<p>Animals utilize information about their environments in order to adaptively modify behaviour. Such information may come from individual experience or from social sources, both of which have costs and benefits to the animal. Here I first show benefits of individual learning with respect to foraging performance, a good proxy of fitness, in bumblebees in a naturalistic setting. Second, I show that despite fitness costs associated with learning, fruit flies do not modify their investment in learning ability due to environmental complexity of larval foraging environment. Third, I show that fruit fly larvae utilize social information in their foraging decisions, including social learning, despite increased competition costs. Fourth, I show that adult fruit flies also use the presence of larvae as a source of social information to find suitable food patches. Finally, I show that larvae spontaneously form small foraging aggregations, one benefit of which may be an improved ability to dig and burrow into the surface of the food. I discuss the costs and benefits of both individual and social learning, as well as the potential for insect model systems in future studies of sociality and learning.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Changes in social information processing that occur during adolescence are thought to rely on the functional and structural maturation of a network of interconnected brain regions referred to as “the social brain.” The morphology of these brain regions, individually, is thought to be associated with functional specialization and/or ability, but little is known about the relationship between the morphology of the network and its functional specialization. Studies suggest that repeatedly executed psychological processes are not only reflected in functional networks, but may also be related to coordinated morphological changes in the brain across multiple regions that are functionally and structurally connected. The present study sought to explore changes in neuromorphological covariation that occur in the social brain network between adolescence and adulthood (Aim 1), using magnetic resonance imaging and graph theory, and link the properties of this covariance to self-reported and behavioral aspects of social information processing, specifically resistance to peer influence (Aim 2.1), rejection sensitivity (Aim 2.2), and the control of automatic reactions to socially relevant stimuli (Aim 2.3). The specificity of these results to social stimuli was assessed by also analyzing covariance properties in relation to a non-social measure of cognitive functioning (Aim 2.4). Subjects were 217 healthy right-handed individuals between the ages of 13 and 25 – 77 adolescents (ages 13-17), 73 young adults (ages 18-21), and 67 adults (ages 22-25). Analyses involved extracting cortical thickness values for the social brain network for each subject, and conducting group-level graph theoretic analyses. Results suggest that older subjects, subjects who are less sensitive to social stimuli and those who perform better on a behavioral inhibition task, all share one characteristic: the density of covariance in the structural social brain network is low compared to individuals who are younger, more sensitive to social stimuli, and who perform worse on a behavioral inhibition task. Furthermore, this pattern was not observed in a non-social measure of cognitive functioning, suggesting a level of specificity to social information processing in the reported findings. By suggesting that selective structural covariance in the social brain may be characteristic of maturity but also more adaptive in social contexts, the findings from the present study contribute to the idea that adolescence is a time of great opportunity for shaping the brain's structural architecture. / Psychology

Learning allows animals to adapt to new and changing environments. Animals can learn through their own personal experiences, known as asocial or individual learning. Asocial learning produces reliable information, but it can be energetically costly and risky for the learner. So instead of learning on their own, animals can choose to learn by observing and copying the behaviours and choices of others, known as social learning. However, because individuals that socially learn are gaining second-hand information, this form of learning is often less reliable. Animals are expected to be flexible in their use of individual versus social information, and to use whatever strategy provides the greatest benefits. Not all animals or individuals have been found to employ a flexible strategy, and research shows that many have a clear preference for one type of learning over the other. This preference for social or individual learning can be influenced by their personality, their sex and even an individual’s reproductive status. Another factor that could influence learning is an individual’s rank, but this topic has received little attention. In my M.SC. research, I studied how social rank influences an individual’s performance in an asocial and in a social learning task using the cichlid fish Neolamprologus pulcher. Using this species I also tested if social rank influences information use, by providing conflicting individual and social information to the fish. I found that subordinate N. pulcher were faster at a reversal learning (suppressing a previously learned rule and learning a new one), but there were no clear differences between the social ranks in associative learning or in social learning. When presented with conflicting individual and social information, both subordinate and dominant N. pulcher relied on individual information first. However, dominant N. pulcher were more likely to also use the conflicting social information in addition to their individual information. Taken together these results help us better understand cognitive differences between social ranks, and shed light on how information and behaviours in social groups can be learned and spread. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Using a multimethod-multimodal approach, this study compared the contributions of executive function (EF) abilities (Go No-Go, Visual Search, 2-Back task, and Task Switching) to narrative comprehension tasks (False Belief, Strange Stories, Self-Reported Theory of Mind Inventory [TOMI-SR]) and a narrative production task (interpersonal decentering) in a sample of young adults. Separate regression models were conducted for each theory of mind (ToM) measure with EF measures as predictor variables and empirically selected demographic variables controlled. As expected, in this college student sample (N = 110), False Belief demonstrated a ceiling effect and was not associated with any EF ability. Task Switching and 2-Back accounted for significant variance in Strange Stories. No EF task significantly predicted performance on TOMI-SR or interpersonal decentering. Both story comprehension tasks (False Belief and Strange Stories) were significantly associated, but these tasks were not correlated with either self-reported ToM or interpersonal decentering. Several unanticipated demographic associations were found; having more siblings and English proficiency accounted for significant variability in Strange Stories; education, presence or absence of self-disclosed autism diagnosis and mental health diagnosis explained a large portion of variance in TOMI-SR; interpersonal decentering maturity differed significantly between cisgender men and cisgender women. Lastly, interpersonal decentering number of interactions demonstrated an advantage for individuals without diagnosed or suspected autism diagnosis. This study raises critical concerns regarding measurement method error variance and variability of task demands in explaining cognitive mechanisms relevant to social cognitive processes.

