This dissertation consists of two central parts. Part one of the dissertation examines the impact of interactive restructuring on decision processes and outcomes. Five experimental studies show that consumers examine less information and engage in more compensatory decision processes when interactive restructuring tools are available. Consumers also increase their use of restructuring tools in cognitively challenging choice environments. The availability of a sorting tool improves objective and subjective decision quality when attributes are positively correlated, or when the number of alternatives in a choice set is large, but not when attributes are negatively correlated or choice sets are small. Greater use of interactive restructuring tools has deleterious effects on decision quality when attributes are negatively correlated. Under time pressure the availability of an interactive restructuring tool improves decision quality, even when attributes are negatively correlated, since time pressure limits tool overuse. Finally, the effects of multiple interactive restructuring tools on decision making vary by the types of tools that marketers make available to consumers. Part two of the dissertation explores the effects of visual design on consumer preferences and choice. Experiment 1 demonstrates preference reversals when visual separators are between product alternatives versus between product attributes. Experiment 2 shows that when product attributes are negatively correlated, visually separating alternatives improves decision quality but visually separating attributes hurts decision quality. Visual separators do not affect decision quality when attributes are positively correlated. Experiment 3 extends experiment 2 to show that visual separators enhance decision-making efficiency and can limit the extent to which consumers adapt to contextual changes in choice environments. Finally, experiment 4 shows that, under time pressure, both visual separators between attributes as well as visual separators between alternatives improve decision quality when attributes are negatively correlated.

When viewing ambiguous figures, individuals can exert selective attentional control over their perceptual reversibility behaviour (e.g., Strüber & Stadler, 1999). In the current study, we replicated this finding but we also found that ambiguous figures containing faces are processed quite differently from those containing objects. Furthermore, inverting an ambiguous figure containing faces (i.e., Rubin’s vase-face) resulted in an “inversion effect”. These findings highlight the importance of considering how we attend to faces in addition to how we perceive and process faces. Describing the perceptual reversal patterns of individuals in the general population allowed us to draw comparisons to behaviours exhibited by individuals with Asperger Syndrome (AS). The group data suggested that these individuals were less affected by figure type or stimulus inversion. Examination of individual scores, moreover, revealed that the majority of participants with AS showed an atypical reversal pattern, particularly with ambiguous figures containing faces, and an atypical inversion effect. Together, our results show that ambiguous figures can be a very valuable tool for examining face processing mechanisms in the general population and other distinct groups of individuals, particularly those diagnosed with AS.

When viewing ambiguous figures, individuals can exert selective attentional control over their perceptual reversibility behaviour (e.g., Strüber & Stadler, 1999). In the current study, we replicated this finding but we also found that ambiguous figures containing faces are processed quite differently from those containing objects. Furthermore, inverting an ambiguous figure containing faces (i.e., Rubin’s vase-face) resulted in an “inversion effect”. These findings highlight the importance of considering how we attend to faces in addition to how we perceive and process faces. Describing the perceptual reversal patterns of individuals in the general population allowed us to draw comparisons to behaviours exhibited by individuals with Asperger Syndrome (AS). The group data suggested that these individuals were less affected by figure type or stimulus inversion. Examination of individual scores, moreover, revealed that the majority of participants with AS showed an atypical reversal pattern, particularly with ambiguous figures containing faces, and an atypical inversion effect. Together, our results show that ambiguous figures can be a very valuable tool for examining face processing mechanisms in the general population and other distinct groups of individuals, particularly those diagnosed with AS.

