In this dissertation, I investigate whether the conceptualisation of computerised technological phenomena is influenced by social variables, in particular exposure to the computer. The conceptualisation and behaviour of a group of students majoring in technology-related fields were studied. Through the application of Conceptual Blending Theory, the multi-modal desktop metaphorical blend (DMMB) (as an electronic representation of an actual office desktop) was focused on. The participants were provided with tasks with the aim of determining whether they conceptualise the electronic desktop as a literal ‘thing-in-itself’ or as an e-version of their actual desks. The intent was to examine to what extent social variables, especially exposure, motivate the nature of the conceptualisation. Therefore, it is hypothesised that exposure, regarded as the primary variable in this study, influences conceptualisation of the DMMB to the extent where the it either loses its metaphoric quality in participants, who maintain regular and prolonged exposure to the computer, or retains the metaphoric quality of the DMMB in participants, who are not exposed to the computer on a regular and prolonged basis. Two groups were distinguished based on the extent of the individual participants’ exposure to computer technology, namely a high-exposure group and a low-exposure group. A mixed method approach was used to test and analyse data collected from individual participants, as well as from the high- and low-exposure groups. Methods used to test these hypotheses included questionnaires, word association (a conceptual task), controlled observation (a behavioural task), and interviews. The resulting data were analysed by means of a thematic interview analysis and non-parametric statistical tests. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Linguistics)

The purpose of this project is to argue that we possess a minimal self. It will demonstrate that minimal selfhood arrives early in our development and continues to remain and influence us throughout our entire life. There are two areas of research which shape my understanding of the minimal self: phenomenology and enactivism. Phenomenology emphasizes the sense of givenness, ownership, or mineness that accompanies all of our experiences. Enactivism says there is a sensorimotor coupling that occurs between us and the environment in a way which modulates the dynamic patterns of our self development; the laying down of these basic patterns helps make us who we are and gives rise to the phenomenological, experiential mineness. Drawing on these two core ideas, I will be arguing for a Phenomenological-Enactive Minimal Self (abbreviated PEMS). I will be emphasizing the role of the body and the role of affects (moods, feelings, and emotions) as the most important components relevant to understanding minimal selfhood. Put more concretely, the set of conditions which constitute the PEMS view are: (i) The minimal self is the experiential subject; the minimal sense of self is present whenever there is awareness. It is the subjectivity of experience, the sense of mineness, or givenness which our experiences contain. (ii) The phenomenological part of the PEMS view turns on the idea of a bodily and dynamic integration of sensorimotor coupling and affective experience. It is, ontologically speaking, the lived body in enactive engagement with the environment. It is this embodied subject which anchors and forms the foundation for the later ‘narrative' self, which emerges from it and which is continually influenced by it. It is the subject enactively engaged with others, dependent on sensorimotor processes and affects. We have an identity, but it emerges from relational and dynamic processes.

This investigation can be described as a long journey to a final destination: a truth in religion. We start by considering dualism of the subjective and the objective, the classical model of cognition that underlies notions of truth. Dualistic notions of cognition lead to serious problems, especially for religious truth. Religions claim to state truths about the nature of the universe and human destiny, but these truths are incompatible. With a dualistic model this problem of diversity of religious truths leads to fundamentalism or relativism. Thus, this research aims to turn to the roots of the cognitive situation and investigate the way we cognize and relate to the world to provide a better model. As we consider the philosophical theories and empirical investigations of cognition, we come to the conclusion that dualism of the subjective and objective is not tenable. As the findings of contemporary mind sciences and phenomenologically oriented research indicate, human cognition is embodied, embedded, enacted, extended, and shaped by language. Thus, I propose to re-conceptualize the cognitive situation to provide a better philosophical account. I put forward a tripartite model of cognition, which unites language, action, and environment. The consequent application of this model to the issues of truth and religion shows that we can avoid the problem of diversity of truth claims. A tripartite model allows us to explain how we can maintain religion as true, despite the diversity of religious truth claims. Additionally, as this model is fundamental, its application leads to various new findings and inferences, which render anew the world and the way humans relate to it. Thus, our journey brings us to new frontiers of investigation.

