Os objetivos deste trabalho são avaliar o papel da atenção na percepção de tempo em jovens, idosos e pacientes com a doença de Alzheimer (DA). Nosso trabalho experimental consiste em 4 experimentos. Os experimentos 1 e 2 avaliaram a percepção de tempo em jovens, empregando tarefas de reprodução e de discriminação de durações temporais, respectivamente. Os resultados mostram um efeito atencional nas durações curtas com menor d. Os experimentos 3 e 4 compararam a percepção de tempo entre jovens, idosos e pacientes com DA, empregando tarefas de reprodução e de discriminação de tempo, respectivamente. Os resultados mostram um pior desempenho de idosos e pacientes com DA em relação aos jovens, que parece corresponder a uma deficiência atencional. Concluímos que a modulação da atenção apresenta papel fundamental e crítico na percepção de tempo e os déficits na percepção de tempo em idosos e em pacientes com DA parecem estar associada a uma menor quantidade de recursos atencionais ou a uma dificuldade de focar a atenção. / Our work focused on the attentional modulation of the perception of time. Additionally, other objective was to study the effect of aging and Alzheimers disease (DA) on temporal perception. We have performed four experiments. The first and the second experiments evaluated time perception in young volunteers, by means of the reproduction and discrimination of time intervals, respectively. The results showed an effect of attention on short durations, confirmed by d. The third and fourth experiments had the objective to compare time perception among young volunteers, elderly and DA patients, utilizing reproduction and discrimination of time intervals, respectively. Our findings showed a worse performance in both elderly volunteers and patients with DA in comparison with the group of young volunteers. Our conclusion is that time perception deficits in elderly and patients with DA are associated either to lesser attentional resources or to an increased difficulty in focusing attention on the target, which is more evident in patients suffering of DA.

A ocorrência repetida de um estímulo sensorial precedendo o estímulo alvo geralmente reduz o tempo de reação (TR). Este efeito tem sido atribuído à atenção temporal mobilizada pelo estímulo precedente que facilitaria a resposta no momento em que o estímulo alvo fosse esperado. Examinamos a atuação da estimulação precedente em tarefas de TR de discriminação sensorial. Em um primeiro experimento testamos noventa e seis adultos jovens de ambos os sexos. Metade dos participantes realizou uma tarefa de TR que exigia a localização (esquerda ou direita) dos estímulos alvos visuais ou auditivos. A outra metade dos participantes realizou uma tarefa de TR que exigia a identificação da forma, no caso de estímulos visuais, e da seqüência de tons, no caso de estímulos auditivos. O estímulo alvo visual podia ser um círculo ou uma elipse. O estímulo alvo auditivo podia ser uma seqüência ascendente constituída por um tom de 1000 Hz seguido por um tom de 3000 Hz ou uma seqüência descendente formada por um tom de 3000 Hz seguido por um tom de 1000 Hz. A resposta consistiu em pressionar uma tecla com a mão esquerda ou a direita dependendo do estímulo alvo o mais rápido possível. O estímulo alvo podia ser precedido pelo piscar de um retângulo com as dimensões da tela do monitor de vídeo ou por um tom de 300 Hz e 57 dB. A assincronia entre o início dos dois estímulos (AIE) podia ser de 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 ou 1600 ms, em blocos de tentativas separados. Nas tarefas de localização, o estímulo precedente visual produziu efeito facilitador na AIE de 400 ms quando o estímulo alvo era visual. O estímulo precedente auditivo produziu efeito facilitador nas AIE de 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 e de 1600 ms quando o estímulo alvo era visual e nas AIE de 400, 800 e 1600 ms quando o estímulo alvo era auditivo. Nas tarefas de identificação, o estímulo precedente auditivo produziu efeito facilitador nas AIE de 200 e 400 ms quando o estímulo alvo era visual e nas AIE de 400, 800 e 1600 ms quando o estímulo alvo era auditivo. Em um segundo experimento, equilibramos o nível de dificuldade das tarefas de discriminação visual com estimulação precedente auditiva. Doze participantes realizaram uma tarefa de TR que exigia a localização do estímulo (acima e abaixo do ponto de fixação, tanto à esquerda como à direita). Outros doze participantes realizaram uma tarefa de TR que exigia a identificação da forma para a escolha da mão de resposta. Na tarefa de localização, o estímulo precedente auditivo produziu um efeito facilitador que não diferiu entre as AIE. Na tarefa de identificação, o estímulo precedente auditivo produziu efeito facilitador na AIE de 400 ms. A mobilização da atenção temporal e sua atuação ao longo do tempo dependem do tipo de tarefa realizada e da natureza do estímulo precedente e do estímulo alvo. Estímulos auditivos mobilizam mais intensamente a atenção temporal do que estímulos visuais / The repeated occurrence of a prime stimulus preceding a target stimulus reduces a reaction