En utilisant des approches qualitative and quantitative cette thèse démontre que les aspects intangibles des espaces architecturaux influencent le bien-être humain. Le but est de faire savoir que les espaces intérieurs ont un impact sur le bien-être et que l’architecture peut être considérée comme une solution pour satisfaire les besoins des usagers. Dans la première étude, l’approche qualitative est explorée en utilisant la narration pour identifier les aspects intangibles des espaces intérieurs qui affectent le bien-être. Une discussion s’articule autour du Modèle de Réponses Expérientielles des Humains (Model of Human Experiential Responses to Space) et de son importance comme outil pour déterrer les caractéristiques environnementales qui influencent le bien-être et qui peut être utile pour les professionnels du design. Les résultats démontrent que 43 catégories sont interprétées comme étant des aspects intangibles et servent de canevas pour trois autres études. Les résultats démontrent que certaines caractéristiques environnementales similaires dans les résidences et les bureaux augmentent le sentiment de satisfaction et de bien-être. Dans la deuxième étude, une approche quantitative est explorée en utilisant les neurosciences et l’architecture afin de mesurer comment les espaces architecturaux affectent le bien-être. Le concept de neuroscience / environnement / comportement est utilisé où huit corrélats neuroscientifiques (Zeisel 2006) sont investigués afin de mesurer les effets du cerveau sur les espaces architecturaux. Les résultats démontrent que l’environnement peut affecter l’humeur, le niveau d’attention et le niveau de stress chez les humains et peut également augmenter leur performance. Les deux études contribuent aux connaissances que les caractéristiques environnementales affectent l’humeur et le niveau de satisfaction de la même façon dans les espaces résidentiels et dans les espaces de bureaux. Un bon environnement qui énergise les employés peut affecter leur performance au travail de façon positive (Vischer 2005). / This research uses qualitative and quantitative approaches in order to demonstrate how intangible aspects of architectural spaces influence human well-being. The goal is to increase awareness that interior spaces do impact human well-being and that architecture can be regarded as a solution to satisfy space users’ needs. In the first study a qualitative approach is explored through narrative inquiry in order to identify intangible aspects of residential and office spaces that affect human well-being. A discussion is built around the Model of Human Experiential Responses to Space and its purpose as a tool to unearth environmental characteristics that enhance well-being and can be of value to design professionals. Results show that 43 categories are interpreted as being intangible aspects of architectural spaces that influence human well-being. These categories are then used for three other studies to find out if there are any underlying regularities in environmental characteristics that affect user moods and feelings. Results show that similar environmental characteristics heighten sense of satisfaction and well-being for both residential and office space users. In the second study, a quantitative approach is applied to neurosciences and architecture in order to measure how architectural spaces influence human well-being. Neuroscience and environment / behaviour concepts are used where eight brain-based neuroscientific correlates (Zeisel 2006) are investigated in order to measure brain effects on architectural spaces. Neuroscientific outcomes reveal that the environment can affect human moods, ability to focus attention and stress levels and may also heighten task performance. Both studies contribute to knowing how space users feel environmental characteristics affect their mood and satisfaction. They reveal that people’s moods may be affected similarly in residential or office space settings and that a good environment that energizes employees will affect their work performance in a positive way (Vischer 2005).

O presente trabalho propõe pesquisar a relação entre processos mentais, improvisação musical e performance. Realiza essa investigação partindo da perspectiva da psicologia cognitiva das décadas de 1980 e 1990 que concebe a improvisação musical enquanto um sistema de expertise. Incorpora à pesquisa as novas abordagens fundamentadas em princípios da neurociência realizadas na primeira década do século XXI, que investigam a improvisação enquanto um comportamento criativo espontâneo e, através de experimentos com neuroimagem funcional, buscam as possíveis bases cerebrais para a criatividade. O objetivo deste estudo é apropriar-se de parte do conhecimento produzido pela psicologia cognitiva e pela neurociência acerca dos mecanismos psicológicos e neurobiológicos que geram a improvisação, a fim de sugerir possíveis interfaces entre esse conhecimento, as rotinas de estudo do músico improvisador e as estratégias pedagógicas do professor de improvisação. / This paper intends to research the relationship between mental processes, musical improvisation and performance. The investigation starts from the cognitive psychology perspective in the 1980s and 1990s, considered a system of expertise, and go forward on new approaches, based on principles of neuroscience from the first decade of this century, that understood the cognitive psychology as a creative and spontaneous behavior. Through experiments with functional neuroimaging, the study reffered here in seeks the possible cerebral basis for creativity. The aim of this study is to appropriate part of the knowledge, produced by cognitive psychology and neuroscience, about the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms that generate improvisation. The research suggests, eventually, possible interfaces between cognitive psychology and neuroscience, the routines of study for an improvising musician and the pedagogical strategies of a teacher of improvisation.

