Introdução: embora a sequência de aquisições motoras e cognitivas seja previsível, o seu desenvolvimento é fruto da interação de múltiplos fatores relacionados ao indivíduo, suas experiências motoras e seu ambiente de inserção. Objetivo: investigar possíveis relações dos fatores individuais e ambientais familiares com o desenvolvimento motor e cognitivo de bebês ao longo de 4 meses de vida. Metodologia: estudo longitudinal realizado em Porto Alegre, no qual foram avaliados 49 bebês em 3 momentos ao longo de 4 meses. Para avaliação do desenvolvimento dos bebês foram utilizados a Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) e a escala mental da Bayley Scale of Infant Development (BSID-II). Também foram realizados questionários com os responsáveis para caracterização da amostra, do ambiente familiar (Affordances in The Home Environment for Motor Development – Infant Scale), das práticas dos cuidadores (Daily Activities of Infant Scale – DAIS) e do conhecimento sobre o desenvolvimento infantil (Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory – KIDI). Resultados: o desenvolvimento motor teve mudanças significativas ao longo do tempo nos escores bruto e por postura, no percentil houve mudança significativa apenas do 1º para o 2º momento avaliativo e no critério de categorização não houve diferença. O desenvolvimento cognitivo apresentou mudanças significativas apenas no escore bruto; o índice de desenvolvimento mental e a categorização se mantiveram constantes. Houve correlação de nível moderado a forte entre desenvolvimento motor e cognitivo. Na análise de regressão, destaca-se a associação do desenvolvimento motor com os escores cognitivos, práticas dos cuidadores, escolaridade dos pais e renda familiar mensal; e do desenvolvimento cognitivo com o gênero, escores motores, escolaridade dos pais, renda familiar mensal, quantidade de crianças na residência e tempo de creche. Conclusão: observa-se uma maior incidência de associação do desenvolvimento motor e cognitivo dos bebês com fatores do ambiente familiar, em detrimento dos fatores do indivíduo. / Background: Although the sequence of motor and cognitive acquisitions is predictable, the development is the product of interaction of many factors associated to the individual, his motor experiences and his insertion environment. Objective: To investigate possible relationships of individual and environmental family factors with motor and cognitive development of infants over 4 months of life. Methods: longitudinal study in Porto Alegre, which 49 infants were assessed in 3 times over 4 months. Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) and the mental scale of the Bayley Scale of Infant Development (BSID-II) were used to evaluate the development of infants. Questionnaires were also conducted with infant´s responsible for sample characterization, family environment (Affordances in The Home Environment for Motor Development - Infant Scale), caregivers practices (Daily Activities Scale of Infant - DAIS) and knowledge about child development (Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory - KIDI). Results: the motor development had significant changes over time in raw scores and postures scores, there was significant change in the percentile only from the 1st to the 2nd time evaluative and there was no difference in the criteria for categorization. Cognitive development showed significant changes only in the raw score, the mental development index and the categorization remained constant. There was moderate to strong correlation between motor and cognitive development. In regression analysis, the motor development were associated with cognitive scores, caregivers practices, parental education and family income; and the cognitive development were associated with gender, motor scores, parental education, family income, number of children in the and daycare time. Conclusion: there is a higher incidence of association of infant’s motor and cognitive development with factors of family environment, to the detriment of the individual factors.