The goal of this thesis was to reassess the relationship between the moving body and technology, and more specifically, to focus on recent perspectives in the performing arts which inscribe new manifestations and dynamics of cross-pollination between the somatic and technology. According to Dr. Andrea Davidson, 'Such research has rarely been formally identified with the specialised field of somatics' (2013, p.3). The thesis thus proposes to reflect on the experience and conception of the performative body in the link it entertains with technology. Investigating this relationship, it defines a new paradigm, that of an 'interfaced intercorporeality'. This paradigm is constructed with special attention to a different relationship revealed between the interface and the notion of a corporal potentiality or 'interval'. In particular, the thesis focuses on the concept of a 'collective body' based on this relationship and on practical research conducted within the framework of my research, along with the methodology that supported it. The research and creative work that are presented derive from experiments I conceived, conducted and participated in making. My analysis is thus based on direct experience. The relationship between the somatic and technology notably led me to focus on the notion of embodied cognition or 'bodily knowledge' and for this, to re-examine the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty. As a consequence, this return to the experiential also required revisiting definitions given by the Greeks concerning the aesthetic as a reference to sensation and the ability to perceive. The thesis approaches the body as the ground and basis for creating work, as well as for testing the effect(s) that technology has on it. Experiments conducted sought to develop greater sensory and perceptual awareness in order to invest the relationship of somatics/technology in a dimension that could potentially constitute a transformation of self, of one's relationship to others and to the world. Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological existentialism formed the basis for explorations made to forge links between the somatic and technology. However, it is important to clarify that my intention was not to make an analysis of phenomenology per se. It was rather referenced as a means to explain the framework of my research in relation to lived experience, sensation, and specifically, to my creative approach involving new technologies. Merleau-Ponty's methodology includes subjective, first-person accounts of 'lived experience'. Third-person accounts, or so-called 'objective' positions, are also included. These accounts are then shown to evolve towards an ecosystem of interaction and movement in order to experience and test the production of theory and practical experimentation involved in the methodology I adopted. The thesis incorporates knowledge from several disciplines, but principally from the field of dance and technology. Highlighting sensorial and perceptual phenomena related to the transformation of the body through technology and subjective experience, it takes into account an interdisciplinary perspective that is linked to this problematic. The thesis begins with an introduction to phenomenology in which the concepts and positions of Merleau-Ponty are outlined, including those of anti-dualism, the lived body, the ontology of the body, corporeality, intercorporeality and the flesh. Chapter 1 looks at the evolution of this philosophical movement throughout history and continues with a history of the body in phenomenology, an analysis of certain applications of phenomenology in the field of dance and subsequently, in the specific field of dance related to technology. Chapter 2 comprises a literature review. It also presents the bases of reductionist thinking, the proposition of a return to integrative thinking and issues concerning instrumentalisation, the double and the complexification of the self. It further examines the history of ideas surrounding the relationship between the body and technology, notions of the real-virtual-actual and a history and problematics of the interface. It concludes with a presentation of theories on the notions of potentiality, the interval and real-time. Chapter 3 presents my artistic background, an historical overview of the trends and principal ideas that have influenced my work, as well as an examination of the field of dance and technology from the point of view of its history and more recent developments. Chapter 4 is dedicated to an analysis of the research methodologies employed in the practical research for this thesis and identifies related issues. An analysis of problems encountered with existing methodologies notably highlights a need to invest in other methodological modes for practical research of an interdisciplinary nature. The chapter continues with a presentation of some of the methodologies currently used in the field of dance related to technology. The principles underpinning the specific creative research methodology I experimented with are then presented, proposing an adaptation of the aforementioned methodologies in order to respond to the dynamics of collective research of an empathic nature that are specific to my approach and also in order to invest in the link between the somatic and technology my project proposes. This proposition modestly attempts to respond to the lack of methodologies observed in the field of artistic practical research. A discussion of the experimentation involved in the practical research for the thesis is made in Chapter 5. Two creative experiments are analysed. Their aim was to investigate and develop a collective physical body composed of five dancers in constant contact, whose movement and relationships create what I call a 'collective sound