La Teoria della Mente (ToM) capacità di rappresentarsi gli stati mentali propri e altrui e di farvi riferimento per prevedere e spiegare il comportamento proprio e altrui riveste un ruolo fondamentale nelle interazioni sociali per un efficace adattamento all'ambiente. Dopo essere stata a lungo indagata in età evolutiva, recentemente la ricerca sulla ToM ha effettuato uno shifting verso fasi successive del ciclo di vita (età adulta ed età anziana) aprendo un nuovo filone di studio in prospettiva life-span. Oggetto della presente tesi di dottorato è lo studio della ToM in prospettiva life-span con tre obiettivi: (1) studiare l'evoluzione della ToM in età adulta e le sue possibile relazioni con la capacità di decision-making, anch'essa dall'alto valore adattivo; (2) studiare la possibile involuzione della ToM in età anziana in condizioni di normalità e di patologia (mild-Alzheimer's disease); (3) indagare i correlati neurali della ToM con metodiche di neuroimaging (fMRI) in soggetti adulti, anziani sani e anziani clinici (Mild Cognitive Impairment, MCI). Le tre ricerche empiriche condotte nella presente tesi di dottorato hanno consentito di rilevare rispettivamente che: (1) la ToM è altamente implicata nei processi di decision-making in età adulta; (2) la ToM subisce una involuzione nei soggetti anziani clinici sin dai livelli più semplici di tale abilità; (3) i circuiti neurali della ToM inizierebbero a mostrare una parziale deattivazione in soggetti anziani clinici rispetto a soggetti di controllo anziani e adulti. / Theory of Mind (ToM) the ability to meta-represent self and others' mental states and to refer to them to foresee and explain the behaviour plays a crucial role in social interactions to provide a successful adaptation to the environment. After being extensively studied in developmental psychology, the research on ToM has recently undergone a shifting towards other life-ages (adulthood and elderly) thus opening a new field if research in a life-span perspective. The object of this PhD thesis is to study of ToM in a life-span perspective with three goals: (1) to study ToM evolution in adult age and to discover its possible relations with the ability of decision-making, which has a major adaptive role as well; (2) to study the possible decay of ToM in old age in normal and clinical conditions (mild-Alzheimer's disease); (3) to study the neural circuits of ToM with neuroimaging methods (fMRI) in adults, healthy old subjects and clinical old subjects (Mild Cognitive Impairment, MCI). The three empiric researches carried on for this PhD thesis provided the following major findings: (1) ToM is highly involved in decision-making processes in adult age; (2) ToM undergoes a decay in clinical old subjects with onset from very simple levels of this ability; (3) ToM neural circuits seem to show a partial deactivation in clinical old subjects and not in healthy old and adult controls.