Objetivos: Investigar possíveis diferenças no desenvolvimento motor e cognitivo de crianças nascidas de mães adolescentes e mães adultas ao longo de quatro meses e os principais preditores biológicos e ambientais do desenvolvimento infantil. Metodologia: Estudo descritivo de caráter desenvolvimental, correlacional e associativo com delineamento longitudinal. Amostra geral de 40 bebês, sendo 20 nascidos de mães adolescentes (idade de 15 a 19 anos) e 20 nascidos de mães adultas (idade de 25 a 39 anos), provenientes da periferia e de Escolas de Educação Infantil dos municípios de Porto Alegre e Butiá, no Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Procedimentos e Instrumentos: Foram realizadas três avaliações ao longo de quatro meses do desenvolvimento motor e cognitivo, com um intervalo de dois meses entre as avaliações. Para a avaliação do desempenho motor foi utilizada a Alberta Motor Infant Scale (AIMS) e do desempenho cognitivo a Bayley Scale of Infant Development II (BSID-II). Para avaliação dos fatores biológicos e ambientais associados ao desempenho motor e cognitivo dos bebês foi entregue aos pais e/ou responsáveis um questionário para identificação destes fatores, que continha características pré, peri e pós-natais do bebê, como data de nascimento, sexo, tipo de parto, semanas de gestação, índice de apgar, peso ao nascer, comprimento ao nascer, perímetro cefálico ao nascer, período (dias) de internação em unidade de terapia intensiva, período em ventilação mecânica, além da renda familiar mensal, tempo de amamentação, cuidador/mãe trabalhar fora, escolaridade, situação conjugal, idade dos pais. Os pais preencheram o questionário Affordances in the Home Enviroment for Motor Development – Infant Scale (AHEMD-IS) para análise do ambiente e do contexto em que a criança está inserida, sendo acrescentadas questões relativas à idade dos pais, se mãe/cuidador trabalha fora, número de irmãos, ordem de nascimento da criança participante e o tempo de aleitamento materno exclusivo em meses. Ainda, o questionário Daily Activities of Infant Scale (DAIS) para avaliação das práticas desempenhadas pelos pais/responsáveis; e o Inventário do Conhecimento do Desenvolvimento Infantil, originalmente denominado Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory (KIDI) para avaliação do conhecimento dos pais acerca do Desenvolvimento Infantil. Todos estes questionários foram realizados em um único momento. Resultados: Os bebês nascidos de mães adolescentes apresentaram menor renda familiar mensal e grau de escolaridade dos pais em comparação com os bebês filhos de mães adultas, assim como menor tempo de aleitamento materno exclusivo. Com relação ao desenvolvimento motor, os escores de cada postura da AIMS e o escore bruto total AIMS apresentaram diferença significativa ao longo do tempo em geral (pt<0,001) e em cada grupo (pint1<0,001). Quanto ao desenvolvimento cognitivo, o escore bruto Bayley também apresentou diferença significativa ao longo do tempo em geral (pt<0,001) e em cada grupo (pint1<0,001), sendo observada melhora do desenvolvimento ao longo do tempo. Não foram observadas diferenças significativas entre os grupos de bebês de mães adolescentes e adultas nos escores das posturas prono, sentado e em pé da AIMS. Entretanto, na postura supina observou-se diferença significativa entre os grupos no terceiro momento de avaliação (pint2=0,046), onde o grupo de bebês de mães adolescentes apresentou escores mais baixos em relação ao grupo de bebês de mães adultas. Não foram encontradas diferenças significativas entre os grupos, independente do tempo, no escore bruto total Bayley (pg=0,661) e MDI Bayley (pg=0,758); e nem entre os grupos em cada momento avaliativo no escore bruto total Bayley (M1pint2=0,708; M2pint2=0,946; M3pint2=0,553) e no MDI Bayley (M1pint2=0,700; M2pint2=0,950; M3pint2=0,828). Houve associação positiva, forte e significativa nos três momentos entre os escores totais da AIMS e Bayley nos bebês de adolescentes (rs=0,828; p<0,001 na 1ª avaliação/ rs=0,746; p<0,001 na 2ª avaliação/ rs=0,767; p<0,001 na 3ª avaliação) e adultas (rs=0,894; p<0,001 na 1ª avaliação/ rs=0,896; p<0,001 na 2ª avaliação/ rs=0,872; p<0,001 na 3ª avaliação), o que nos demonstra haver relação entre os aspectos motores e cognitivos do desenvolvimento da criança. As análises de regressão revelaram como principais preditores