L'évolution de la conception classique du rôle du juge de cassation a entraîné une remise en question des sources du droit. Alors qu'au XIXème siècle le juge était considéré comme un simple lecteur de la loi, aujourd'hui il trouve sa place au sein des sources du droit. Il en résulte que lorsqu'un revirement de jurisprudence intervient, il va venir modifier l'ordonnancement juridique en y intégrant une nouvelle règle de droit, une nouvelle règle jurisprudentielle. Si la plupart du temps le revirement de jurisprudence n'emporte pas de conséquences néfastes, il arrive que dans certains cas, la sécurité juridique soit mise à mal. Il en découle que le justiciable va se voir appliquer la nouvelle règle jurisprudentielle quelle que soit la date de réalisation de l'acte ou des faits en raison de la rétroactivité inhérente à ce type de décision, sans pouvoir s'en prémunir. Le juge de cassation, conscient de ce problème, a recours à certaines méthodes afin d'annoncer un futur revirement de jurisprudence mais également d'en limiter ses effets. Cependant, ces méthodes ne s'avèrent pas pleinement efficaces et il semble nécessaire de permettre au juge de cassation de moduler dans le temps certaines de ces décisions lorsque leurs conséquences néfastes surpassent les avantages attendus du revirement de jurisprudence. / The evolution of the classic conception of the role of the supreme has brought about a questioning of the sources of the right. While in the 19th century the judge was considered as a simple reader of the law, today he finds his place within the sources of the right. As a result when a reversal of case law intervenes, it modifies the legal organization by integrating in a new legal rule, a new judicial rule. If most part of time the reversal of case law does not have harmful consequences, it happens that in certain cases, the legal safety security is endangered. It ensues from it that the citizen goes to see to apply the new judicial rule whatever is the date of realization of the act or the facts because of the retroactivity inherent to this type of decision, and the citizen won't be able to protect himself against this décision. The judge at the Court of cassation, aware of this problem, turns to certain methods to announce a future reversal of a case law but also to limit its effects. However, these methods do not turn out to be completely effective and it seems necessary to allow the judge at the Court of cassation to modulate in the time some of these decisions because the harmful consequences of these décisions may exceed the advantages expected from the reversal of case law.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:30:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5453.pdf: 1352961 bytes, checksum: 6c7a8392ec5e53e805f81c028682190a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-07-30 / Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais / The investigation of symbolic or pre-symbolic behavior in dogs requires the establishment of arbitrary relations among stimuli. A way to teach such relations is requiring a common response in the presence of each one of them, which can result in a class of functionally equivalent stimuli. This study aimed to investigate the formation of functional classes with four dogs. For this purpose it was used an automated device for emission and recording of operant responses and for the presentation of visual stimuli. The operant response was to nose poke a stimuli which were presented in a touch-screen monitor. Three sets of two stimuli (A1/A2; B1/B2; C1/C2) were used for three dogs and two sets of two stimuli (C1/C2; E1/E2) were used for the other dog. In each set, one stimulus was related to reinforcement (S+) and the other to extinction (S-), regarding tasks of simultaneous simple discrimination. Five experimental phases were programmed for three dogs: I) Training and reversals of pair A stimuli; II) Training and reversals of pair B; III) Training and reversions of AB being presented in the same session with functional class formation probes; IV) Training and reversals of pair C; and V) Training and reversals of ABC with functional class formation probes. On the third and fifth phases stimuli of the same set (A1 and B1 or A1, B1 and C1, respectively) were established as S+, and the stimuli of the other set (A2 and B2 or A2, B2 and C2) as S-. After baseline was acquired and reached stability the functions of the stimuli were reversed repeatedly (S+ began to function as S- and vice versa), and it was appraised if the animals reverted the functions of the other stimuli given the reversal of the first pair in one of the sets, and that before direct exposure to new contingencies which would indicate functional classes formation (S+ class and S- class). For the fourth dog four experimental phases were programmed: I) Training of pair E stimuli (without reversal); II) Training of pair C stimuli; III) Training of CE being presented in the same session; and IV) Three reversions of CE being presented in the same session. The results show that the procedure was able to establish a complex and flexible discriminative repertoire in dogs, but insufficient to demonstrate relational responding in the only animal to be exposed to the functional class probes. Nevertheless, considerations were made about the positive aspects of the proposed procedure and learning set formation. / A investigação de comportamentos simbólicos ou pré-simbólicos em cães requer o estabelecimento de relações arbitrárias entre estímulos. Uma alternativa para ensinar tais relações é a exigência de uma resposta comum na presença de cada um deles, o que pode resultar em uma classe de estímulos funcionalmente equivalentes. O presente estudo teve por objetivo investigar a formação de classes funcionais em quatro cães. Para esta finalidade foi utilizado um equipamento automático para a emissão e registro das respostas operantes e apresentação dos estímulos visuais. A resposta operante era tocar com o focinho sobre estímulos projetados em um monitor equipado com tela sensível ao toque. Para três cães foram empregados três conjuntos de dois estímulos (A1/A2; B1/B2; C1/C2) e para o outro cão dois conjuntos de dois estímulos (C1/C2; E1/E2). Em cada conjunto um dos estímulos do par era relacionado com reforço (S+) e o outro era relacionado com extinção (S-), em tarefas de discriminação simples simultânea. Para os três primeiros cães foram programadas cinco fases experimentais: I) Treino e reversões com estímulos do par A; II) Treino e reversões com o par B; III) Treino e reversões de AB, apresentados em uma mesma sessão, com sondas de formação de classes funcionais; IV) Treino e reversões do par C e V) Treino e reversões de ABC, com apresentação de sondas de formação de classes funcionais. Na terceira e quinta fases os estímulos de um mesmo conjunto (A1 e B1 ou A1, B1 e C1, respectivamente) eram estabelecidos como S+ e os estímulos do outro conjunto (A2 e B2 ou A2, B2 e C2) como S-. Após aquisição e estabilidade da linha de base, as funções dos estímulos eram revertidas (os S+ passavam a funcionar como S- e vice-versa) repetidas vezes e era avaliado se, a partir da reversão do primeiro par de estímulos de um dos conjuntos, os animais revertiam as funções dos outros estímulos, antes da exposição direta às novas contingências, evidenciando formação de classes funcionais (a classe dos S+ e a classe dos S-). Para o quarto animal foram programadas quatro fases experimentais: I) Treino do par E (sem reversões) II) Treino do par C III) Treino dos pares C e E apresentados em uma mesma sessão e IV) Três reversão sucessivas dos pares C e E apresentados na mesma sessão. Os resultados obtidos mostram que o procedimento adotado foi capaz de estabelecer um repertório discriminativo complexo e flexível em cães, porém insuficiente para demonstrar responder relacional no único animal a passar pelas sondas de formação de classe funcional. Apesar disso, foram feitas considerações a respeito de aspectos positivos sobre o procedimento proposto e a formação de learning set.

