Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcos Vinicius de Souza Verdugo.pdf: 10870225 bytes, checksum: fc629d826b56ac3f51b882ab31631a84 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The critique of the forms of production of knowledge enables us to understand other experiences of humanity in relation to the concrete reality of the world. And, at the same time, points to the decolonization of the language in which knowledge is produced. Attention is focused on what is said, on why it is said and, above all, how it is said about the African imaginations. In this way, we ve chosen to develop some approaches to the imagination present in Yoruba language of Ifá system, discussing which elements constitute both the apparatus of Ifá (material elements) as those of the Yoruba conceptual imaginary. In the dynamics of approaches, it is the word that particularizes men and women, the sound that determines the rhythm of life, the body that in its performance marks the dual Yoruba reality and, finally, the Yoruba world itself that determines the language and the universe of meanings of the Ifá system. The Ifá system is a set of Yoruba oral statements representing the totality of knowledge that was developed over the material and spiritual history of that cultural group. It is consisted of 256 distinct volumes we call odù and from them are established the dynamics of reflection and production of knowledge. By the word, by the sound, by the body and by the Yoruba world experiences it is how we approach the conceptual imaginary of Ifá, determining, however in general terms, the elements that identify the particular Yoruba epistemology that it is produced and also the producer of the language of Ifá system / A crítica das formas de produção de conhecimento nos possibilita a compreensão de outras experiências de humanidade em relação à realidade concreta do mundo. E, ao mesmo tempo, aponta para a descolonização da linguagem em que se produz qualquer conhecimento. A atenção é voltada ao que se fala, do porque se fala e, sobretudo, no como se fala sobre as imaginações africanas. Desta forma, optamos por desenvolver algumas aproximações à imaginação iorubá presente na linguagem do sistema de Ifá, discutindo quais os elementos que constituem tanto o aparato de Ifá (elementos materiais) quanto aqueles do imaginário conceitual iorubá. Na dinâmica de aproximações, é a palavra que particulariza homens e mulheres, o som que determina o ritmo da vida, o corpo que em sua performance marca a dupla realidade iorubá e, por fim, o próprio mundo iorubá que determina a linguagem e o universo de sentidos do sistema de Ifá. O sistema de Ifá é um conjunto de enunciados orais iorubás que representa a totalidade de conhecimentos desenvolvidos ao longo da história material e espiritual desse grupo cultural. Ele é composto por 256 distintos volumes que chamamos de odù e a partir deles são estabelecidas as dinâmicas de reflexão e produção de saberes. Pela palavra, pelo som, pelo corpo e pelas experiências de mundo iorubás é que nos aproximamos do imaginário conceitual de Ifá, determinando, ainda que em linhas gerais, os elementos que identificam a particular epistemologia iorubá que é produzida e produtora da linguagem de todo o sistema

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:15:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Eduardo d Avila Lins de Faria.pdf: 2035735 bytes, checksum: d44d24f09f0f846d2acf26fdb96c3b20 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-24 / The dissertation intends to analyze TV programs from the American cable TV channel TV Guide. Three programs were choses, Hollywood 411, TV Watercooler and Making News Savannah Style. They are different among themselves but also have a lot in common: the metalinguistic nature. The thoughts of McLuhan who tried to define the nature of TV itself, the path communications studies followed him, semiotics in all of its scope and recent theories on media regarding its digital aspect are some of the most important theoretical tools used in this research. The analysis of the corpus made possible to show a few points relevant for all three programs: all of them show metalinguistic nature and scrutinize the TV on and in itself; all of them deconstruct the medium when dissecting its engine and way of working, production means, operations, broadcasting