para o desempenho motor: o desempenho cognitivo (b=0,588; β=0,880; p<0,001; r2= 0,88), o espaço externo da casa (b=2,307; β=0,269; p=0,045; r2=0,24), a idade materna (b= - 0,767; β= - 0,491; p=0,004; r2= -0,04); e o tempo em creche (b=9,692; β=0,748; p<0,001; r2=0,46); práticas dos pais DAIS (b=2,918; β=0,898; p<0,001; r2=0,79); conhecimento dos pais sobre o desenvolvimento infantil (b=17,694; β=0,250; p=0,009; r2=0,14); posição de prono para dormir (b= -3,751; β= - 0,202; p=0,041; r2=0,50). Nas análises de regressão observou-se associação significativa (p≤0,05) entre desempenho cognitivo e o desempenho motor (b=1,316; β=0,880; p<0,001; r2=0,88), a idade paterna (b= - 0,919; β= -0,439; p=0,010; r2= - 0,12), o tempo em creche (b=12,030; β=0,637; p<0,001; r2=0,42), posição mais ativa durante o colo (b=7,587; β=0,292; p=0,033; r2=0,61) e a posição durante as brincadeiras tranquilas da criança (b= 11,796; β= 0,571; p<0,001; r2=0,73). Conclusões: Não foram observadas diferenças significativas entre os grupos de bebês de mães adolescentes e adultas com relação ao desempenho motor e cognitivo ao longo do tempo, com exceção da postura supina da escala AIMS na terceira avaliação, onde os bebês de mães adolescentes apresentaram escores motores mais baixos. Encontramos associação positiva, forte e significativa entre o desenvolvimento motor e cognitivo em todos os três momentos de avaliação tanto nos bebês de mães adolescentes quanto no de mães adultas. Quanto melhor o desempenho cognitivo melhor é o desempenho motor da criança, da mesma forma que quanto maior o espaço externo da casa, melhores são os resultados do desempenho motor. Quanto mais tempo a criança frequenta a creche, quanto mais adequadas as práticas dos pais e quanto maior o conhecimento dos pais acerca do desenvolvimento infantil, melhor é o desempenho motor da criança. No entanto, quanto maior a idade materna, pior é o desempenho motor do bebê. A posição de prono durante o sono foi associada ao pior desempenho motor dos bebês de mães adolescentes e adultas. O tempo que a criança frequenta creche, o posicionamento da criança no colo e durante as brincadeiras tranquilas foram associados positivamente com o desempenho cognitivo, enquanto a idade paterna apresentou relação inversa, quanto maior a idade do pai, pior é o desempenho cognitivo do bebê. / Objectives: To investigatethe possible differences in motor and cognitive development of children born to teenage and adult mothers over four months and the main biological and environmental predictors to child development. Methodology: A descriptive study using a developmental, correlational and associative approach with longitudinal design. The total sample included 40 infants, 20 born to teenage mothers (aged 15-19 years) and 20 born to adult mothers (aged 25-39 years) from outskirts and Early Childhood Education Schools in Porto Alegre city and the city of Butiá in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. Instruments and Procedures: Three evaluations of motor and cognitive development were performed over four months with a two-month interval between each assessment. Alberta Motor InfantScale (AIMS) was used to evaluate the motor performance, and the BayleyScaleofInfant Development II (BSID-II) to assess the cognitive performance. For the evaluation of biological and environmental factors associated with motor and cognitive performances it was given a questionnaire to parents and/or responsible for the identification of these factors. The questionnaire comprised pre-, peri- and post-natal characteristics of the infant such as birthday, sex, mode of birth delivery, gestational age, Apgar score, weight and length at birth, head circumference at birth, period (days) of stay in the intensive care unit, period on mechanical ventilation, including information about the monthly family income, period of exclusive breastfeeding, whether the mother/caregiver works or not, schooling, marital status and parents age. Parents filled out the questionnaire Affordances in the Home Environment for Motor Development – InfantScale (AHEMD-IS)to assess the environment and context of child’s life and answered questions related to parents age, whether the mother/caregiver works or not, number of siblings, birth order of the child and breastfeeding period in months. The parents also filled out the questionnaire Daily