Prior studies have shown that returns exhibit certain predictable patterns that are inconsistent with the mainstream finance theory. In this thesis, I explore the behaviour of returns following three different types of market events with a particular focus on behavioural and non-behavioural factors that are attributable to the predictability of post-event returns. This thesis consists of three self-contained empirical essays. The first essay examines the information role of large S&P500 futures trades (commercial, noncommercial, dealers, asset managers, and hedge funds) in shaping future index returns. I find that commercial firms’ net trading level appears positively correlated with future index returns but the relationship is not stable across time. Based on more recent data, hedge funds appear superior in terms of access to information and/or trading ability but this advantage is only preserved at high frequency. Therefore, the current weekly Commitment of Traders (COT) report - published with a three-day delay - prevents timely public access to this type of information. Also, trading signals based on two of the more popular position-based sentiment indicators do not produce significant average returns. Overall, this calls into question the reliability of COT-based trading signals used by market professionals. The second essay studies the impacts of short sellers’ trading in shaping the behaviour of stock returns following extreme price moves using data from stock market in mainland China where short sales were initially prohibited. Extreme price moves occurring under non-prohibitive/prohibitive short-sale constraints are defined as shortable/non-shortable events. I find shortable events exhibit less post-event price drift/reversals than non-shortable ones, indicating an increase in the efficiency of stock prices reacting to unexpected events. Further analysis of short sellers’ trading activities on the price event days suggests that they are successful in trading informed price shocks but not in trading uninformed ones. Finally, I find evidence of massive short-covering that amplifies price shocks. The third essay investigates investors’ reaction to stock market rumours using data from China where listed companies are required to clarify rumours appearing in the media. I find that post-clarification abnormal returns exhibit continuation of pre-clarification momentum for rumours that are not denied by the listed companies and reversals for those which are denied. These results suggest that investors are unable to distinguish the reliable rumours from the false ones, as they under-react to rumours containing material information and over-react to those without. Further regression analyses on post-clarification abnormal returns using various subsamples of rumour events show that investors respond more efficiently to rumours when they are more informed about news topics or the rumoured companies.

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VERSION ANGLAISE DISPONIBLE AU DÉPARTEMENT; THÈSE RÉALISÉE CONJOINTEMENT AVEC L'ÉCOLE DES SCIENCES DE LA COMMUNICATION DE L'UNIVERSITÉ MCGILL (DRS. K. STEINHAUER ET J.E. DRURY). / La présente thèse reprend trois articles de recherche (deux études et un article de revue) portant sur les neurosciences cognitives du langage, chacun desquels a été écrit en vue d’identifier les bénéfices que la théorie (neuro)linguistique contemporaine pourrait tirer d’une étude exhaustive des processus cognitifs et neuraux sous-tendant les troubles du spectre autistique (TSA) et inversement. Deux études y sont présentées, utilisant la méthode des potentiels évoqués, lesquelles fournissent des preuves préliminaires, chez des individus typiques, de deux aspects de la compréhension de phrases nécessitant une recherche approfondie chez des personnes autistes : (1) Les corrélats neuraux de la nature syntaxique et sémantique particulière des verbes d’expérience (par exemple The girl has feared the storm) contrairement aux verbes d’action (par exemple The kids have eaten the fries) et leur interface potentielle avec la Théorie de l’Esprit – la capacité d’attribuer des états mentaux à soi et à autrui – pour laquelle les personnes autistes semble accuser un retard et/ou un déficit, et (2) les corrélats neuraux des compétences en « imagerie visuelle », telles quelles sont identifiées à l’aide des Matrices de Raven, sur les processus de détection de violations de catégories grammaticales (par exemple He made the meal to enjoy with friends/He made the enjoy to meal with friends) dans un paradigme expérimental “équilibré” et en modalité visuelle. L’article de revue cherche à fournir une perspective plus large du rôle que les neurosciences cognitives des TSA peuvent jouer dans l’étude biologique du langage. L’importance de considérer l’autisme comme un « style cognitif » plutôt qu’un trouble en soi y est défendue, en particulier contre la notion commune d’autisme en tant que déficit de Théorie de l’Esprit. Au delà de leurs perspectives potentielles de recherche future auprès de populations autistes, ces trois articles cherchent