time (RT). This effect has been usually attributed to the temporal attention mobilized by the prime stimulus which would facilitate the response at the moment that the target stimulus is expected. We systematically examined the influence of temporal attention on RT in sensory discrimination tasks. In one experiment we tested ninety-six young adults of both sexes. Half of the participants carried out a task which required the identification of the location of appearance of target auditory or visual stimuli (left or right). The other half of the participants carried out a task which required the identification of the shape, in the case of visual stimuli, and tones sequence, in the case of auditory stimuli. The visual target stimulus could be a circle or an ellipse. The auditory target stimulus could be an ascending sequence formed by a 1000 Hz tone followed by a 3000 Hz tone or a descending sequence formed by a 3000 Hz tone followed by a 1000 Hz tone. The response was a key press, which should be performed as fast as possible. The target stimulus could be preceded by the flashing of the border of the screen or by a 57 dB 300 Hz tone. The stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA) could be 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 or 1600 ms, in separated blocks of trials. In the identification tasks location, the visual prime stimulus produced facilitatory effect for SOA of 400 ms when the target stimulus was visual. The auditory prime stimulus produced a facilitatory effect for SOA of 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, and of 1600 ms when the target stimulus was visual and for SOA of 400, 800, and 1600 ms when the target stimulus was auditory. In the tasks of object identification, the auditory prime stimulus produced a facilitatory effect for SOA of 200 and 400 ms when the target stimulus was visual and for SOA of 400, 800 and 1600 ms when the target stimulus was auditory. In another experiment, we balanced the level of difficult of the visual discrimination tasks. We tested only the auditory prime stimulus. Twelve participants carried out a task which required the identification of the location of the target stimulus (upper and lower visual hemifield on left or right of the fixation point). Another twelve participants carried out a task which required the identification of the shape of the target stimulus. In the task of location identification, the auditory prime stimulus produced a facilitatory effect independent of the SOA. In the task of shape identification, the auditory prime stimulus produced a facilitatory effect for SOA of 400 ms. The mobilization of temporal attention and the time course depend on the type of task being performed and the nature of the prime and the target stimulus. Auditory prime stimuli mobilize temporal attention more intensely than visual prime stimulus

La métacognition concerne à la fois les connaissances des individus sur leur fonctionnement cognitif et les processus qui permettent de les réguler (Koriat, 2007). Or, l’étude de la perception du temps a mis en évidence que de nombreux éléments peuvent provoquer des distorsions temporelles, notamment, par exemple, l’attention ou les feedbacks. L’objectif de ce travail est donc de proposer un modèle intégratif de la métacognition de la perception du temps ; autrement dit d’intégrer les données issues des recherches classiques sur la perception du temps au sein d’un modèle métacognitif (Nelson et Narens, 1990).Notre première question était de vérifier l’existence de connaissances sur la perception du temps, et en particulier sur les facteurs à l’origine de distorsions temporelles. Les 3 expériences de notre première étude nous ont conduit à créer et valider le Questionnaire Métacognitif sur le Temps (MQT). Ce dernier, constitué de 24 items, met en évidence l’existence de connaissances plus fiables pour soi (sous-échelle Soi, 12 items) que pour autrui (sous-échelle Autrui, 12 items), sur deux facteurs connus pour affecter la perception du temps : le facteur Emotion (4 items) et le facteur Attention (8 items).Dans un deuxième temps, nous avons étudié l’influence des processus métacognitifs sur les jugements temporels. Ainsi, nous nous sommes intéressées à l’influence du processus de Contrôle métacognitif sur la performance à deux tâches temporelles. Notre hypothèse était que les connaissances sur le temps permettaient de réguler les jugements temporels. Les résultats de nos deux études (Etude 2 et 3, respectivement composées de une et deux expériences) ont confirmé l’importance du processus de Contrôle dans le jugement temporel. Ainsi, la simple conscience du rôle de l’attention sur la perception du temps provoque une réduction de l’effet attentionnel généralement observé (Etude 2). De plus, les connaissances explicites, erronées, données aux individus, provoquent une réduction voire une disparition de l’effet émotionnel automatique de la colère sur les jugements temporels (Etude 3). Enfin, nous avons exploré le lien entre processus de Monitoring et jugements temporels. Notre quatrième étude a mis en évidence la capacité des individus à