Bien que la perception et l’interprétation des expressions faciales soient critiques pour notre vie sociale, leurs mécanismes restent largement incompris. Le but de ma thèse a été d’essayer de comprendre ces processus en analysant le sourire, qui est la plus complexe des expressions.Dans une série de 9 études, nous avons examiné le rôle du contact visuel et du mimétisme facial dans la perception des sourires. Les résultats d’une première série d’études (Chapitre 2) ont révélé que les sourires accompagnés du contact visuel ont plus d’impact émotionnel et sont plus imités par les observateurs que les sourires sans échange de regards. De plus, les études que nous avons réalisées auprès des enfants et d’adultes (Chapitre 3) révèlent que le mimétisme facial est effectivement important non seulement pour un jugement correct de l’authenticité des sourires, mais aussi pour le développement des compétences émotionnelles en général. Afin d’estimer les effets du mimétisme facial, il est important de mieux comprendre les expressions faciales que l’on imite. Dans une deuxième série d’études (Chapitre 4) nous avons donc cherché à regarder les différentes fonctions de sourire en validant une typologie fonctionnelle des sourires, ceux de joie, d’affiliation et de domination. Les résultats montrent que l’usage de ces sourires dans 9 pays, ainsi que les normes gouvernant l’expressivité faciale dans 31 pays peuvent être prédits par l’homogénéité de la population de ces pays à travers les siècles. La morphologie des sourires de joie, d’affiliation et de domination est l’objet des expériences en cours. En somme, ce travail de recherche sur le sourire révèle l’importance de l’expérience corporelle et de la simulation des expressions faciales perçues chez l’autre dans l’interaction sociale. / Facial expressions are the core of our social life, but the exact mechanisms underlying their perception and interpretation are yet to be explained. The goal of this dissertation was to use the human smile as a case study in order to shed more light on the processing of facial expression. We first examined the role of eye contact and facial mimicry in the judgments of smiles. The findings revealed that smiles accompanied by eye contact have more emotional impact and elicit more corresponding smiling than smiles accompanied with averted gaze (Chapter 2). Moreover, studies involving children and adult participants (Chapter 3) show that facial mimicry is involved not only in perceptions of smile authenticity but also in the development of general emotional competence. Still, in order to define facial mimicry and explore its effects we need to specify what exactly is mimicked. A second series of studies (Chapter 4) provided initial support for the social-functional typology of reward, affiliative and dominance smiles and showed that the endorsement of these smiles – as well as general expressivity norms – can be predicted by a country’s demographic history, namely the homogeneity of its population over the centuries. The ongoing experiments investigate the morphology and the time course of the three functional smiles. Combined, our findings highlight the role of embodied simulation and bodily experience in the processing of smiles in particular and facial expression in general.

Background: Joint attention (JA) is selectively and pervasively impaired in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and has been found to link to later outcomes in language, theory of mind, play and social development. This study investigated the effectiveness of a social interactive intervention to improve initiating JA skills in children with ASD. The intervention was based on the mirror neuron hypothesis, in that techniques used encouraged the children to take on their communication partners’ perspective through a process of embodied simulation. Method: Three participants diagnosed with ASD, under the age of 5, were recruited as well as 3 typically developing children for the setting of training criteria. A multiple-baseline design across participants was implemented. Results: All three participants displayed improvements in their ability to initiate JA. Skills generalized to other settings and communication partners. Improvements were observed by both trained and naïve observers. Conclusions: A social interactive model, based on the mirror neuron hypothesis, utilizing specific techniques which follow the child’s lead may be used to effectively improve initiating joint attention (IJA) in some children with ASD.