Le but de cette thèse est d'étudier les corrélats comportementaux et neuronaux du transfert inter-linguistique (TIL) dans l'apprentissage d’une langue seconde (L2). Compte tenu de nos connaissances sur l'influence de la distance linguistique sur le TIL (Paradis, 1987, 2004; Odlin, 1989, 2004, 2005; Gollan, 2005; Ringbom, 2007), nous avons examiné l'effet de facilitation de la similarité phonologique à l’aide de la résonance magnétique fonctionnelle entre des langues linguistiquement proches (espagnol-français) et des langues linguistiquement éloignées (persan-français). L'étude I rapporte les résultats obtenus pour des langues linguistiquement proches (espagnol-français), alors que l'étude II porte sur des langues linguistiquement éloignées (persan-français). Puis, les changements de connectivité fonctionnelle dans le réseau langagier (Price, 2010) et dans le réseau de contrôle supplémentaire impliqué dans le traitement d’une langue seconde (Abutalebi & Green, 2007) lors de l’apprentissage d’une langue linguistiquement éloignée (persan-français) sont rapportés dans l’étude III. Les résultats des analyses d’IRMF suivant le modèle linéaire général chez les bilingues de langues linguistiquement proches (français-espagnol) montrent que le traitement des mots phonologiquement similaires dans les deux langues (cognates et clangs) compte sur un réseau neuronal partagé par la langue maternelle (L1) et la L2, tandis que le traitement des mots phonologiquement éloignés (non-clang-non-cognates) active des structures impliquées dans le traitement de la mémoire de travail et d'attention. Toutefois, chez les personnes bilingues de L1-L2 linguistiquement éloignées (français-persan), même les mots phonologiquement similaires à travers les langues (cognates et clangs) activent des régions connues pour être impliquées dans l'attention et le contrôle cognitif. Par ailleurs, les mots phonologiquement éloignés (non-clang-non-cognates) activent des régions usuellement associées à la mémoire de travail et aux fonctions exécutives. Ainsi, le facteur de distance inter-linguistique entre L1 et L2 module la charge cognitive sur la base du degré de similarité phonologiques entres les items en L1 et L2. Des structures soutenant les processus impliqués dans le traitement exécutif sont recrutées afin de compenser pour des demandes cognitives. Lorsque la compétence linguistique en L2 augmente et que les tâches linguistiques exigent ainsi moins d’effort, la demande pour les ressources cognitives diminue. Tel que déjà rapporté (Majerus, et al, 2008; Prat, et al, 2007; Veroude, et al, 2010; Dodel, et al, 2005; Coynel, et al ., 2009), les résultats des analyses de connectivité fonctionnelle montrent qu’après l’entraînement la valeur d'intégration (connectivité fonctionnelle) diminue puisqu’il y a moins de circulation du flux d'information. Les résultats de cette recherche contribuent à une meilleure compréhension des aspects neurocognitifs et de plasticité cérébrale du TIL ainsi que l'impact de la distance linguistique dans l'apprentissage des langues. Ces résultats ont des implications dans les stratégies d'apprentissage d’une L2, les méthodes d’enseignement d’une L2 ainsi que le développement d'approches thérapeutiques chez des patients bilingues qui souffrent de troubles langagiers. / The purpose of this thesis was to study the behavioral and neural correlates of Cross-linguistic Transfer effects (CLT) at the word level, in second language learning. Moreover, given that language distance has an impact on CLT, (Paradis, 1987, 2004, Odlin, 1989, 2004, 2005, Gollan, 2005, Ringbom, 2007), two distinct language pairs were examined: Close language pairs (Spanish-French) and distant language pairs (Persian-French). This thesis comprises three studies. In study I, Spanish speakers and in study II Persian speakers were trained for lexical learning until consolidation level. Cognates (phonologically and semantically similar words), Clangs (phonologically similar words with different meanings), and Non-cognate-non-clangs (semantically similar words), were presented in a picture naming task. Accuracy rates and response times as well as event-related fMRI BOLD responses to each word category were measured. Simple and direct contrasts with phonologically similar and phonologically distant words were performed. Thus, Study I reports the results of close languages (Spanish-French) and Study II, reports the results of distant languages (Persian-French). The neurocognitive processing of language learning was further investigated in terms of networks using functional connectivity analysis in distant languages (Persian-French) and the results are reported in Study III. The Results with the General Linear Model analysis show that with close language pairs (French-Spanish), the processing of phonologically similar words (cognates and clangs) relies upon a shared L1-L2 language specific neural areas, whereas processing of phonologically distant words (non-clang-non-cognates), activates L1 language processing areas, but also relies upon working memory, attentional, and processing structures. However, with distant language pairs (French-Persian), even phonologically similar words (cognates and clangs) activate areas known to be involved in attentional processing and cognitive control. Moreover, phonologically distant words (non-clang-non-cognates) also activate areas involved in working memory and executive function processing structures. Thus, the factor of L1-L2 cross-linguistic distance appears to modulate the executive load imposed to the system, on the basis of the degree of phonological overlap between L1-L2 items; thus in order to compensate for more effortful processing demands, the system recruits executive function supporting structures. The results of the connectivity analysis show that, in line with literature (Majerus, et al., 2008; Prat, et al., 2007; Veroude, et al., 2010; Dodel, et al., 2005; Coynel, et al., 2009), when the language proficiency is low, there is enhanced functional connectivity between and within language specific and other cognitive processing (working memory, attentional and cognitive control) networks. However, as proficiency increases, integration values (functional connectivity) decrease. This reflects that language tasks become less effortful and demand less cognitive resources. The results of this dissertation contribute to a better understanding of CLT effects on L2 learning, both in regards to different word types and L1-L2 language distance. These results have implications with regards to L2 learning and teaching strategies and approaches as well as with regards to the development of data-driven therapy approaches in the case of language break down in bilingual population.

