Dans le cadre de cette thèse, nous avons mené trois études sur le terrain et/ou en laboratoire pour comparer l'importance relative de la géométrie des routes, représentée visuellement ou tactilement en deux dimensions, des informations multidimensionnelles extraites sur la base d'une visite directe du monde réel, et des informations symboliques indirectes sur les lieux par le biais d' instructions verbales, dans la construction de représentations spatiales chez l'homme, lui permettant de naviguer de mémoire dans des environnements complexes et non-familiers. Ces expériences ont permis de mettre en lumière certains aspects multidimensionnels et multi-sensoriels dans le traitement cognitif des informations spatiales et l'influence de celui-ci sur les performances d'hommes et de femmes, qui avaient pour tâche de retrouver de mémoire un itinéraire donné dans un milieu urbain non familier. Les résultats montrent clairement que des informations relatives aux repères visuels, transmises au moyen de séquences d'images panoramiques des itinéraires étudiés, sont inutilisables par un navigateur s'il ne dispose pas d'informations valides sur les distances relatives entre ces repères dans le monde réel (expérience 1). L'influence d'une exposition au préalable à un plan 2D visuel ou tactile des itinéraires a été comparé avec celle d'une expérience directe au moyen d'une visite guidée, ou indirecte au moyen d'indications verbales, sur les performances de navigation de personnes voyantes (expérience 1 et 2), déficientes visuelles (expérience 3), ou voyantes mais privées temporairement de leur vision (expérience 3) dans des environnements urbains à grande échelle. Les tests ont été réalisés en milieu réel (expériences 1 et 3) et virtuel (expérience 2) généré par ordinateur (Google Street View). Les performances ont été analysées en termes de temps du point de départ au point d'arrivée, nombre d'arrêts, nombre d'erreurs et taux de succès. Les stratégies potentiellement employées durant la navigation sont mis en avant sur la base des réponses des sujets à un questionnaire standardisé ; leurs capacités individuelles de se représenter l'environnement exploré sous forme d'images mentales a été évaluée sur la base de dessins. Les niveaux subjectifs de stress psychologique ont été mesurés pour mettre en évidences des différences possibles entre l'homme et la femme à cet égard. Les données ici montrent, d'une part, qu'une exploration rapide de représentations virtuelles correctement mises à l'échelle d'un environnement complexe permet aux sujets de retrouver cet itinéraire sans problème dans le milieu réel (expérience 2). Les personnes aveugles de naissance compensent l'absence de repères visuels dans la navigation efficacement par la mémorisation d'informations géométriques sur la base d'une brève exploration d'un plan tactile des itinéraires étudiés ici. Les sujets voyants privés de repères visuels, par contre, ne sont pas instantanément capables d'une telle compensation (expérience 3). Les résultats de ce travail sont discutés ici à la lumière des hypothèses actuelles sur la nature intrinsèque des représentations spatiales chez l'homme et placés ici dans le contexte d'un modèle de la mémoire de travail. Nous suggérons que cette dernière comprend des sous-systèmes multidimensionnels de stockage temporaire, capables de traiter en parallèle une multitude d'entrées sensorielles avec une capacité beaucoup plus grande que précédemment postulé dans le modèle classique de la mémoire de travail, qui présume un traitement sériel d'informations à capacité limitée. Un tel modèle est globalement mis en question par les résultats de cette thèse, qui ouvre une porte importante aux recherches futures sur le traitement cognitif d'informations spatiales chez l'homme dans un monde en perpétuel changement.Mots-clés : Environnements à grandes échelles – perception – traitement multi-sensoriel – représentation spatiale – navigation – humain / Previous studies investigating how humans build reliable spatial knowledge representations allowing them to find their way from one point to another in complex environments have been focused on comparing the relative importance of the two-dimensional visual geometry of routes and intersections, multi-dimensional data from direct exposure with the real world, or verbal symbols and/or instructions. This thesis sheds further light on the multi-dimensional and multi-sensorial aspects by investigating how the cognitive processing of spatial information derived from different sources of sensory and higher order input influences the performance of human observers who have to find their way from memory through complex and non-familiar real-world environments. Three experiments in large-scale urban environments of the real world, and in computer generated representations of these latter (Google Street View), were run to investigate the influence of prior exposure to 2D visual or tactile maps of an itinerary, compared with a single direct experience or verbal instructions, on navigation performances in sighted and/or visually deficient individuals, and in individuals temporarily deprived of vision. Performances were analyzed in terms of time from departure to destination, number of stops, number of wrong turns, and success rates. Potential strategies employed by individuals during navigation and mental mapping abilities were screened on the basis of questionnaires and drawing tests. Subjective levels of psychological stress (experiment 2) were measured to bring to the fore possible differences between men and women in this respect. The results of these experiments show that 2D visual maps, briefly explored prior to navigation, generate better navigation performances compared with poorly scaled virtual