ActivitiesofInfantScale (DAIS) to evaluate the practices performed by them and the questionnaire Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory (KIDI) to assess their knowledge about child development. All questionnaires were applied at the same time. Results: The infants born to teenage mothers showed lower monthly family income and lower parents schooling when compared to the infants born to adult mothers, as well as showed lower period of exclusive breastfeeding. Relative to the motor development, the scores of each position of AIMS and the AIMS total score showed significant difference during overall time (pt<0,001) and in each group (pint1<0,001). Regarding the cognitive development, the Bayley raw score also showed significant difference during the overall time (pt<0,001) and in each group (pint1<0,001), in which a development improvement was observed over time. No significant differences were observed between the groups of infants born to teenage and adult mothers in the scores of prone, sitting and standing position of AIMS. However, in the supine position there was significant difference between the groups in the third stage of evaluation (pint2=0,046), in which the group of infants born to teenage mothers revealed lower scores than those born to adult mothers. No significant differences were found between the groups, independent of time in Bayley raw score (pg=0,661) and Bayley MDI (pg=0,758); neither between the groups in each stage of evaluation in Bayley raw score (M1pint2=0,708; M2pint2=0,946; M3pint2=0,553) and in Bayley MDI (M1pint2=0,700; M2pint2=0,950; M3pint2=0,828). There was a positive, strong, and significant association in three stages between the total scores of AIMS and Bayley in the infants born to teenage mothers (rs=0,828; p<0,001 in the 1st evaluation/rs=0,746; p<0,001 in the 2nd evaluation/rs=0,767; p<0,001 in the 3th evaluation), and born to adult mothers (rs=0,894; p<0,001 in the 1st evaluation/ rs=0,896; p<0,001 in the 2nd evaluation/rs=0,872; p<0,001 in the 3th evaluation), showing an association between the motor and cognitive aspects of the child development. The regression analyzes revealed as main predictors for the motor performance: cognitive performance (b=0,588; β=0,880; p<0,001; r2= 0,88), outdoor space of the house (b=2,307; β=0,269; p=0,045; r2=0,24), mother’s age (b= - 0,767; β= - 0,491; p=0,004; r2= -0,04); time in daycare (b=9,692; β=0,748; p<0,001; r2=0,46); parenting practices DAIS (b=2,918; β=0,898; p<0,001; r2=0,79); parents’ knowledge about child development (b=17,694; β=0,250; p=0,009; r2=0,14); prone sleeping position (b= -3,751; β= - 0,202; p=0,041; r2=0,50). A significant association in the regression analyzes was observed between cognitive and motor performances (b=1,316; β=0,880; p<0,001; r2=0,88), father’s age (b= - 0,919; β= -0,439; p=0,010; r2= - 0,12), time in daycare (b=12,030; β=0,637; p<0,001; r2=0,42), most active position during lap (b=7,587; β=0,292; p=0,033; r2=0,61) and during child’s quiet games (b= 11,796; β= 0,571; p<0,001; r2=0,73). Conclusions: No significant differences were observed between the groups of infants born to teenage and adult mothers in relation to the motor and cognitive performance over time, except for the supine position of the AIMS in the third evaluation, in which infants of teenage mothers showed lower motor scores. We found a positive, strong and significant association between the motor and cognitive development in all three stage of evaluation in both groups of infants. The better the cognitive performance is, the better the motor performance of the child. Likewise, the greater the outdoor space of the house is, the better the results of motor performance. The motor performance of the child is directly associated with longer time in daycare, more appropriate parenting practices, and better parent’s knowledge about child development. However, children of more mature mothers showed a worse motor performance. The prone position during sleep was associated with the worse motor performance of infants born to teenage and adult mothers. The time child attends daycare, the child position on the lap and during its quiet games were positively associated with cognitive performance, whereas the father’s age showed an inverse association, i.e., the more mature father is, the worse cognitive performance of the child.