Titre : Étude des déterminants psychosociaux du poids corporel dans la population québécoise adulte. Objectif : L’objectif principal des travaux effectués était l'étude des déterminants psychosociaux du poids corporel dans quatre groupes d’adultes qui ont participé à l’Enquête sociale et de santé 1998 (ESS 98). Méthodologie : Les microdonnées de l'ESS 98 ont été accédées en utilisant les services de l’Institut de la statistique du Québec. Les groupes étudiés étaient les hommes et les femmes âgés entre 25 et 44 ans ou 45 et 64 ans. Résultats : La pratique d’activités physiques reliées au transport et un niveau de scolarité plus élevé ont été associés à moins de probabilités de rapporter un excès de poids chez les hommes âgés entre 25 et 44 ans. Une meilleure perception des habitudes alimentaires a aussi été associée à moins de probabilités d’avoir un excès de poids dans la plupart des groupes à l’exception des femmes âgées entre 25 et 44 ans. Le niveau d’AP a été associé négativement à l’excès de poids uniquement chez les femmes plus âgées. Une meilleure perception de l’état de santé a été associée à moins de probabilités de rapporter un excès de poids chez les femmes âgées entre 25 et 44 ans et à plus de probabilités chez les hommes âgés entre 45 et 64 ans. Chez les hommes des deux groupes, le tabagisme a été associé à moins de probabilités de rapporter avoir un excès de poids. Chez les femmes, la consommation d’alcool a été associée à moins de probabilités d’avoir un excès de poids. Dans tous les groupes, tenter présentement de perdre du poids a été associé à plus de probabilités de rapporter un excès de poids. Les travaux effectués démontrent que ces déterminants du poids corporel ne sont pas nécessairement associés aux habitudes alimentaires et au niveau d’AP. Conclusion : Les déterminants psychosociaux associés à l’obésité divergent selon le sexe et l’âge. L’identification de ces associations illustre le besoin d’intégrer les spécificités de chacun de ces groupes dans les interventions populationnelles qui visent la problématique du poids corporel. / Title: Psychosocial correlates of body weight in the Quebec Adults Population. Objective: Within the variables available in the 1998 Social and Health survey, identify psycho-social correlates of body mass index (BMI) in the Quebec population. Method: Access to the Social Lifestyles and Health 1998 survey was done at the «Institut de la Statistique du Québec». Groups studied included the 25- to 44-years and the 45- to 64- years old men and women. Results: Higher number of physical activity (PA) related to transport and levels of education were associated with less odds of reporting an excess body weight only in the 25- to 44-years old men. Cigarette smoking was also associated with less odds of reporting an excess weight in both men groups. Regular practice of leisure time PA was associated with less odds of reporting an excess weight only in 45- to 64-years old women. In both women groups, more frequent consumption of alcoholic beverages decreased the odds of reporting an excess weight. Perceived eating habits were also associated with less odds of an excess weight in most groups except in the 25- to 44-yearsold women where the trend was not significant. Opposite associations were observed between perceived health and BMI. In the 45- to 64-year old men, better perceived health increased the odds of reporting an excess weight. On the opposite, the odds of reporting an excess weight decreased with better health in 25- to 44-years-old women. In all groups, currently trying to loose weight increased the odds of reporting an excess weight. Others analyses also indicate that those correlates are not always associated with eating habits and PA level as it would be expected. Conclusion: Many correlates differ between age-group and sex. The identification of these factors illustrates the need to adapt obesity related program toward specific sub-group within the general population.