representations of a complex real-world environment (experiment 1), the best performances being produced by a single prior exposure to the real-world itinerary. However, brief familiarization with a reliably scaled virtual representation of a non-familiar real-world environment (Google Street View) not only generates optimal navigation in computer generated testing (virtual reality), but also produces better navigation performances when tested in the real-world environment and compared with prior exposure to 2D visual maps (experiment 2). Congenitally blind observers (experiment 3) who have to find their way from memory through a complex non-familiar urban environment perform swiftly and with considerable accuracy after exposure to a 2D tactile map of their itinerary. They are also able to draw a visual image of their itinerary on the basis of the 2D tactile map exposure. Other visually deficient or sighted but blindfolded individuals seem to have greater difficulty in finding their way again than congenitally blind people, regardless of the type of prior exposure to their test itinerary. The findings of this work here are discussed in the light of current hypotheses regarding the presumed intrinsic nature of human spatial representations, replaced herein within a context of working memory models. It is suggested that multi-dimensional temporary storage systems, capable of processing a multitude of sensory input in parallel and with a much larger general capacity than previously considered in terms of working memory limits, need to be taken into account for future research.Keywords: large scale environments – perception – multisensory processing - spatial representation – navigation - human

La cognition incarnée est un courant théorique qui considère que l'esprit doit être compris dans le contexte de son corps, et de l'interaction de ce dernier avec l'environnement. Elle s'est construite en réaction à l'approche cognitiviste classique qui voit la cognition dite « centrale » (mémoire, raisonnement, compréhension...) comme un système de traitement de l'information de symboles amodaux, indépendant des systèmes sensorimoteurs. S'opposant à cette vision, la cognition incarnée soutient notamment que 1/ la cognition aurait pour fonction de guider l'action 2/ elle serait ancrée dans les systèmes sensorimoteurs, c'est-à-dire qu'elle aurait des ressources de traitement en commun avec eux plutôt que d'en être indépendante. Depuis les années 80, les travaux s'inscrivant dans cette approche sont chaque année plus nombreux. Pourtant, la cognition spatiale envisagée selon cette perspective reste encore un domaine peu exploré. L'objectif de la revue de littérature présentée dans cette thèse est de montrer que différentes sources d'informations des représentations spatiales, la perception, la mémoire, et le langage, sont incarnées. Si leurs sources sont incarnées, alors il y a de bonnes raisons de penser que les représentations spatiales le sont aussi. Nous rapportons ensuite quelques éléments suggérant que les représentations spatiales pourraient être incarnées. Notre travail expérimental a eu pour objectif de montrer que la mémoire d'objets pouvant constituer une base à la formation d'une représentation spatiale est incarnée, dans le sens où elle aurait pour fonction de guider l'action, et qu'elle est ancrée dans les systèmes sensorimoteurs. A cette fin, nous avons réalisé plusieurs études explorant, au travers de postures réduisant les possibilités d'action, le rôle du système moteur dans la mémoire (Expériences 1 à 11), le langage (Expériences 9a à 10), et les représentations spatiales (Expériences 10 et 11). Les Expériences 1 à 8 ont montré dans l'ensemble qu'une posture contraignante a un effet négatif sur la mémoire d'images ou de noms d'objets manipulables, mais pas sur la mémoire des objets-non-manipulables (effet PI). Les Expériences 9a et 9b ont utilisé des phrases et ont montré que l'effet de la posture sur la mémoire de noms d'objets manipulables est présent lorsqu'il est associé à un verbe impliquant une action, mais pas lorsqu'il est associé à un verbe n'impliquant pas d'action. Les Expériences 10 et 11 ont utilisé respectivement des descriptions spatiales et des environnements virtuels, et ont montré nouvellement que des objets décrits ou présentés à une distance ne permettant par leur atteinte manuelle sont moins bien mémorisés que ceux situés à une distance proche. Après avoir discuté de ces résultats, nous proposerons notre conception des modèles de situations spatiaux incarnés. / The embodied cognition framework claims that the mind must be understood in the context of its relationship to a physical body that interacts with the world. It has been developed in response to the classical cognitivist approach, which regards the so-called « central » cognition (memory, reasoning, comprehension...) as an amodal symbols processing system, independent from the sensorimotor systems. Contrary to this idea, embodied cognition claims in particular that 1/ cognition is for action 2/ cognition is grounded on sensorimotor systems, that is, it shares processing resources with sensorimotor systems, rather than being independent from them. Since the 1980s, the amount of work within this framework is growing each year. Yet, there are still few researches on spatial cognition with this approach. The aim of the state of art of this thesis is to show that several sources of information of spatial representations, such as perception, memory, and language, are embodied. If their sources are embodied, then it is likely that spatial representations are also embodied. We will report then some direct elements in favor of the embodiment of spatial representations. The aim of our empirical work was to show that the