and reception. In addition, with no exceptions, they all feed on the media industry with no specific economical or corporative ties, making means for a new chart in content distribution that has been changing the face of the entertainment industry as a whole. They also change the imagination of TV through and for it. With the specific choosing of these three programs first, a descriptive research was applied, analyzing in detail all three of them in all its content and context. Then, a bibliographic research took place in order to identify how the metalanguage is built in all of the programs as well as other among the channel grid. Through those findings it was possible to point out some trends when it comes to programming in this rapidly-changing scenery TV is now located. The results encompass a body of theories on metalanguage and TV, the classification of such and possible developments for future studies on the topic be it for the academia or for educational purposes / A presente dissertação visa analisar programas do canal americano de TV paga, TV Guide. O universo escolhido é composto por três programas: Hollywood 411, TV Watercooler e Making News: Savannah Style. Os programas são diferentes, mas com algo em comum: a natureza metalinguística. A base teórico-metodológica da pesquisa consiste principalmente em uma apuração sobre os pensamentos de McLuhan em busca de definir a natureza da televisão e os rumos que a comunicação tomaria depois de seu tempo, a semiótica em todo o seu escopo e teorias mais recentes sobre comunicação e mídia diante de seu aspecto digital e metalinguagem, como os estudos de Douglas Hofstadter sobre metalinguagem, Marcel Danesi e François Jost sobre televisão e Lucia Leão sobre imaginários compartilhados. A análise do corpus permitiu identificar em todos os três programas natureza metalinguística e a abordagem da televisão através da própria televisão, todos desconstroem a televisão ao dissecar seu funcionamento e seus modos de produção, operação, transmissão e recepção. Sem exceções, todos alimentam a indústria da mídia sem maiores compromissos com laços econômicos ou vínculos empresariais, fazendo parte de um novo gráfico da distribuição de conteúdo que tem mudado a face da indústria do entretenimento e da mídia e que atualiza o imaginário da própria televisão por ela mesma. A partir da escolha do corpus foi realizada uma pesquisa descritiva dos programas de modo a analisar minuciosamente seu conteúdo e contexto histórico. Em seguida foi realizada pesquisa bibliográfica com o objetivo de identificar características de construção de metalinguagem em todos os programas analisados bem como em outros que compõem a grade do canal. Através das características de construção de metalinguagem e da observação de outras características dos programas analisados foi possível apontar tendências de programação que despontam em um momento crucial para a TV: aquele em que sua natureza está em transformação. Os resultados objetivos compreendem um corpo teórico de análise da metalinguagem na TV, principalmente pautado em como essa metalinguagem toca o imaginário compartilhado da televisão; por fim, uma reflexão sobre possíveis desdobramentos educativos e comerciais do meio

Objective: To investigate how Swedish teachers work with literature to reach desired goals. Essay question: How do teachers choose literature that is read in secondary school? How do teachers organise teaching around literature? What is the goal with literature studies? Method: Five secondary school teachers have been interviewed using semi structured interview technique. Their answers have been examined to find themes that can answer the essay questions. Theory: Vygotsky’s theory of the zone of proxima l development a nd scaffolding, as well as theories of liberal and hermeneutic education . Conclusion: Teachers choose literature based on the curriculum, student group and personal experiences. Using different themes the teachers work with journals and writing assignments with ac ademic focus. They also need to motivate students to read. Reaching the targets of the curriculum as well as working towards the national exam are two goals of the literature studies. In addition, the objective is for the students to learn something more: the ability to travel without traveling, sense of intelligence and a kind of liberal education.