O presente trabalho propõe pesquisar a relação entre processos mentais, improvisação musical e performance. Realiza essa investigação partindo da perspectiva da psicologia cognitiva das décadas de 1980 e 1990 que concebe a improvisação musical enquanto um sistema de expertise. Incorpora à pesquisa as novas abordagens fundamentadas em princípios da neurociência realizadas na primeira década do século XXI, que investigam a improvisação enquanto um comportamento criativo espontâneo e, através de experimentos com neuroimagem funcional, buscam as possíveis bases cerebrais para a criatividade. O objetivo deste estudo é apropriar-se de parte do conhecimento produzido pela psicologia cognitiva e pela neurociência acerca dos mecanismos psicológicos e neurobiológicos que geram a improvisação, a fim de sugerir possíveis interfaces entre esse conhecimento, as rotinas de estudo do músico improvisador e as estratégias pedagógicas do professor de improvisação. / This paper intends to research the relationship between mental processes, musical improvisation and performance. The investigation starts from the cognitive psychology perspective in the 1980s and 1990s, considered a system of expertise, and go forward on new approaches, based on principles of neuroscience from the first decade of this century, that understood the cognitive psychology as a creative and spontaneous behavior. Through experiments with functional neuroimaging, the study reffered here in seeks the possible cerebral basis for creativity. The aim of this study is to appropriate part of the knowledge, produced by cognitive psychology and neuroscience, about the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms that generate improvisation. The research suggests, eventually, possible interfaces between cognitive psychology and neuroscience, the routines of study for an improvising musician and the pedagogical strategies of a teacher of improvisation.

The feeling of anxiety, a conscious experience, is associated with uneasiness, painfulness, or disturbing suspense. The current paper presents the phenomenology of anxiety disorders based on diagnostic criteria and reviews neuroimaging studies on anxiety including dissociation studies. Activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, insula, temporal poles and amygdala suggest neural correlates of anxiety. The relevance of the neural correlates, how the feeling of anxiety differs from fear and worry, and the construct validity of anxiety are addressed. Anxiety and pain correlate with activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, which warrants further studies on the painfulness–anxiety relationship.

Les Interfaces Cerveau-Ordinateur basées sur l’Imagerie Mentale (IM-ICO) permettent auxutilisateurs d’interagir uniquement via leur activité cérébrale, grâce à la réalisation de tâchesd’imagerie mentale. Cette thèse se veut contribuer à l’amélioration des IM-ICO dans le but deles rendre plus utilisables. Les IM-ICO sont extrêmement prometteuses dans de nombreuxdomaines allant de la rééducation post-AVC aux jeux-vidéo. Malheureusement, leurdéveloppement est freiné par le fait que 15 à 30% des utilisateurs seraient incapables de lescontrôler. Nombre de travaux se sont focalisés sur l’amélioration des algorithmes de traitementdu signal. Par contre, l’impact de l’entraînement des utilisateurs sur leur performance estsouvent négligé. Contrôler une IM-ICO nécessite l’acquisition de compétences et donc unentraînement approprié. Or, malgré le fait qu’il ait été suggéré que les protocolesd’entraînement actuels sont théoriquement inappropriés, peu d’efforts sont mis en oeuvre pourles améliorer. Notre principal objectif est de comprendre et améliorer l’apprentissage des IMICO.Ainsi, nous cherchons d’abord à acquérir une meilleure compréhension des processussous-tendant cet apprentissage avant de proposer une amélioration des protocolesd’entraînement afin qu’ils prennent en compte les facteurs cognitifs et psychologiquespertinents et qu’ils respectent les principes issus de l’ingénierie pédagogique. Nous avonsainsi défini 3 axes de recherche visant à investiguer l’impact (1) de facteurs cognitifs, (2) de lapersonnalité et (3) du feedback sur la performance. Pour chacun de ces axes, nous décrivonsd’abord les études nous ayant permis de déterminer les facteurs impactant la performance ;nous présentons ensuite le design et la validation de nouvelles approches d’entraînementavant de proposer des perspectives de travaux futurs. Enfin, nous proposons une solution quipermettrait d’étudier l’apprentissage de manière mutli-factorielle et dynamique : un systèmetutoriel intelligent. / Mental-imagery based brain-computer interfaces (MI-BCIs) enable users to interact with theirenvironment using their brain-activity alone, by performing mental-imagery tasks. This thesisaims to contribute to the improvement of MI-BCIs in order to render them more usable. MIBCIsare bringing innovative prospects in many fields, ranging from stroke rehabilitation tovideo games. Unfortunately, most of the promising MI-BCI based applications are not yetavailable on the public market since an estimated 15 to 30% of users seem unable to controlthem. A lot of research has focused on the improvement of signal processing algorithms.However, the potential role of user training in MI-BCI performance seems to be mostlyneglected. Controlling an MI-BCI requires the acquisition of specific skills, and thus anappropriate training procedure. Yet, although current training protocols have been shown tobe theoretically inappropriate, very little research is done towards their improvement. Our mainobject is to understand and improve MI-BCI user-training. Thus, first we aim to acquire a betterunderstanding of the processes underlying MI-BCI user-training. Next, based on thisunderstanding, we aim at improving MI-BCI user-training so that it takes into account therelevant psychological and cognitive factors and complies with the principles of instructionaldesign. Therefore, we defined 3 research axes which consisted in investigating the impact of(1) cognitive factors, (2) personality and (3) feedback on MI-BCI performance. For each axis,we first describe the studies that enabled us to determine which factors impact MI-BCIperformance; second, we describe the design and validation of new training approaches; thethird part is dedicated to future work. Finally, we propose a solution that could enable theinvestigation of MI-BCI user-training using a multifactorial and dynamic approach: an IntelligentTutoring System.