Orientador: Rosana do Carmo Novaes Pinto / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-17T17:17:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Nader_JuliaMariaVieira_M.pdf: 2090900 bytes, checksum: 1fe7f7a0b8e5f3171cd285e6574fb3a4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: O presente trabalho visa refletir sobre a relação entre surdez, linguagem e cognição, tema que interessa a educadores, psicólogos, psicopedagogos e pesquisadores das neurociências. Embora tenha aumentado o número de trabalhos que se dedicam aos aspectos neurológicos e lingüísticos da surdez, estes geralmente limitam-se a comprovar o papel de certas áreas do córtex cerebral no funcionamento da linguagem, como, por exemplo, a especialização motora da área de Broca. Uma discussão importante para a neurolingüística, na qual esta pesquisa se insere, é a dos efeitos da aquisição tardia de uma língua - focando neste trabalho mais especificamente a aquisição da língua de sinais - para o desenvolvimento cognitivo dos sujeitos surdos. O diagnóstico tardio e, principalmente, a intervenção tardia nos casos de surdez são muito freqüentes, especialmente quando se tratam de famílias ouvintes (SIGOLO 2007). Após o diagnóstico, é comum que ainda haja resistência por parte da família não só para aceitar a condição de surdo da criança, mas também para aceitar a língua de sinais. Assim, o contato tardio com uma língua geralmente se constitui como uma experiência malsucedida. Considerando-se a impossibilidade de um desenvolvimento cognitivo pleno de qualquer ser humano como conseqüência da ausência de uma língua (VYGOTSKY, 1984), questões relacionadas à aquisição tardia merecem especial atenção dos estudos neurolingüísticos e neuropsicológicos. Este trabalho tematiza, portanto, a aquisição tardia da língua de sinais e suas conseqüências para o desenvolvimento cognitivo dos surdos e para sua inserção social. Embora, desde a primeira infância, os surdos estejam inserido no mundo simbólico da linguagem (constituída pela língua falada pela mãe, pelos gestos e sinais usados), o que possibilita o início do desenvolvimento cognitivo, os efeitos da aquisição tardia de uma língua (oral ou de sinais) tornam restritas não só as possibilidades comunicativas da criança em alguns círculos sociais, mas também as possibilidades de aprendizagem de conteúdos (dentre os quais os escolares) veiculados pela língua formal (oral ou de sinais), fundamentais para o desenvolvimento cognitivo. Portanto, a necessidade de políticas lingüísticas que possibilitem aos surdos o contato e a aquisição de uma língua o mais cedo possível se torna imprescindível / Abstract: The present work aims to reflect on the relationship between deafness, language and cognition, which is a concerning topic for educators, psychologists, educational psychologists and researches in the neurosciences. Although the number of researches interested in the neurological and linguistic aspects of deafness has increased, the investigations are limited to proving the role of certain areas of the cerebral cortex in language functioning, such as the motor specialization of Broca's area. An important issue for neurolinguistics is the discussion of the effects of late language acquisition - more specifically of the sign language - to the cognitive development of deaf subjects. Late diagnosis and mainly the late intervention in cases of deafness are very common, especially in hearing families (SIGOLO, 2007). It is common to encounter after the diagnosis a resistance within families not only on accepting the condition of the deaf child, but also the sign language. Therefore, the late contact with a language is generally established as an unsatisfactory experiment. Given the impossibility of a full cognitive development of any human being without a language (VYGOTSKY, 1984), issues related to late acquisition deserve special attention of neurolinguistic and neuropsychological studies. This paper deals, therefore, with the late acquisition of sign language and its consequences for the cognitive development of deaf subjects and their social integration. Although they are embedded in the symbolic world of language from their early childhood (which enables the initiation of the cognitive development), the effects of late acquisition of a language (oral or sign) restrict not only the communicative possibilities of the child in some social contexts, but also the possibilities of learning in educational contexts, which are conveyed by formal language (oral or sign), which is essential for cognitive development. Therefore, the necessity for language policies that enable deaf subjects the contact with language and its early acquisition is critical / Mestrado / Linguistica / Mestre em Linguística