body'. This collective entity produces sound in real-time which is simultaneously spatialised. The analysis takes into account the ways these two bodies are interdependent and constantly interrelated. Schematically, the first experiment served as a basis on which to found principles related to the collective body, while the second experiment developed them. The chapter further outlines creative strategies that were employed to test principles of self-organisation linked to sensation and stemming from the somatic techniques employed. It also returns to some of Merleau-Ponty's main concepts that were implemented and tested in performative experience: intercorporeality, the lived body, the dynamic of continual transformation and the principle of coexistence. Lastly, Merleau-Ponty's investigation of sensation and perception and his concept of sensory chiasms are related to the experiments' multisensory exploration and theme of intersubjectivity which are then proposed as leading to the possibility of intercorporeality. Chapter 6 forms the conclusion and seeks to identify new knowledge generated in the thesis. Essentially articulating another vision of the performative body as developed through its contact with technology, the findings, both practical and theoretical, bring to light a different understanding of the body rendered through a dissolution of psychophysical borders in the development of the performative model I called the 'collective body'. The thesis further proposes that the 'collective body' and its evolution as the 'collective sound body', open up the path to a new approach to interfaces and further, to what I propose as a theory of interfaced intercorporeality. This research aims to reintroduce the body and its specific intelligence in the understanding and building of relationships that can be renewed. The technology used in these experiments was considered as a physicality and the activator of a reconfiguration of sensory-perceptual processes that the thesis argues can lead to the final paradigm of 'interfaced intercorporeality' it proposes.

A constantly growing corpus of interdisciplinary studies support the idea that music is a complex multimodal medium that is experienced not only by means of sounds but also through body movement. From this perspective, musical instruments can be seen as technological objects coupled with a repertoire of performance gestures. This repertoire is part of an ecological knowledge shared by musicians and listeners alike. It is part of the engine that guides musical experience and has a considerable expressive potential. This thesis explores technical and conceptual issues related to the analysis and creative use of music-related body movements in instrumental music performance. The complexity of this subject required an interdisciplinary approach, which includes the review of multiple theoretical accounts, quantitative and qualitative analysis of data collected in motion capture laboratories, the development and implementation of technologies for the interpretation and interactive use of motion data, and the creation of short musical pieces that actively employ the movement of the performers as an expressive musical feature. The theoretical framework is informed by embodied and enactive accounts of music cognition as well as by systematic studies of music-related movement and expressive music performance. The assumption that the movements of a musician are part of a shared knowledge is empirically explored through an experiment aimed at analysing the motion capture data of a violinist performing a selection of short musical excerpts. A group of subjects with no prior experience playing the violin is then asked to mime a performance following the audio excerpts recorded by the violinist. Motion data is recorded, analysed, and compared with the expert’s data. This is done both quantitatively through data analysis xii as well as qualitatively by relating the motion data to other high-level features and structures of the musical excerpts. Solutions to issues regarding capturing and storing movement data and its use in real-time scenarios are proposed. For the interactive use of motion-sensing technologies in music performance, various wearable sensors have been employed, along with different approaches for mapping control data to sound synthesis and signal processing parameters. In particular, novel approaches for the extraction of meaningful features from raw sensor data and the use of machine learning techniques for mapping movement to live electronics are described. To complete the framework, an essential element of this research project is the com- position and performance of études that explore the creative use of body movement in instrumental music from a Practice-as-Research perspective. This works as a test bed for the proposed concepts and techniques. Mapping concepts and technologies are challenged in a scenario constrained by the use of musical instruments, and different mapping ap- proaches are implemented and compared. In addition, techniques for notating movement in the score, and the impact of interactive motion sensor systems in instrumental music practice from the performer’s perspective are discussed. Finally, the chapter concluding the part of the thesis dedicated to practical implementations describes a novel method for mapping movement data to sound synthesis. This technique is based on the analysis of multimodal motion data collected from multiple subjects and its design draws from the theoretical, analytical, and practical works described throughout the dissertation. Overall, the parts and the diverse approaches that constitute this thesis work in synergy, contributing to the ongoing discourses on the study of musical gestures and the design of interactive music systems from multiple angles.