estimer précisément la justesse de leurs jugements temporels sous certaines conditions. En effet, il apparaît que les individus sont sensibles à la difficulté de la tâche et à la gamme de durée. Ces deux dimensions affectent à la fois les jugements temporels et les jugements de certitude.Dans l’ensemble, les résultats de ce travail soulignent l’importance qu’il y a à tenir compte des processus métacognitifs dans l’étude de la perception du temps. / Metacognition concerns both individuals' knowledge about their cognitive functioning and the processes that regulate them (Koriat, 2007). The study of the perception of time showed that many factors cause temporal distortions, including, for example, attention or feedback. The purpose of this work is thus to propose an integrative model of metacognition of time perception; i.e. to integrate data based on conventional research on the perception of time in a metacognitive model (Nelson and Narens 1990).Our first question was to verify the existence of knowledge about the perception of time, especially on the factors responsible for temporal distortions. The three experiments of our first study led us to create and validate the Metacognitive Questionnaire on Time (MQT). The latter consists of 24 items that highlights the existence of knowledge, more reliable for oneself (subscale Self, 12 items) than for others (subscale Others, 12 items), on two factors known to affect time perception: an Emotion Factor (4 items) and an Attention factor (8 items).Secondly, we studied the influence of metacognitive processes on temporal judgments. Thus, we are interested in the influence of metacognitive Control process on performances in two temporal tasks. Our hypothesis was that knowledge about time allowed regulating the temporal judgments. The results of our studies (Study 2 and 3, respectively composed of one and two experiments) confirmed the importance of the Control process on temporal judgments. Thus, mere awareness of the role of attention on perception of time causes a reduction of the attentional effect generally observed (Study 2). Moreover, explicit erroneous knowledge given to participants causes a reduction or even disappearance of automatic emotional effect of anger on the temporal judgments (Study 3). Finally, we have explored the link between Monitoring process and temporal judgments. Our fourth study demonstrated the ability of individuals to accurately estimate the accuracy of their temporal judgments under certain conditions. Indeed, it appears that individuals are sensitive to task difficulty and duration range. These two dimensions affect both temporal judgments and confidence level estimates.Overall, the results of this study emphasize the importance to take account of metacognitive processes in the study of the perception of time.

Classical value estimation reinforcement learning algorithms do not perform very well in dynamic environments. On the other hand, the reinforcement learning of animals is quite flexible: they can adapt to dynamic environments very quickly and deal with noisy inputs very effectively. One feature that may contribute to animals' good performance in dynamic environments is that they learn and perceive the time to reward. In this research, we attempt to learn and perceive the time to reward and explore situations where the learned time information can be used to improve the performance of the learning agent in dynamic environments. The type of dynamic environments that we are interested in is that type of switching environment which stays the same for a long time, then changes abruptly, and then holds for a long time before another change. The type of dynamics that we mainly focus on is the time to reward, though we also extend the ideas to learning and perceiving other criteria of optimality, e.g. the discounted return, so that they can still work even when the amount of reward may also change. Specifically, both the mean and variance of the time to reward are learned and then used to detect changes in the environment and to decide whether the agent should give up a suboptimal action. When a change in the environment is detected, the learning agent responds specifically to the change in order to recover quickly from it. When it is found that the current action is still worse than the optimal one, the agent gives up this time's exploration of the action and then remakes its decision in order to avoid longer than necessary exploration. The results of our experiments using two real-world problems show that they have effectively sped up learning, reduced the time taken to recover from environmental changes, and improved the performance of the agent after the learning converges in most of the test cases compared with classical value estimation reinforcement learning algorithms. In addition, we have successfully used spiking neurons to implement various phenomena of classical conditioning, the simplest form of animal reinforcement learning in dynamic environments, and also pointed out a possible implementation of instrumental conditioning and general reinforcement learning using similar models.