Orientadores: Ivone Panhoca, Maria de Lurdes Zanolli / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Ciencias Medicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-15T11:36:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Castro_GlendaSaccomano_M.pdf: 463971 bytes, checksum: ace53da431d57b4b81a3f6894e2f4be4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo analisar o processo de interação comunicativa entre duas crianças com síndrome de Down e comportamentos autísticos, com idades de 9 e 12 anos, e entre estas e a terapeuta, enfocando modalidades de comunicação verbal e não-verbal estabelecidas durante brincadeiras de faz-deconta. As crianças frequentam diariamente uma instituição especial localizada no interior do Estado de São Paulo, e apresentam histórias de vida peculiares: uma delas reside em um orfanato desde os 3 meses de idade e a outra reside com a avó paterna, por determinação judicial, devido a uma história conturbada de episódios de agressão, rejeição e negligência por parte da mãe. Tais histórias configuram, portanto, quadros importantes do ponto de vista sócio-histórico afetivo. O estudo foi norteado pelos princípios da pesquisa qualitativa participante de orientação sócio-histórica. A coleta dos dados foi realizada durante sessões fonoaudiológicas semanais na instituição frequentada pelas crianças, em um período de 6 meses, com aproximadamente uma hora de duração cada. Após a seleção dos episódios considerados mais significativos para o propósito deste estudo (a partir da vídeo-gravação das sessões realizadas e posterior transcrição) os dados foram analisados considerando-se tanto as premissas da análise microgenética (que evidenciam a análise minuciosa de um processo) quanto as formulações do paradigma indiciário (que apontam para a importância dos pormenores, dos indícios). Os resultados mostraram que, a partir da mediação da terapeuta, as crianças apresentaram, com maior frequência, intenção comunicativa e interesse pela interação, inclusive com utilização da comunicação não-verbal e início da comunicação verbal por parte de uma delas, durante as brincadeiras de faz-de-conta. Concluiu-se, portanto, que as crianças apresentaram desenvolvimento qualitativo na interação comunicativa, tanto entre elas quanto entre elas e a terapeuta, possibilitando a construção e o compartilhamento de significados, com a inserção destes sujeitos nas situações ali vivenciadas / Abstract: This research objective was to analyze the communicative interaction process of two children, aged 9 and 12, who showed autistic behaviors associated to Down syndrome, and between these two children and their therapist, focusing in on verbal and non-verbal communication modalities performed during make-believe activities. The children attend a special institution located in the interior of São Paulo State daily, and they have peculiar life stories: one of them has been living in an orphanage since the age of 3 months, and the other lives with their paternal mother, as determined by the law due to a disturbed life with episodes of aggression, rejection and negligence inflicted by the mother, from the socio-historical-affective point of view. The study has been guided by the qualitative research principles that take part in the sociohistorical orientation. The data were collected during weekly sessions with a phono-audiologist in the institution they go to, in a period of 6 months, each session lasting approximately one hour. After selecting the most significant episodes for this study, done through videotaping the sessions and getting the transcripts; the data have been analyzed taking into account the premises of micro genetics analyses (that evidence the detailed analyzes of a process); regarding the evidence paradigm formulations (that point to the importance of details, evidences). The results have shown that, starting with a therapist's mediation, the children present communicative intention and interest in interaction more frequently, using non-verbal communication and a start of verbal communication (one of them), during make-believe activities. Therefore, it has been concluded that children show qualitative development in communicative interaction, as much as among themselves as between them and the therapist, which makes it possible to build up and share meanings, introducing these subjects into the situations experienced there / Mestrado / Saude da Criança e do Adolescente / Mestre em Saude da Criança e do Adolescente