In this dissertation, I investigate whether the conceptualisation of computerised technological phenomena is influenced by social variables, in particular exposure to the computer. The conceptualisation and behaviour of a group of students majoring in technology-related fields were studied. Through the application of Conceptual Blending Theory, the multi-modal desktop metaphorical blend (DMMB) (as an electronic representation of an actual office desktop) was focused on. The participants were provided with tasks with the aim of determining whether they conceptualise the electronic desktop as a literal ‘thing-in-itself’ or as an e-version of their actual desks. The intent was to examine to what extent social variables, especially exposure, motivate the nature of the conceptualisation. Therefore, it is hypothesised that exposure, regarded as the primary variable in this study, influences conceptualisation of the DMMB to the extent where the it either loses its metaphoric quality in participants, who maintain regular and prolonged exposure to the computer, or retains the metaphoric quality of the DMMB in participants, who are not exposed to the computer on a regular and prolonged basis. Two groups were distinguished based on the extent of the individual participants’ exposure to computer technology, namely a high-exposure group and a low-exposure group. A mixed method approach was used to test and analyse data collected from individual participants, as well as from the high- and low-exposure groups. Methods used to test these hypotheses included questionnaires, word association (a conceptual task), controlled observation (a behavioural task), and interviews. The resulting data were analysed by means of a thematic interview analysis and non-parametric statistical tests. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Linguistics)

A wide literature of predominantly behavioural experiments that use Stimulus Response Compatibility (SRC) have suggested that visual action information such as object affordance yields rapid and concurrent activation of visual and motor brain areas, but has rarely provided direct evidence for this proposition. This thesis examines some of the key claims from the affordance literature by applying electrophysiological measures to well established SRC procedures to determine the verities of the behavioural claims of rapid and automatic visuomotor activation evoked by viewing affording objects. The temporal sensitivity offered by the Lateralised Readiness Potential and by visual evoked potentials P1 and N1 made ideal candidates to assess the behavioural claims of rapid visuomotor activation by seen objects by examining the timecourse of neural activation elicited by viewing affording objects under various conditions. The experimental work in this thesis broadly confirms the claims of the behavioural literature however it also found a series of novel results that are not predicted by the behavioural literature due to limitations in reaction time measures. For example, while different classes of affordance have been shown to exert the same behavioural facilitation, electrophysiological measures reveal very different patterns of cortical activation for grip-type and lateralised affordances. These novel findings question the applicability of the label ‘visuomotor’ to grip-type affordance processing and suggest considerable revision to models of affordance. This thesis also offers a series of novel and surprising insights into the ability to dissociate afforded motor activity from behavioural output, into the relationship between affordance and early visual evoked potentials, and into affordance in the absence of the intention to act. Overall, this thesis provides detailed suggestions for considerable changes to current models of the neural activity underpinning object affordance.