memory of objects, which can potentially be part of a spatial representation, is embodied in the sense that it is for action, and that it is grounded on sensorimotor systems. To fulfill this aim, a body of studies has been run in order to explore, by the mean of postures decreasing the possibilities for action, the role of the motor system in memory (Experiment 1 to 11), language (Experiment 9a to 10), and spatial representations (Experiment 10 and 11). Experiments 1 to 8 showed as a whole that a constraining posture has a negative effect on the memory of manipulable objects, but not on non-manipulable objects (PI effect). Experiments 9a and 9b used sentences. They showed an effect of posture on the memory of manipulable objects only when their name is associated with a verb which involves an action, but not when it is associated with a verb which does not involve an action. Experiments 10 and 11 used respectively spatial descriptions and virtual environments, and newly showed that the objects described or presented out of reach are less recalled than those located at a close distance. After a discussion of these results, we will propose our conception of embodied spatial situation models.

Submitted by Mariana Dornelles Vargas (marianadv) on 2015-03-20T19:12:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 lugar_espaco.pdf: 14777510 bytes, checksum: 9fed180db861f3a92f44ce937c152535 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-20T19:12:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 lugar_espaco.pdf: 14777510 bytes, checksum: 9fed180db861f3a92f44ce937c152535 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-02-23 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A presente dissertação parte do reconhecimento da existência de representações de espaços do mundo físico em ambientes multiusuário online. Pretendemos identificar e discutir as motivações para a criação desse tipo de representação, bem como os modos como as mesmas são utilizadas e apropriadas por seus criadores e outros usuários. Iniciamos o trabalho com uma discussão teórica para diferenciar e definir três conceitos-chave para o tema da pesquisa: espaço, lugar e território. Nossa conceituação foi construída com base em estudiosos do espaço concreto, nas áreas da comunicação, geografia, sociologia e outras. De posse dos três conceitos, entramos em questões relacionadas à sociabilidade mediada pela internet, com especial atenção ao sentido identitário das relações com o espaço. A seguir, discutimos a associação dos usuários aos grupos sociais, lugares e identidades virtuais, com foco na reprodução de lugares concretos genéricos (como parques, florestas e bairros) e específicos (como cidades e monumentos históricos) no ciberespaço. Após uma revisão de diferentes tipos de ambientes multiusuário online, decidimos realizar o trabalho empírico no mundo virtual mulit-usuário (MUVE) Second Life, da Linden Lab. A escolha se deve à maior liberdade criativa que esse aplicativo propicia, à ausência de uma temática rígida e ao uso de várias linguagens (verbal, sonora e visual). A metodologia escolhida foi a etnografia virtual, que realizamos em 3 ilhas do Second Life: Ilha Brasil (representações de lugares genéricos), Ilha RJ City (representações de lugares específicos) e Ilha Brasil Curitiba (representações mistas). Os resultados apontam para a existência de uma ligação simbólica de territórios e lugares virtuais com os territórios e lugares concretos, tanto pela sua dinâmica, identidade e apresentação visual, como pelas práticas sociais que neles têm lugar, o que sugere um importante papel da identidade cultural na criação e busca por lugares virtuais que representam lugares do mundo concreto. / This dissertation's departing point is the recognition of the existence of representations of the physical world in multi-user online environments. We intended to identify and discuss the motivations behind the creation of this type of representation and the ways in which they are used and appropriated by their creators and other users. We began with a theoretical discussion aiming to differentiate and define three concepts central for the research theme: space, place and territory. To that end, we resorted to previous studies of material space in different areas of knowledge: communication, geography, sociology and others. With these three concepts, we addressed questions related to internet mediated sociability, with special attention to the identity meaning of spatial relations. Followed a discussion of users' association to social groups, places and virtual identities focusing the reproduction of generic concrete places (such as parks, forests and neighbourhoods) and specific ones (as cities and historical monuments) in cyberspace. After a revision of the different types of multi-user online environments, we decided to locate the empirical investigation in the multi-user virtual world (MUVE) Second Life, by Linden Lab. This choice was due to the higher level of creative freedom provided by this system, to the absence of strict theme and the combined use of text, sound and image in Second Life's interface. The chosen methodology was virtual ethnography, which we have performed in 3 Second Life islands: Ilha Brasil (representations of generic places), Ilha RJ City (representation of specific places) and Ilha Brasil Curitiba (mixed representations). Our results indicate the existence of a symbolic link between virtual and physical territories and places. This link is related to their dynamics, identity and visual presentation as well as to the social practices that happen there. This suggests that cultural identity plays an important role in the creation and search for virtual places which represent physical world places.