Cette thèse analyse l’évolution des imaginaires de la grossesse depuis 40 ans ainsi que certaines de ses incidences sociales.La science embryologiste avait installé depuis le 19ième siècle une tradition de représentation réaliste du foetus humain. Au cours de la 2ième moitié du 20ième, les choses semblent changer. En 1970, les photos de Lennart Nilsson notamment ont coloré, autonomisé, esthétisé et humanisé le foetus. En France, le ‟foetus anatomique” s’est vu par ailleurs retiré des muséums, son image s’absente du ‟Larousse médical illustré” et des manuels de sciences naturelles. Quant au foetus présent dans l’art contemporain, il est surdimensionné ou dégoûtant : ce qui ressemble donc le plus à un ‟vrai” foetus se déréalise. L’haptonomie et certaines technologies autour de la grossesse vont accentuer ces modifications de l’image du foetus au profit des imaginaires parentaux.Les effets sociaux de cette idéalisation foetale sont variés. L’humanisation du ‟beau foetus” enlaidissant l’anomalie, la hantise maternelle du ‟monstre foetal” est d’avantage intériorisée et trouble le travail en médecine foetale. Leur refus de l’anomalie devenant plus implicite, médecins et parents adoptent un langage euphémisé. Mais même l’image du foetus avorté s’humanise. Elle devient émouvante. Quand un foetus est condamné, il faudra donc le réparer, concrètement et symboliquement. Les soignants qui invitent les parents à voir le foetus après sa mort vont le présenter comme un bébé dormant, réparé de ses malformations. Certaines mères, surtout quand elles envisagent une nouvelle grossesse, le représentent alors comme un ange, cet ange devenu omniprésent sur les forums Internet.Ce dispositif questionne les sociétés contemporaines : les spécialistes de médecine foetale se retrouvent aujourd’hui confrontés à certains parents refusant la naissance d’un enfant atteint de malformations sans gravité. Au miroir de leur bébé surgit un indicible : l’horreur d’un foetus porteur d’anomalie. L’esthétisation ne rend-elle pas les imaginaires de l’anomalie d’autant plus puissants qu’ils n’ont plus d’espace, autre que le for intérieur, pour se déployer ? / This thesis analyses the evolution of imagination of the pregnancy for forty years as well as some of its social incidences.The science embryologist had installed since the 19 th century a realist tradition of presentation of the human foetus. During half of the 20 th, things seem to change. In 1970, the photographs of Lennart Nilsson in particular coloured, empowered, aestheticized and humanized the foetus. In France, the ‟anatomical foetus” saw itself besides out-of- the way of the museums, its image absent in in the ‟illustrated medical Larousse” and the textbooks of natural sciences. As for the foetus present in the contempory art, it is oversized or disgusting : what looks like mots of ‟real” foetus derealises. The haptonomy and certain technologies around the pregnancy are going to stress these modifications of the image of the foetus for the benefit of parental imagination.The social effects of the foetal idealization are varied. The humanisation of the ‟beautiful foetus” making ugly anomaly, the maternal obsession of the ‟foetal monster” is more interiorized and discorders work in foetal medicine. Their refusal of anomaly becoming more implicit, doctors and parents adopt an euphemized language. But, even the image of the aborted foetus fallen through humanizes. It becomes moving. When a foetus is condemned, it will thus have to be repaired concretely and symbolically. The nursing who invite the relatives to see the foetus after his death will present him as a sleeping baby, repaired by his deformations. Certain mother especially when they envisage a new pregnancy, represent him then as an angel, this angel become omnipresent on the Internet forums.This dispositf questions the contemporary societies : the specialists of foetal medicine are faced with certain parents refusing the birth of a child affected by deformations without gravity. In the miror of their baby appears an unspeakable : the horror of an expanding foetus of anomaly. Does not the esthetisation make the imagination of the anomaly all the more powerful as they do not have more space other than the heart of hearts to spread ?