La lecture de phrases évoquant un contexte émotionnel engendre un modèle mental de situation émotionnel. Le but de cette thèse était d’étudier les conséquences électrophysiologiques et comportementales de la détection d’une expression faciale émotionnelle ne correspondant pas à l’attente créée par un modèle de situation émotionnel. Nous avons également étudié la manière dont l’empathie autoévaluée (à l’aide du questionnaire EQ ; Baron-Cohen et Wheelwright, 2004) pouvait affecter la manière dont cette incongruité pragmatique émotionnelle était traitée. Les résultats comportementaux ont montré, chez 32 participants, que l’incongruité pragmatique émotionnelle est plus difficile à détecter que la congruité pragmatique émotionnelle (plus d’erreurs de reconnaissance et des temps de réponses allongés). L’allongement des temps de réponses en condition incongrue était d’autant plus grand que les habiletés sociales (mesurées à l’aide du questionnaire EQ) des participants étaient faibles. Les potentiels évoqués neuroélectriques affectés par l’incongruité pragmatique émotionnelle étaient la N400, la LPN et, de manière marginale, la P300. L’activité neuroélectrique évoquée dans la fenêtre temporelle de la N400 n’était pas affectée de la même manière par l’incongruité émotionnelle, selon le score à la sous-échelle EQ d’empathie cognitive des participants. Enfin, nous avons testé si les patients schizophrènes pouvaient valider les prérequis nécessaires au traitement de l’incongruité pragmatique émotionnelle (effectuer une simulation émotionnelle et catégoriser une expression faciale émotionnelle). D’après nos résultats, ces prérequis peuvent être remplis, même s’ils semblent affectés par la pathologie, en particulier en ce qui concerne la catégorisation des visages neutres. En conclusion, cette thèse a permis de mieux comprendre les mécanismes de la détection de l’incongruité émotionnelle et de mettre en valeur son importance sociale. / Reading sentences setting up an emotional context generates a mental model of the emotional situation. The aim of this thesis was to study the electrophysiological and behavioral consequences of the detection of an emotional facial expression that does not match the expectancy created by an emotional situation model. We have also studied how self-reported empathy (measured with the EQ, Baron-Cohen and Wheelwright, 2004) could affect the way this pragmatic emotional incongruence was processed. Behavioral results among 32 participants evidenced that pragmatic emotional incongruence was harder to detect that pragmatic emotional congruence (more recognition errors, longer response times). Response times increased with decrease in the social skills (subscale score at the EQ questionnaire). The neuroelectrical event-related potentials affected by pragmatic emotional incongruence were the N400, the LPN and, marginally, the P300. The neuroelectrical evoked activity in the N400 time window was modulated by participants’ score at the cognitive empathy EQ scale. Finally, we checked if schizophrenic patients could validate prerequisites needed in order to process pragmatic emotional incongruence (perform an emotional simulation and categorize an emotional facial expression). According to our results, these prerequisites could be filled, even if they appear to be affected by the pathology, in particular as regards the categorization of neutral faces. To conclude, this thesis improved our current understanding of the underlying mechanisms of emotional incongruence detection and underlies its social importance.

本研究主要探討消費者想像視角與訊息相適配之說服效果。心像是指感官資訊在短期記憶中運作的心理歷程，在說服文獻中扮演著重要的角色。由過去文獻可知，個體在進行想像時，可以採取兩種不同的想像觀點，一個是行動者觀點，另一個是旁觀者觀點。兩種不同視覺觀點會提供不同的心像資訊，進而影響個體對所想像事件或行動的解讀。旁觀者觀點強調行為的個人意義及個性上的展現，而行動者觀點則強調情境所賦予的感覺及所喚起的情緒。視覺觀點在社會心理學中已有廣泛的研究，但尚未應用到行銷說服領域中。本研究藉由整合心像、視覺觀點、及體現模擬的相關文獻，提出一個觀念性的研究架構，試圖說明當消費對採用不同的視覺觀點時，是如何影響其對廣告訴求的偏好，且是藉由何種心理機制來中介視覺觀點與廣告訴求相一致的說服效果。 針對上述的研究目的，本論文設計三個研究來驗證視覺觀點與廣告訴求適配的說服效果。研究一主要是驗證，若消費者採用行動者觀點來想像，則偏好體驗型產品，相反的，若消費者採用旁觀者觀點來想像，則偏好象徵型產品。研究二主要驗證，若消費者採用行動者觀點來想像，則廠商的溝通策略應強調產品屬性的體驗性利益，相反的，若消費者採用旁觀者觀點來想像，當廠商的溝通策略應強調產品屬性的象徵性利益。研究三是植基體現模擬中預設用途的概念，主要探討的是，如何在廣告圖片中安排預設用途線索，進而可以激發不同的視覺觀點。特別的是，當廣告圖片中有互動的預設線索時，則可以激發出旁觀者觀點，此時應強調象徵型訴求，相反的，當廣告圖片中沒有互動的預設線索時，則可以激發出行動者觀點，此時應強調體驗型訴求。且由三個研究結果可知，視覺觀點與廣告訴求相適配所產生的較佳產品態度，是由體現模擬所中介的。 / The purpose of this research is to understand the persuasive impact of the fit between the visual perspectives and the advertising appeals. Mental imagery, the process by which sensory information is represented in working memory, plays a critical role in persuasion. From a review of the literature, we realize that events can be imagined through the first-person perspective or the third-person perspective. The adoption of the specific vantage point can determine the inference people make about an imagined situation. In particular, the third-person perspective results in a greater dispositional inference, and highlights the broader meaning of the imagined situation, whereas the first-person perspective discloses more information about the inner, affective components of the imagined situation. Visual perspectives have been studied extensively in social psychology, but its implication is rarely applied to consumer behavior. This study adopts three experiments to examine the persuasive impact of fit between the consumers’ visual perspectives and advertising appeals. Study One suggests that when consumers adopt the first-person visual perspective, compared to a symbolic product, consumers would prefer the experiential product; on the other hand, when consumers adopt a third-person visual perspective, compared to an experiential product, consumers would select the symbolic product. Study Two proposes that when consumers adopt the first-person visual perspective, manufacturers should emphasize a product’s symbolic benefits. On the contrary, when consumers adopt a third-person visual perspective, manufacturers should stress a product’s experiential benefits. Study Three demonstrates that affordance cues would prime different visual perspectives, and when the visual perspective and advertising appeals fit mutually, it will have a strong persuasive effect. In particular, when there is an affordance cue in an advertisement, it will encourage consumers to adopt the third-person visual perspective, and then prefer symbolic appeals. On the contrary, when an advertisement does not have any affordance cues, it will stimulate consumers to embrace the first-person visual perspective, and then prefer experiential appeals. All three studies demonstrate that when there is a fit between the visual perspectives and the advertising appeals, consumers will generate a fluent embodied simulation, which would lead them to have a positive product attitude and purchase intention. The results of these three studies not only enrich the literature of visual imagery and marketing communication but also provide useful advice to manufacturers, especially on how to create the fit between product positioning and advertising, in order to promote the the positive product attitude and purchase intention of customers.

Being able to generate predictions about what is going to happen next while observing other people’s actions plays a crucial role in our daily lives. Different theoretical explanations for the underlying processes of humans’ action prediction abilities have been suggested. Whereas an embodied account posits that predictive gaze relies on embodied simulations in the observer’s motor system, other accounts do not assume a causal role of the motor system for action prediction. The general aim of this thesis was to augment current knowledge about the functional mechanisms behind humans’ action prediction abilities. In particular, the present thesis outlines and tests an embodied account of action prediction. The second aim of this thesis was to extend prior action prediction studies by exploring infants’ online gaze during observation of social interactions. The thesis reports 3 eye-tracking studies that were designed to measure adults’ and infants’ predictive eye movements during observation of different manual and social actions. The first two studies used point-light displays of manual reaching actions as stimuli to isolate human motion information. Additionally, Study II used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to directly modify motor cortex activity. Study I showed that kinematic information from biological motion can be used to anticipate the goal of other people’s point-light actions and that the presence of biological motion is sufficient for anticipation to occur. Study II demonstrated that TMS-induced temporary lesions in the primary motor cortex selectively affected observers’ gaze latencies. Study III examined 12-month-olds’ online gaze during observation of a give-and-take interaction between two individuals. The third study showed that already at one year of age infants shift their gaze from a passing hand to a receiving hand faster when the receiving hand forms a give-me gesture compared to an inverted hand shape. The reported results from this thesis make two major contributions. First, Studies I and II provide evidence for an embodied account of action prediction by demonstrating a direct connection between anticipatory eye movements and motor cortex activity. These findings support the interpretation that predictive eye movements are driven by a recruitment of the observer’s own motor system. Second, Study III implicates that properties of social action goals influence infants’ online gaze during action observation. It further suggests that at one year of age infants begin to show sensitivity to social goals within the context of give-and-take interactions while observing from a third-party perspective.