This thesis aimed partly to examine the effects of gender on conversation dynamics, partly to investigate whether interaction between participants with contrasting opinions promotes cognitive development on a moral task. Another objective was to explore whether particular conversational features of interaction would have any impact upon a pair’s joint response or on each child’s moral development. The conversations were coded with regard to simultaneous speech acts, psychosocial behaviour and types of justifications used. The results show no gender differences regarding psychosocial processes, but the boys used more negative interruptions, more overlaps and significantly proportionately more justifications in the form of assertions than the girls in the study. Gender differences were often more pronounced in same-gender as opposed to mixed-gender pairs, but children also altered their behaviour to accommodate to the gender of their conversational partner. Children who participated in the interaction phase of the study showed more overall progress on an eight-weeks delayed post-test than those who did not. However the only conversational feature that was related to the outcomes of conversation and development was the use of expiatory force justifications which were associated with a more advanced reply immediately after interaction as well as two weeks later.

The situated approach in cognitive science and artificial intelligence (AI) has argued since the mid-1980s that intelligent behaviour emerges as a result of a close coupling between agent and environment. Lately, many researchers have emphasized that in addition to the physical environment, the social environment must not be neglected. In this thesis we will focus on the nature of social situatedness, and the aim of this dissertation is to investigate its role and relevance for natural and artificial intelligence. This thesis brings together work from separate areas, presenting different perspectives on the role and mechanisms social situatedness. More specifically, we will analyse Vygotsky's cognitive development theory, studies of primate (and avian) intelligence, and last, but not least, work in contemporary socially situated AI. These, at a first glance, quite different fields have a lot in common since they particularly stress the importance of social embeddedness for the development of individual intelligence. Combining these separate perspectives, we analyse the remaining differences between natural and artificial social situatedness. Our conclusion is that contemporary socially artificial intelligence research, although heavily inspired by empirical findings in human infants, tends to lack the developmental dimension of situatedness. Further we discuss some implications for research in cognitive science and AI.

Iodine is necessary for thyroid hormones synthesis which in turn are essential for brain development during fetal and early postnatal life. In these critical periods, severe iodine deficiency can induce irreversible brain damage in the fetus and the infant, resulting in retarded cognitive and/or psychomotor development. Despite the introduction of salt iodization programs such as national measures to control iodine deficiency, some European countries, including Belgium, are still affected by Mild Iodine Deficiency (MID) and MID during pregnancy may affect neurodevelopment of the offspring. Elevated thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) concentration (>5mU/l) at birth has been used as an indicator of iodine deficiency during late pregnancy and at the population level. This doctoral research aimed to investigate the association between neonatal TSH level, used as a surrogate marker of MID during late pregnancy, and cognitive, psychomotor and psychosocial development of preschool children. It was hypothesized that elevation of TSH at birth is associated with impaired intellectual and psychomotor development and with behavioral problems at 4-5 years. As the use of TSH as an indicator of iodine deficiency has been criticized, we have also set out to assess the potential factors influencing neonatal TSH level measured through neonatal screening using a representative sample of TSH values between 0 and 15 mIU/L. Additionally, we aimed to reevaluate the neonatal TSH cut-off (5mIU/L) used to monitor iodine status in the population. The objective was to evaluate the cut-off point from which we can observe the impairment of children’s neurodevelopment. We hypothesized that this is a good way to establish the best cut-off value for identifying iodine deficiency.The study included 315 Belgian preschool children with a TSH concentration between 0 and 15 mU/L at screening. For each sex and TSH-interval (0-1 mU/L, 1-2 mU/L, 2-3 mU/L, 3-4 mU/L, 4-5 mU/L, 5-6 mU/L, 6-7 mU/L, 7-8 mU/L, 8-9 mU/L, 9-15 mU/L) 19 newborns were randomly selected after excluding infants with congenital hypothyroidism, low birth weight and premature infants. Neonatal TSH was measured in dried blood spots collected by heel stick 3 to 5 days after birth using the Autodelphia method. Cognitive abilities