Cette thèse porte sur l'apprentissage des temps verbaux du passé composé, de l'imparfait et du plus-que-parfait en français langue étrangère (L2) par des étudiants de première langue (L1) japonaise à l'université au Japon. Dans ce contexte, nous avons expérimenté une approche d'inspiration vygotskienne pour l'enseignement de ces temps, appelée « approche par concepts », où les concepts en jeu (temps physique, aspect, phase du procès) sont présentés initialement pour favoriser un emploi plus conscient, et rendre les apprenants capables d'utiliser les temps selon à la fois leur intention communicative et la norme. On rend compte de deux versions mises en œuvre en 2012 sur 21 semaines et en 2013 sur 12 semaines. Mais l'analyse des résultats nous a conduit à réorienter notre problématique pour prendre en compte le rôle de la L1 dans la conceptualisation. Cela nécessitait de décrire le processus d'énonciation tel qu'il se déroule en temps réel, en L1 et en L2. On a ainsi proposé une nouvelle hypothèse, selon laquelle les concepts médiatisés en L1 sont investis au moment de l'énonciation par l'apprenant pour constituer le niveau conceptuel du verbe au centre de la scène de l'énoncé en L2. En outre, cet investissement correspondrait au développement vers les structures conceptuelles de la L2. Suivant la méthode microgénétique, une trentaine d'extraits issus de verbalisations et de tâches de résolution de problèmes en binômes et individuelles (en pensée à voix haute) sont analysés. Les résultats montrent que pour justifier le choix du temps verbal en L2, les apprenants s'engagent dans une activité métalinguistique spécifique sur des formes de la L1 impliquées dans les renditions verbales. L'interprétation proposée est que c'est un moyen pour eux de focaliser leur attention sur des concepts du japonais jugés adéquats pour constituer le niveau conceptuel du verbe de l'énoncé en français. À la fin de la thèse, des pistes sont proposées pour élaborer une approche par concepts pour les niveaux initiaux dans ce contexte, en tenant compte de cette stratégie d'apprentissage mais aussi en la cadrant. / This thesis deals with the learning of the compound past (passé composé), imperfect (imparfait) and pluperfect (plus-que-parfait) in French as a foreign language (L2) by Japanese first language (L1) students at a university in Japan. In this context, a vygotskyan approach, known as “concept-based approach”, was experimented with for the teaching of these tenses. The concepts that are involved (time, aspect, tense phase) were initially introduced to promote a more conscious use, and enable learners to employ the tenses according to the intended communicative goal as well as L2 norms. Two implementations with second year students in 2012 and 2013, carried out over 21 weeks and 12 weeks respectively, are reported on. An analysis of the outcomes of these implementations in turn led to a shift in focus of the research problem to also account for the role of the L1 in the process of conceptualization. As a result, this required describing the process of oral enunciation, as it unfolds in real time, in the L1 and L2. A new hypothesis is then proposed that, at the moment of speaking, L1 mediated concepts are used by learners to constitute the conceptual level of the verb at the center of the L2 utterance. Furthermore, we suggest that the use of L1 corresponds to the development towards L2 conceptual structures. About thirty extracts from verbalizations, and peer and individual (think aloud) problem-solving tasks were analyzed, using a microgenetic method. The results show that learners engage in a specific metalinguistic activity on L1 forms involved in verbal construals. An interpretation is then proposed that by doing so, it enables learners to focus on the concepts of the Japanese language they consider adequate to form the conceptual level of the verb predicated in the utterance in French. Finally, suggestions are made to improve a concept-based approach for initial levels in this context, by taking into account this learning strategy and providing a frame for it.

This essay critically examines the limitations of artificial intelligence (AI) in achieving human-like understanding and intelligence. Despite significant advancements in AI, such as the development of sophisticated machine learning algorithms and neural networks, current systems fall short in comprehending the cognitive depth and flexibility inherent in human intelligence. Through an exploration of historical and contemporary arguments, including Searle's Chinese Room thought experiment and Dennett's Frame Problem, this essay highlights the inherent differences between human cognition and AI. Central to this analysis is the role of metaphorical thinking and embodied cognition, as articulated by Lakoff and Johnson, which are fundamental to human understanding but absent in AI. Proponents of AGI, like Kurzweil and Bostrom, argue for the potential of AI to surpass human intelligence through recursive self-improvement and technological integration. However, this essay contends that these approaches do not address the core issues of experiential knowledge and contextual awareness. By integrating insights from contemporary scholars like Bender, Koller, Buckner, Thorstad, and Hoffmann, the essay ultimately concludes that AI, while a powerful computational framework, is fundamentally incapaple of replicating the true intelligence and understanding unique to humans.