Swarm robotics is the study of developing and controlling large groups of robots. Collectives of robots possess advantages over single robots such as being robust to mission failures due to single-robot errors. Experimental research in swarm robotics is currently limited by swarm robotic technology. Current swarm robotic systems are either small groups of sophisticated robots or large groups of simple robots due to manufacturing overhead, functionality-cost dependencies, and their need to avoid collisions, amongst others. It is therefore useful to develop a swarm robotic system that is easy to manufacture, that utilises its sensors beyond standard usage, and that allows for physical interactions. In this work, I introduce a new type of low-friction locomotion and show its first implementation in the HoverBot system. The HoverBot system consists of an air-levitation and magnet table, and a HoverBot agent. HoverBots are levitating circuit boards which are equipped with an array of planar coils and a Hall-effect sensor. HoverBot uses its coils to pull itself towards magnetic anchors that are embedded into a levitation table. These robots consist of a Printed Circuit Board (PCB), surface mount components, and a battery. HoverBots are easily manufacturable, robots can be ordered populated; the assembly consists of plugging in a battery to a robot. I demonstrate how HoverBot's low-cost hardware can be used beyond its standard functionality. HoverBot's magnetic field readouts from its Hall-effect sensor can be associated with successful movement, robot rotation and collision measurands. I build a time series classifier based on these magnetic field readouts, I modify and apply signal processing techniques to enable the online classification of the time-variant magnetic field measurements on HoverBot's low-cost microcontroller. This method allows HoverBot to detect rotations, successful movements, and collisions by utilising readouts from its single Hall-effect sensor. I discuss how this classification method could be applied to other sensors and demonstrate how HoverBots can utilise their classifier to create an occupancy grid map. HoverBots use their multi-functional sensing capabilities to determine whether they moved successfully or collided with a static object to map their environment. HoverBots execute an "explore-and-return-to-nest" strategy to deal with their sensor and locomotion noise. Each robot is assigned to a nest (landmark); robots leave their nests, move n steps, return and share their observations. Over time, a group of four HoverBots collectively builds a probabilistic belief over its environment. In summary, I build manufacturable swarm robots that detect collisions through a time series classifier and map their environment by colliding with their surroundings. My work on swarm robotic technology pushes swarm robotics research towards studies on collision-dependent behaviours, a research niche that has been barely studied. Collision events occur more often in dense areas and/or large groups, circumstances that swarm robots experience. Large groups of robots with collision-dependent behaviours could become a research tool to help invent and test novel distributed algorithms, to understand the dependencies between local to global (emergent) behaviours and more generally the science of complex systems. Such studies could become tremendously useful for the execution of large-scale swarm applications such as the search and rescue of survivors after a natural disaster.

Avec les neurones miroirs et les théories de la simulation, les découvertes récentes des neurosciences sur les relations intersubjectives offrent à la théorie littéraire de nouvelles données pour approcher le récit fictionnel. Elles permettent de réhabiliter le bovarysme littéraire dont la version cognitiviste, l’empathie fictionnelle, est l’objet de cette thèse. Il apparaît que dans le monde créé par la fiction, c’est l’empathie fictionnelle qu’il éprouve pour les personnages qui permet au lecteur de comprendre leurs états mentaux et d’anticiper leur comportement. Ainsi, les émotions fictionnelles, véritable catalyseur du processus de simulation qui permet au lecteur d’éprouver corporellement le point de vue du personnage, participent-elles pleinement au processus de compréhension et d’interprétation de l’histoire. L’objectif est donc de repenser l’activité du lecteur de fiction en axant la réflexion sur la manière dont le lecteur appréhende le monde fictionnel et s’y investit émotionnellement. L’aptitude à l’empathie fictionnelle devient alors une compétence de lecteur, indispensable pour qu’il puisse s’immerger dans l’univers fictionnel. Ce point de vue soulève une question concernant la didactique de la lecture littéraire. Lors de la lecture d’œuvres de fiction, en quoi et comment est-il souhaitable de solliciter l’empathie fictionnelle des élèves pour les personnages ? Cette thèse répondra à cette question en proposant un dispositif d’accompagnement de la lecture par l’écriture : le « journal de personnage ». L’expérimentation présentée, menée en classe de CM2 et de 6e, concerne le journal de Gilgamesh, héros mythologique dont le récit des aventures appartient à nos textes fondateurs. À travers l’observation de productions écrites d’élèves et l’analyse d’entretiens et de questionnaires individuels, il apparaîtra que les écritures fictionnelles en première personne demandées aux élèves sont un moyen d’exercer leur aptitude à l’empathie fictionnelle et par voie de conséquence de développer leurs compétences en matière de lecture littéraire. / With mirror neurons and simulation theories, recent findings in neuroscience on inter-subjective relations offer new data to literary theory about fictional narrative. They help restore literary bovarysm of which cognitive version, the fictional empathy, is the subject of this thesis. It appears that, in a world created by fiction, the fictional empathy that the reader feels for characters allows him to understand their mental states and anticipate their behavior. Thus, the fictional emotions, real catalyst of the simulation process that allows the reader to physically experience the perspective of the character, fully participate in the process of understanding and interpreting the story. The objective is therefore to rethink the mental activity of the reader of fiction, with a focus on how the reader grasps the fictional world and gets involved emotionally. The capacity for fictional empathy then becomes a reader’s skill, essential to immerse himself in the fictional universe. This approach raises a question about the teaching of literary reading. When reading fiction, in which way and how is it advisable to seek the students’ fictional empathy for the characters? To address this issue, this thesis proposes that a reading-cum-writing support mechanism be envisaged: the "character’s diary". The experiment conducted in CM2 and 6th grade classes, relates to the diary of Gilgamesh, mythological hero whose adventure stories belong to our founding texts. Through the observation of students' written along with the analysis of interviews and individual questionnaires, it would appear that fictional writing requested from students in the first person are a means to exercise their capacity for fictional empathy and as a corollary develop their skills in literary reading.