La thèse, intitulée « Essai sur la Théorie de l’Actualisation : Utilité Escomptée Subjective et Sensibilité à la Variation », s’inscrit dans le périmètre de recherche associé à la théorie de la décision intertemporelle et s’engage précisément dans deux sentiers qui ont été, jusqu’à présent, relativement peu exploités. D’une part, elle s’interroge sur la diversité observée – et modélisée – des mécanismes d’actualisation en cherchant à expliquer une telle diversité sur la base d’une structure comportementale unique (Partie I. Une investigation de l’actualisation). D’autre part, face à cette diversité croissante des mécanismes d’actualisation recensés, la thèse s’interroge sur la condition de cohérence temporelle en cherchant à caractériser des préférences temporelles cohérentes sur la base de la même structure comportementale définie dans la première partie (Partie II. Une investigation de la cohérence temporelle). / The thesis, entitled “Essay on the Discounting Theory: Subjective Discounted Utility and Variation Sensibility”, gathers a set of theoretical works related to Intertemporal Decision Theory. In particular, two unexploited fields are investigated. On one hand, the thesis explains the great heterogeneity in discounting by a single behavioral pattern called time perception. A general axiomatic model, the Subjective Discounted Utility, generalizes any Discounted Utility model by associating each discount mechanism to a unique time perception (Part I. An Investigation of Discounting). Many applications are dedicated to extreme time horizons. On the other hand, the Subjective Discounted Utility model is applied to a general study of time consistent preferences. Axiomatic conditions are defined on time preferences to characterize time consistent and time inconsistent preferences (Part II. An Investigation of Time Consistency).

The diploma thesis investigates the subjective perception of time, especially the exactness of the interval length estimation, subjective passage of time, in relation to the time perspective, the level of difficulty in emotion regulation and age. Furthermore, the thesis investigates differences in retrospective and prospective paradigm in interval length estimate. Research was conducted online, with a total number of 180 respondents. Data collection had occurred during a 4 month period. Main instruments were the Czech versions of the ZTPI - Zimbardo's time perspective inventory and the DERS-SF-CZ - Difficulty in emotion regulation scale; moreover, for the declaration of subjective passage of time was employed a method of verbal estimation. Subjective interval length was registered after finishing rewriting of two short texts. The results have showed statistically significant relationships between subjective passage of time and age; between the level of difficulty in emotion regulation and subjective passage of time. Amongst the persons orientated onto positive and negative past, there was found a significant relationship between the subjective passage of time and the difficulty in emotion regulation. Results have also shown that the interval length is overestimated in both, prospective and...

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Personer med kognitiva nedsättningar tillhör en av de största grupperna av funktionsnedsatta personer. Premium Comai är ett hjälpmedel för att hjälpa personer med kognitiva nedsättningar att bli mer självständiga i deras vardag. Denna målgrupp har framförallt svårigheter med de exekutiva funktionerna så till exempel att minnas saker de ska genomföra eller att uppfatta hur lång tid aktiviteter tar. Denna studie undersöker hur användandet av en digital kalender som hjälpmedel för personer med kognitiva nedsättningar ser ut och hur användare av upplever hjälpmedlet, om de upplever att det hjälper dem planera sin tid och att komma ihåg. För att undersöka detta intervjuades användare av Premium Comai, där intervjutekniken var semistrukturerade intervjuer. Användare upplever att hjälpmedlet är enkelt att använda och att det hjälper dem planera sin tid. Premium Comai skapar trygghet. / People with cognitive impairments belong to one of the largest groups of disabled persons. Premium Comai is a tool to help people with cognitive impairments to become more independent in their daily lives. These peoples have particular difficulties with the executive functions such as remembering things or to perceive the time an activity will take. This study examines how the use of a digital calendar that is accessible for people with cognitive impairments, how users perceive the means, if they feel it helps them manage their time and to remember. To examine this, users of Premium Comai were interviewed, using semi-structured interviews. Users perceive that the device is easy to use and it helps them to plan their time. Premium Comai makes users feel safe.