Contemporary models of declarative memory state that when initially learned, all novel information is encoded by the hippocampal system before being consolidated or transformed to depend on neocortical structures subserving semantic memory. Based on observations with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), this thesis presents evidence that novel associations may be directly encoded by the semantic system in humans. While the hippocampus is often involved in information processing at the early stages of learning, the semantic system is seen to encode associative memory traces in the first instance (chapter 2). Furthermore, it is proposed that the hippocampus is not involved in learning when associative information is gradually accumulated across a series of ambiguous events. This is characteristic of cross-situational learning (xSL) which allows for the acquisition of word-object associations (i.e. nouns) during infancy. It is shown that xSL is not well accounted for by a prominent model of contextual learning - the temporal context model (chapter 3). Additionally, fMRI data suggest that neocortical structures rather than components of the hippocampal system are preferentially involved in xSL compared to traditional methods of training (chapter 4). Finally, it is suggested that rapid hippocampal learning mechanisms rely on specialised neuronal-microglial interactions. The administration of a microglial inhibitor (minocycline) was found to modulate hippocampal function and bias its use when other learning systems would have been more advantageous (chapter 5). Collectively, these findings suggest that the hippocampal system is specialised for rapidly encoding information that is explicitly provided, yet may not be recruited when associative information is collated across ambiguous events. At the same time, the neocortical semantic system may be able to learn new information at faster rates than previously thought. As such, it is hypothesised that amnestic patients may be able to acquire some forms of declarative material if presented in an appropriate manner.

Age-related decline in cognitive performance and brain structure can be offset by increased exercise. Little is known, however, about the cognitive and brain structural consequences of long-term high-effort endurance exercise. In a cross-sectional design, we recruited older adults who had been engaging in high-effort endurance exercise over at least twenty years, and compared their cognitive performance and brain structure with a non-sedentary control group similar in age, sex, education, IQ, depression levels, and other lifestyle factors. We hypothesized that long-term high-effort endurance exercise would protect against the age-related decline in memory, attention, and brain structure. Our findings, in contrast to previous studies, indicated that those participating in long-term high-effort endurance exercise, when compared without confounds to non-sedentary control volunteers, showed no differences on measures of speed of processing, executive function, incidental memory, episodic memory, working memory, or visual search. On measures of prospective memory, long-term exercisers performance suggested a self-imposed increase in effort, which did not impact on ability to complete the PM task. In complex attention tasks, they displayed a differential strategy to controls. Structurally, long-term exercisers only displayed higher diffuse axial diffusivity, an index of axonal integrity, than controls, but this did not correlate with any cognitive differences.

Cognitive process accounts of the advantages conferred by diagrams in problem solving and reasoning have typically attempted to explain an idealised user or a reasoning system that has equivalent to practised knowledge of the task with the target representation. The thesis investigates the question of how diagrams support users in the process of solving unpractised problems in the domain of probability. The research question is addressed by the design and analysis of an empirical study and cognitive model. The main experiment required participants (N=8) to solve a set of unpractised probability problems presented by combined text and diagram. Think-aloud and eye-movement protocols together with given solutions were used to infer the content and process of problem interpretation, solution interpretation and task execution strategies employed by participants. The data suggested that the diagram was used to facilitate problem solving in three different ways by: (a) supporting sub-problem identification, (b) supporting prior knowledge of diagrammatic sub-schemes used for interpreting a solution and (c) supporting the process of interpreting and testing the specific meaning of given problem instructions and self-generated solution instructions. These empirical data were used to develop cognitive models of canonical strategies of the three identified phenomena: • Sub-problem identification advantages are accounted for by proposing that the spatial semantics of diagrams coupled with competences of the visual-spatial processing system and opportunities for demonstrative interpretation strategies increase the probability of goal-relevant data being made available to central cognition for further processing. • Framing advantages are accounted for by proposing that represented diagrammatic sub-schemes (e.g. part-whole portions, icon-arrays, 2D containers etc.) facilitate access to existing prior knowledge used to frame, derive, and reason about information analogically within that scheme. • Advantages in instruction interpretation are related to the specificity of diagrams which support the opportunity to demonstratively test and evaluate the referential meaning of an instruction. The cognitive model also investigates and evaluates assumptions about the prior knowledge for solving unpractised probability problems; a representational scheme for addressing the co-ordination of sub-goals; a deictic problem representation to support online processing of environmental information, a meta-cognitive processing scheme to address self-argumentation and intention tracking and visual and spatial competences to address the requirements of diagrammatic reasoning. The implications of the cognitive model are discussed with regard to existing accounts of diagrammatic reasoning, probability problem solving (PPS), and unpractised problem solving.