Mémoire en recherche-création / Creative dissertation / Ce mémoire présente une analyse du rôle du rien, du peu, et du négatif dans cinq œuvres musicales composées dans le cadre de la maîtrise de l’autrice : Obèle, Petite berceuse, Wet Ice and Dead Leaves, Déjà-vu, et Rêve éveillé. Leur démarche de création est analysée parallèlement à d’autres œuvres de ma maîtrise, soit la musique de la pièce de théâtre Scribouillis et celle du court-métrage du même nom. Les angles d’analyse musicale sont la théorie musicale et la cognition incarnée, et la démarche est conceptualisée comme un tout dont les éléments sont interreliés, selon la proposition du concept d’atelier par Donin et Theureux. L’esthétique est mise en contexte avec les courants minimalistes, et est mise en relation avec les buts artistiques, notamment l’inspiration d’affects négatifs et l’encouragement d’une écoute active, métaécoute, ou deep listening. Le texte vise à permettre une appréciation approfondie des œuvres et de la démarche, ainsi qu’à proposer un vocabulaire pour discuter des concepts centraux à ce type d’esthétique et de démarche artistique. La recherche-création de la maîtrise a visé à développer une approche compositionnelle unique et authentique, qui satisfasse à des critères perceptuels de cohérence et d’évocation d’un discours émotionnellement chargé, qui démontre une maîtrise de l’écriture, et qui fasse montre d’une vision artistique forte, innovante, et audacieuse. Le premier chapitre présente les concepts clefs d’analyse et détaille l’inspiration derrière les œuvres. Les motivations de la démarche de création émergent à travers la discussion de concepts tels que le négatif, le rien, le peu, et le silence ainsi que leur place dans le contexte culturel ou évolue l’autrice. L’approche compositionnelle est ancrée dans le timbre, la forme, et la perception. Le chapitre 2 illustre des aspects de la démarche de création par deux collaborations avec le théâtre de marionnettes contemporain. Les présentations des œuvres sont regroupées par similitude dans les chapitres 3 et 4 dédiés aux œuvres vocales et instrumentales, respectivement. Chaque chapitre se divise en sous-section pour les différentes œuvres. Le chapitre 6 conclut le mémoire et propose quelques liens entre les éléments abordés au cours de celui-ci. / This memoir presents an analysis of the role of nothingness, sparseness, and negativity (négatif, in French) in five musical works composed as part of the author’s master’s degree: Obèle, Petite berceuse, Wet Ice and Dead Leaves, Déjà-vu, and Rêve éveillé. Their creative process is analyzed alongside other works from the author’s master’s degree, namely the music for the play Scribouillis and the short film of the same name. The perspectives of musical analysis are music theory and embodied cognition, and the process is conceptualized as a whole, whose elements are interrelated, as proposed by Donin and Theureux, under the term atelier. The aesthetic is contextualised in relation to minimalist currents, and is discussed in relation to artistic goals, including the inspiration from negative affect emotions and the encouragement of active listening, meta-listening, or deep listening. The text aims to provide an in-depth appreciation of the works and approach, as well as a vocabulary for discussing the concepts central to this type of aesthetic and artistic approach. The research-creation carried out during the master’s degree aimed to develop a unique and authentic compositional approach that meets perceptual criteria of coherence and evocation of emotionally charged discourse, demonstrates mastery of writing techniques, and displays a strong, innovative, and audacious artistic vision. The first chapter presents the key concepts of analysis and details the inspiration behind the works. The motivations for the creative process emerge through the discussion of concepts such as the negative, the nothing, the little, and the silence as well as their place in the cultural context in which the author evolves. The compositional approach is anchored in timbre, form, and perception. Chapter 2 illustrates aspects of the creative process through two collaborations with contemporary marionette theatre. Presentations of the works are grouped by similarity in chapters 3 and 4, which are dedicated to vocal and instrumental works, respectively. Each is divided into sub-sections for the different works. Chapter 6 concludes the dissertation by proposing links between key elements.