and psychomotor development were assessed using respectively the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-III and the Charlop-Atwell scale of motor coordination. Psychosocial development was measured using the Child Behavior Check List for ages 1½-5 years. In addition, the mothers completed a self-administered questionnaire in order to account for confounding factors. No association between neonatal TSH within the range of 0 to 15 mIU/L - a surrogate marker for mild iodine deficiency during pregnancy and neurocognitive development was present in Belgian preschool children. The current level of iodine deficiency in Belgium is probably not severe enough to affect the neurodevelopment of children. In this study, we were able to identify several maternal and pregnancy related determinants of neonatal TSH levels. Higher TSH levels were associated with a lifetime (up to child birth) smoking behavior in the mother, a lower weight gain during pregnancy, a longer pregnancy duration. Higher TSH levels were found in spring and winter compared to summer and autumn. It is not advised to use elevated neonatal TSH levels at birth as an indicator of iodine deficiency during late pregnancy without taking potential covariates into account. Given the fact that no association was found between TSH and developmental scores in the children, we cannot evaluate the cut-off point from which we can observe the impairment of children’s neurodevelopment. / Doctorat en Sciences psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Symmetry suppression was conducted for five subjects who demonstrated a tendency to derive equivalence relations based on conditional discrimination training in a match-to-sample procedure. Symmetry suppression was applied in three consecutive sessions in which symmetrical responses were suppressed for one stimulus class in the first condition, two stimulus classes in the second condition, and all three stimulus classes in the final condition. Symmetry suppression slowed the emergence of transitivity for two subjects and prevented it for the other three. Results indicated that unplanned features of stimulus configurations emerged as discriminative variables that controlled selection responses and altered the function of consequent stimuli. Disruption of cognitive development by conflicting contingencies in natural learning environments is discussed.

Language may play a key role in determining the relation between motivation and higher-order cognitive processes, as language has been shown to have a motivational function in preschoolers (Chiu & Alexander, 2000) and has also been implicated in the development of executive functioning (Hughes & Graham, 2002). The particular aspect of language which may best serve to connect these processes is self-directed speech (i.e., private speech) as the production of private speech is an indication of language and thought merging to form a new level of cognitive organization (Berk, 1992; Chiu & Alexander, 2000). Determining if the relation between motivational orientations and executive functioning can be mediated by private speech was examined to provide insight into the way in which motivational orientations and cognitive skills are related. In order to explore the role of private speech as a mediator, 4- to 6-year-old children were administered two EF tasks, the Tinkertoy test and the Tower of Hanoi, during which the impact of various reward contingencies on EF performance and self-directed speech elicitation was investigated. Although relations were found between measures of motivation, private speech, and EF performance, private speech did not act as a generative mechanism through which motivation influenced children’s performance on the EF tasks. This study represents the first attempt to explore such a mediational model in this age group and results provide preliminary information about how private speech, motivation, and EF are related with regard to children’s goal directed behaviors.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The aim of this study was to prospectively, evaluate the effectiveness of an individually designed home-based physical activity programme in combination with massage therapy, on motor and cognitive development in children infected with HIV. This study used a randomized controlled trial design. One hundred and twenty-eight infants and toddlers (children) were recruited between March 2010 and September 2010 and randomly allocated to receive either an individually designed home-based physical activity programme in combination with massage therapy or standard treatment and massage on a 1:1 ratio. Motor and cognitive development was measured using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development third edition (Bayley-III)