For people with synaesthesia, a percept or concept (inducer) triggers another experience (concurrent) which is usually in a different modality. The concurrent is automatic, and in the case of certain types of synaesthesia also consistent, however the relationship between the inducer and concurrent is not fully understood and shall be investigated in this thesis from different perspectives. The first is using hypnosis to suggest synaesthesia-like phenomenological experiences to participants, and measuring behavioural responses to see whether they behave in a similar manner to developmental synaesthetes. Results from hypnotic; 1) grapheme-colour (GC) synaesthesia; 2) motion-sound synaesthesia; suggest that phenomenological experiences similar to developmental synaesthesia can be experienced by highly susceptible participants, but is not associated with the same behaviour as developmental synaesthetes. Developmental GC synaesthetes were tested to determine whether a grapheme presented preconsciously binds with the concurrent colour to the extent that it influences behaviour or evokes the phenomenology of colour. Two techniques were used, gaze-contingent substitution (GCS) and continuous flash suppression (CFS). Using GCS, it was shown that although digits can be primed preconsciously, they don't bind with their concurrent colour to influence behaviour. Nevertheless, many synaesthetes still experienced colours though they didn't necessarily match the primed digit. CFS experiments showed that the colour of a grapheme's concurrent, or whether the grapheme is presented in the correct or incorrect colour for that synaesthete, doesn't influence the time for conscious perception of a grapheme, even though colour words presented in the correct colour are perceived faster than those in the wrong colour. Phenomenological differences were compared to the behavioural measures using questionnaires modified using factor analysis (the R-RSPA and R-ISEQ). Overall, inducers must be seen consciously for them to bind with the concurrent, and experiencing the phenomenology of synaesthesia is not sufficient to behave like a synaesthete.

It has recently been found that during recognition memory tests participants' pupils dilate more when they view old items compared to novel items. This thesis sought to replicate this novel ‘‘Pupil Old/New Effect'' (PONE) and to determine its relationship to implicit and explicit mnemonic processes, the veracity of participants' responses, and the analogous Event-Related Potential (ERP) old/new effect. Across 9 experiments, pupil-size was measured with a video-based eye-tracker during a variety of recognition tasks, and, in the case of Experiment 8, with concurrent Electroencephalography (EEG). The main findings of this thesis are that: - the PONE occurs in a standard explicit test of recognition memory but not in “implicit” tests of either perceptual fluency or artificial grammar learning; - the PONE is present even when participants are asked to give false behavioural answers in a malingering task, or are asked not to respond at all; - the PONE is present when attention is divided both at learning and during recognition; - the PONE is accompanied by a posterior ERP old/new effect; - the PONE does not occur when participants are asked to read previously encountered words without making a recognition decision; - the PONE does not occur if participants preload an “old/new” response; - the PONE is not enhanced by repetition during learning. These findings are discussed in the context of current models of recognition memory and other psychophysiological indices of mnemonic processes. It is argued that together these findings suggest that the increase in pupil-size which occurs when participants encounter previously studied items is not under conscious control and may reflect primarily recollective processes associated with recognition memory.