à répondre à plusieurs questions de recherche cruciales sur le développement et la compréhension du langage (c’est à dire le débat sur la «P600 sémantique», les théorie d’échantillonnage asymétrique de la perception de la parole et de la musique, le rôle de la vision dans le langage, la modularité, les styles cognitifs et l’inférence Bayesienne). / The present thesis comprises a set of three research articles (two studies and one review article) on the cognitive neuroscience of language, all of which were written with the purpose of understanding the benefits that contemporary (neuro)linguistic theory may draw from an extensive study of the cognitive and neural processes underlying Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and vice versa. Two studies are presented, using event-related brain potentials, which provide preliminary evidence in typical individuals for two aspects of sentence processing in need of future investigation in ASD participants: (1) The neural correlates of the peculiar syntactic and semantic nature of verbs of experience (Experiencer Subject verbs, i.e., The girl has feared the storm) as opposed to verbs of action (Agent Subject verbs, i.e., The boys have eaten the fries) and their potential interface with Theory of Mind – the ability to attribute mental states to self and others – known to present delays and impairments in autism, and (2) the neural correlates of “visual imagery” skills, as assessed through the Raven Matrices, on comprehenders’ ability to detect word category violations (e.g., He made the meal to enjoy with friends/He made the enjoy to meal with friends) in a balanced visual paradigm and their potential insights into the role of visual imagery in language comprehension, known to play a potentially predominant role in ASD. The review article attempts to provide a larger perspective on the role of the cognitive neuroscience of ASD in the biology of language, in which the importance of considering autism as a “cognitive style” rather than as a disorder is given greater value, especially relative to the common notion of autism solely as a Theory of Mind impairment. Aside from their potential prospects for future research in autistic populations, these three articles also attempt to frame their topic of inquiry into the broader context of contemporary research questions on language development and language comprehension, such as the role of animacy in language processing (the “semantic P600” debate), asymmetric sampling theories of speech and music perception, the role of vision in language, modularity, cognitive styles or Bayesian inference.

This research was designed to provide an understanding of physical wind mechanisms within the complex terrain of the Great Valley of Eastern Tennessee to assess the impacts of regional air flow with regard to synoptic and mesoscale weather changes, wind direction shifts, and air quality. Meteorological data from 2008–2009 were analyzed from 13 meteorological sites along with associated upper level data. Up to 15 ancillary sites were used for reference. Two-step complete linkage and K-means cluster analyses, synoptic weather studies, and ambient meteorological comparisons were performed to generate hourly wind classifications. These wind regimes revealed seasonal variations of underlying physical wind mechanisms (forced channeled, vertically coupled, pressure-driven, and thermally-driven winds). Synoptic and ambient meteorological analysis (mixing depth, pressure gradient, pressure gradient ratio, atmospheric and surface stability) suggested up to 93% accuracy for the clustered results. Probabilistic prediction schemes of wind flow and wind class change were developed through characterization of flow change data and wind class succession. Data analysis revealed that wind flow in the Great Valley was dominated by forced channeled winds (45–67%) and vertically coupled flow (22–38%). Down-valley pressure-driven and thermally-driven winds also played significant roles (0–17% and 2–20%, respectively), usually accompanied by convergent wind patterns (15–20%) and large wind direction shifts, especially in the Central/Upper Great Valley. The behavior of most wind regimes was associated with detectable pressure differences between the Lower and Upper Great Valley. Mixing depth and synoptic pressure gradients were significant contributors to wind pattern behavior. Up to 15 wind classes and 10 sub-classes were identified in the Central Great Valley with 67 joined classes for the Great Valley at-large. Two-thirds of Great Valley at-large flow was defined by 12 classes. Winds flowed on-axis only 40% of the time. The Great Smoky Mountains helped create down-valley pressure-driven winds, downslope mountain breezes, and divergent air flow. The Cumberland Mountains and Plateau were associated with wind speed reductions in the Central Great Valley, Emory Gap Flow, weak thermally-driven winds, and northwesterly down sloping. Ridge-and-valley terrain enhanced wind direction reversals, pressure-driven winds, as well as locally and regionally produced thermally-driven flow.