La technologie des réseaux de capteurs sans fil démontre qu'elle peut être très utile dans de nombreuses applications. Ainsi chaque jour voit émerger de nouvelles réalisations dans la surveillance de notre environnement comme la détection des feux de forêt, l'approvisionnement en eau. Les champs d'applications couvrent aussi des domaines émergents et sensibles pour la population avec les soins aux personnes âgées ou les patients récemment opérés dans le cadre. L'indépendance des architectures RCSFs par rapport aux infrastructures existantes permet aux d'être déployées dans presque tous les sites afin de fournir des informations temporelles et spatiales. Dans les déploiements opérationnels le bon fonctionnement de l'architecture des réseaux de capteurs sans fil ne peut être garanti que si certains défis sont surmontés. La minisation de l'énergie consommée en fait partie. La limitation de la durée de vie des nœuds de capteurs est fortement couplée à l'autonomie de la batterie et donc à l'optimisation énergétique des nœuds du réseau. Nous présenterons plusieurs propositions à ces problèmes dans le cadre de cette thèse. En résumé, les contributions qui ont été présentées dans cette thèse, abordent la durée de vie globale du réseau, l'exploitation des messages de données redondantes et corrélées et enfin le fonctionnement nœud lui-même. Les travaux ont conduit à la réalisation d'algorithmes de routage hiérarchiques et de filtrage permettant la suppression des redondances. Ils s'appuient sur les corrélations spatio-temporelles des données mesurées. Enfin, une implémentation de ce réseau de capteurs multi-sauts intégrant ces nouvelles fonctionnalités est proposée. / Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) technology have been demonstrated to be a usefulmeasurement system for numerous bath indoor and outdoor applications. There is avast amount of applications that are operating with WSN technology, such asenvironmental monitoring, for forest fire detection, weather forecasting, water supplies, etc. The independence nature of WSNs from the existing infrastructure. Virtually, the WSNs can be deployed in any sort of location, and provide the sensor samples accordingly in bath time and space. On the contrast, the manual deployments can only be achievable at a high cost-effective nature and involve significant work. ln real-world applications, the operation of wireless sensor networks can only be maintained, if certain challenges are overcome. The lifetime limitation of the distributed sensor nodes is amongst these challenges, in order to achieve the energy optimization. The propositions to the solution of these challenges have been an objective of this thesis. ln summary, the contributions which have been presented in this thesis, address the system lifetime, exploitation of redundant and correlated data messages, and then the sensor node in terms of usability. The considerations have led to the simple data redundancy and correlated algorithms based on hierarchical based clustering, yet efficient to tolerate bath the spatio-temporal redundancies and their correlations. Furthermore, a multihop sensor network for the implementation of propositions with more features, bath the analytical proofs and at the software level, have been proposed.

The main aim of this study was to determine the changes in neuronal activity of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and medial prefrontal cortex (MPC) in rats sensitized to D2/D3 receptor agonist quinpirole (QNP) during exploration of enriched open field arena. During the experiment, the evaluation of behavioural changes induced by quinpirole sensitization were also assessed and compared to previous results. For the purpose of this study, twenty-two adult male Long-Evans rats were used. The half of the rats was sensitized to QNP by receiving daily subcutaneous injections of quinpirole (0,5 mg/kg) while the other half received saline. Both groups were habituated for ten days to open-field arena enriched with two metal objects. The behaviour of animals was videotaped and the data about locomotion and the number of visits of each locale was obtained. On the eleventh day, the part of saline and quinpirole treated groups explored the open-field arena (t = 5 min) while the other two subgroups were left as respective cage-controls. Immediately after the end of experiment, all rats were sacrificed, and the extracted brains were cryopreserved. To determine the changes in neuronal activity of selected brain regions, fluorescence in situ hybridization of immediate early gene Arc was...