This thesis aims to provide a compelling and distinctive response to the Problem of Consciousness. This is achieved by offering a bipartite analysis of the epistemic gap at the heart of that problem, and by building upon the hypothesis that the apparent problem is symptomatic of our limited conception of the physical. Chapter 1 introduces the problem. The key question is whether phenomenal consciousness is onticly dependent on the physical, or onticly independent of it. There are powerful arguments for the Primitivist view that consciousness is independent of the physical. These arguments rest on the apparent epistemic gap between the physical and the phenomenal. I propose that this apparent gap must be understood as a composite of two deeper conceptual gaps pertaining to the subjective character and qualitative character of consciousness respectively. The ‘–tivity gap' claims that physical states are objective, phenomenal states are subjective and that there is no entailment from the objective to the subjective. The ‘–trinsicality gap' claims that physical properties are extrinsic (structural), that phenomenal qualities are intrinsic (non-structural) and that there is no entailment from the extrinsic to the intrinsic. After refining the case for Primitivism, I consider the compelling reasons for rejecting Primitivism in favour of Physicalism. The challenge posed by the Problem of Consciousness is to resolve this antinomy between Primitivism and Physicalism. In Chapter 2 I consider standard responses to the problem. The failings of these positions lead me to introduce three criteria that an adequate response must satisfy. I reject the view that Primitivism can be salvaged, and hold that a satisfactory response to the problem must protect Physicalism. I reject standard ‘Type-A' responses according to which there is no epistemic gap between the physical and the phenomenal, and argue that a satisfactory response cannot deny the manifest reality of phenomenal consciousness. Finally, I reject ‘Type-B' responses according to which the epistemic gap does not entail ontic distinctness. I hold that if Physicalism is true, the entailment from the physical facts to the phenomenal facts must be knowable a priori for an epistemically ideal subject. Chapter 3 evaluates a non-standard Type-A response to the Problem of Consciousness which promises to satisfy all three criteria. According to Stoljar's Epistemic View (EV), consciousness only seems inexplicable in physical terms because we have a limited conception of the physical. I argue that EV should be supported iff two demanding challenges can be met: the Relevance Condition requires adequate reason to believe that unknown physical properties could address the –tivity gap and the –trinsicality gap. The Integration Condition requires adequate reason to believe that there is a specific blind-spot in our current conception of the physical that is plausibly occupied by properties that perform the requisite explanatory role. To satisfy these conditions, the advocate of EV must make positive claims about the content of our proposed ignorance. In Chapter 4 I argue that EV stands or falls with the plausibility of the Russellian Ignorance Hypothesis (RIH). According to RIH, we have no concepts of the intrinsic properties of physical entities, and those intrinsic properties are integral to the physical explanation of consciousness. I argue that we are indeed conceptually ignorant of intrinsic physical properties. I also argue that RIH meets the Integration Condition, and goes some way to satisfying the Relevance Condition. RIH plausibly undermines the –trinsicality gap by showing that some physical properties are intrinsic, though they are beyond our current conception. The apparent gap is then an illusion resulting from the fact that all known physical properties are extrinsic. RIH fails, however, to address the –tivity gap. I conclude that no version of EV can offer a full response to the Problem of Consciousness. In Chapter 5 I explore an entirely different kind of response to the Problem of Consciousness. Representationalism claims that consciousness is explicable in terms of intentional properties, and that intentional properties are explicable in terms of physical properties. I argue that standard Representationalist proposals are unable to account for the qualitative character of conscious states, and diagnose this failure in terms of the –trinsicality gap. However, the prospects for a Representationalist account of subjective character are more promising. Specifically, Kriegel's Self-Representationalism holds that a mental state is a phenomenal state in virtue of suitably representing itself. I argue that this proposal plausibly addresses the –tivity gap. RIH and Self-Representationalism each deal with one of the two apparent conceptual gaps between the physical and the phenomenal, but not the other. In Chapter 6 I develop a hybrid proposal that combines the best of both positions. The ‘Neo-Russellian Ignorance Hypothesis' (NRIH) claims that a mental state is a phenomenal state at all in virtue of suitably representing itself, and has its qualitative character in virtue of the intrinsic physical properties involved in its implementation. I expand this claim and defend it against a number of potential criticisms. I also explore the relationship between its two components, suggesting that they are each founded on a common epistemic insight. I argue that NRIH successfully addresses the –tivity and –trinsicality gaps and, moreover, that it provides a compelling account of why consciousness appears to be inexplicable in physical terms. I conclude that NRIH offers a powerful response to the Problem of Consciousness that successfully undermines the case for Primitivism. Furthermore, I conclude that NRIH has substantial advantages over competing attempted responses, and offers the best possible way of capitalising on the insights of EV and Representationalism.