation in which the two models made distinct neural predictions. In this task, two independent visual attributes indicated the amount of reward associated with each reach target. One was a “bottom-up” (BU) brightness, targeting the saliency network through the dorsal visual pathway. The other was a “top-down” (TD) line orientation cue, targeting the knowledge-based categorization network through the ventral visual pathway. We recorded from monkey parietal reach region (PRR) and dorsal premotor cortex (PMd), whose activities have previously been implied to be modulated by similar BU and TD attributes. In most trials, the two attributes were congruent – both favoring the same target. However, a subset of trials consisted of a conflict between the two attributes (BU and TD features favoring opposite targets), but the targets had the same total reward values. Here, the CE model predicted that the earliest choice-predictive activity should appear in an executive region, and sensorimotor regions were expected to be receiving this decision broadcast. Thus, the model predicted the latency difference between PRR and PMd to be constant, regardless of how the decision is made. In contrast, the DC model predicted choice latency should reflect a region’s role in the ongoing decision. Specifically, if both PRR and PMd are part of the distributed decision network and play a role in evaluating the BU and TD attributes, a choice in favor of the BU attribute should appear first in PRR and then in PMd, whereas a choice in favor of the TD attribute should appear in the opposite order. We report that human participants’ reaction time (RT) was faster in congruent trials and when using the BU information compared to when using the TD information. The RT distribution did not linearly reflect the attribute complexity, and instead suggested an incomplete integration of available information. Thus, the result was not fully explainable with a pure CE model. Their RT was also faster when choosing between two high-valued options compared to low-valued options, suggesting that Weber-Fechner law does not apply to visual attributes that indicate value. Our first monkey’s RT distribution was similar to that of human participants. Neurally, choice latency of PMd was almost always faster than that of PRR and PRR never preceded PMd, and the latency difference between these regions was not consistent. PMd showed a pre-stimulus baseline bias in free-choice trials, whereas PRR did not. The distribution of choice latency in PMd also varied with trial conditions, whereas that of PRR only discriminated single versus multiple targets. A similar trend was seen in preliminary analyses of local field potentials. Finally, preliminary results suggest more consistent effects of microstimulation in PMd than in PRR. Our results support the causal role of PMd, but do not support that of PRR. This is consistent with previous reports of choice-related neural activity in the parietal regions, as PRR activity did reflect the monkey’s choice in our task. Our results are also consistent with other studies showing the absence of evidence for parietal regions’ causal role in decision-making, as the relative order of choice-predictive activity in PRR and PMd did not vary between different conditions. In light of the two models, our results suggest a third alternative, which potentially includes PMd, but not PRR, as part of the decision network.

Outreach is a small, but significant component to modern research. Developing an exhibit for public display can be an effective way to communicate science to broad audiences, although it may be a less familiar method to scientists than writing papers or giving presentations. I outline the process of developing an interactive exhibit for outreach, and evaluate and discuss the effectiveness of a computer exhibit designed to communicate estuary currents and scientific modeling using Olympia Oyster restoration in the Yaquina Bay estuary as a theme. I summarize the results of this project in three primary recommendations: 1) exhibit developers should be deliberate in the decision to use a computer and only select this media if it is determined to be the best for communicating exhibit learning outcomes, 2) the design of visualizations to convey research results should be carefully modified from their scientific forms to best meet the exhibit learning outcomes and expectations of the exhibit audience, and 3) scientists should play an integral role in the development of scientific content-based exhibits, but their expertise, and the range of expertise from other members of the exhibit development team, should be strategically utilized. / Graduation date: 2012