Previous studies investigating how humans build reliable spatial knowledge representations allowing them to find their way from one point to another in complex environments have been focused on comparing the relative importance of the two-dimensional visual geometry of routes and intersections, multi-dimensional data from direct exposure with the real world, or verbal symbols and/or instructions. This thesis sheds further light on the multi-dimensional and multi-sensorial aspects by investigating how the cognitive processing of spatial information derived from different sources of sensory and higher order input influences the performance of human observers who have to find their way from memory through complex and non-familiar real-world environments. Three experiments in large-scale urban environments of the real world, and in computer generated representations of these latter (Google Street View), were run to investigate the influence of prior exposure to 2D visual or tactile maps of an itinerary, compared with a single direct experience or verbal instructions, on navigation performances in sighted and/or visually deficient individuals, and in individuals temporarily deprived of vision. Performances were analyzed in terms of time from departure to destination, number of stops, number of wrong turns, and success rates. Potential strategies employed by individuals during navigation and mental mapping abilities were screened on the basis of questionnaires and drawing tests. Subjective levels of psychological stress (experiment 2) were measured to bring to the fore possible differences between men and women in this respect. The results of these experiments show that 2D visual maps, briefly explored prior to navigation, generate better navigation performances compared with poorly scaled virtual representations of a complex real-world environment (experiment 1), the best performances being produced by a single prior exposure to the real-world itinerary. However, brief familiarization with a reliably scaled virtual representation of a non-familiar real-world environment (Google Street View) not only generates optimal navigation in computer generated testing (virtual reality), but also produces better navigation performances when tested in the real-world environment and compared with prior exposure to 2D visual maps (experiment 2). Congenitally blind observers (experiment 3) who have to find their way from memory through a complex non-familiar urban environment perform swiftly and with considerable accuracy after exposure to a 2D tactile map of their itinerary. They are also able to draw a visual image of their itinerary on the basis of the 2D tactile map exposure. Other visually deficient or sighted but blindfolded individuals seem to have greater difficulty in finding their way again than congenitally blind people, regardless of the type of prior exposure to their test itinerary. The findings of this work here are discussed in the light of current hypotheses regarding the presumed intrinsic nature of human spatial representations, replaced herein within a context of working memory models. It is suggested that multi-dimensional temporary storage systems, capable of processing a multitude of sensory input in parallel and with a much larger general capacity than previously considered in terms of working memory limits, need to be taken into account for future research.

When residential segregation is mentioned in news coverage and when it is talked about in everyday discourse in Sweden, it is very often associated with immigration and minority groups living in the poorer areas of the city. A common assumption is that “immigrants” actively withdraw from society and that they choose to live together rather than integrating with the majority population. This study, however, argues that discussions about segregation cannot be limited to the areas where minorities and poorer-income groups live, but must understand segregation as a process occurring in the whole system of urban neighbourhoods. In order to reach a more complete understanding of the ways in which segregation processes are at work in contemporary Swedish cities, knowledge is needed about the inhabitants with greater resources and power to choose their dwellings and residential areas. The neighbourhood choices of more privileged groups, and the socio-spatial reproduction of the areas of the upper-middle class, are investigated by applying a qualitative ethnographic framework. The thesis studies two neighbourhoods located in the post-industrial city of Malmö: Victoria Park, a US-inspired “lifestyle community” which is the first of its kind in Sweden, and Bellevue, older but still one of the most exclusive and high-status neighbourhoods in the city. In order to understand self-segregation among privileged groups, the study especially scrutinises the concepts of class and security as well as the impacts of neoliberalisation on the Swedish housing market. The main argument of the study is that the self-segregation by members of the upper-middle class demonstrates a rift which runs through the urban fabric of Malmö, splintering the city up into perceived separate worlds. The existence of physical, symbolic and social boundaries in Victoria Park and Bellevue reproduces these neighbourhoods as exclusive, private and tranquil spaces of the upper-middle class. By locating themselves in the calm and safe part of the city, the upper-middle class can buy security as a commodity, rather than relying on the welfare state to provide it for them.