L’émergence des réseaux sociaux a révolutionné le Web en permettant notamment aux individus de prolonger leur connexion virtuelle en une relation plus réelle et de partager leurs connaissances. Ce nouveau contexte de diffusion de l’information sur le Web peut constituer un moyen efficace pour cerner les besoins en information des utilisateurs du Web, et permettre à la recherche d’information (RI) de mieux répondre à ces besoins en adaptant les modèles d’indexation et d’interrogation. L’exploitation des réseaux sociaux confronte la RI à plusieurs défis dont les plus importants concernent la représentation de l’information dans un modèle social personnalisé de RI et son évaluation, en l’absence de collections de test et de compétitions dédiées. Nous proposons dans ce travail de bénéficier de l’exploitation des informations issues des réseaux sociaux pour personnaliser la recherche d’information de l’utilisateur en se rapprochant le plus de ses centres d’intérêt et de ses préférences. Les principales contributions de notre travail consistent dans un premier temps à établir un profil social de l’utilisateur à partir du contenu informationnel généré au sein du réseau social. Nous présentons par la suite des modèles de recherche sociale personnalisée d’information (RSPI) permettant d’intégrer le profil social de l’utilisateur à différents niveaux du processus de RI. Dans l’objectif de permettre l’évaluation des modèles de RSPI sur une collection de test dédiée, nous proposons une collection de test de RSPI que nous avons construite à partir du réseau d’annotation collaborative "Delicious" contenant en plus des données classiques d’une collection de test de RI, des données centrées-utilisateur / The emergence of social media has revolutionized the web by allowing individuals to extend their virtual connection in a more real relationship and share knowledge. This new context of information dissemination on the Web can be an effective way to identify the information needs of Web users, and allow information retrieval (IR) to better meet these needs by adapting the indexing and querying models. The information retrieval faced several challenges with the use of social networks, the most important concerns the representation of information in a personalized social IR (PSIR) model and its evaluation in the absence of a social test collections with the user-centered data (user-centered queries and user-centered relevance judgments). We propose to benefit from the use of the user generated content (UGC) on the social networks to personalize his social search in order to better fit his interests and preferences. The main contributions of our work consist of, on the one hand, building a social profile from the UGC within the social network. We propose then a personalized social information retrieval models which integrate the user’s social profile at various levels of the IR process. On the other hand, with the objective of evaluating our PSIR models on a dedicated test collection, we propose a PSIR test collection "DelRSI" we built from the collaborative social bookmarking network "Delicious" ; a PSIR test collection containing in addition to the classical IR test collection’s data, a user-centered data

Dating violence (DV) among young adults, specifically in college settings, is a serious issue with potential severe repercussions – both physically and psychologically – for victims of DV (DV victimization), and even financially on societal institutions as a whole. Exposure to parental intimate partner violence (IPV) has been associated with DV in young adults. Such violent behaviors appear to be associated with a recurrent pattern of aggressive thought processes, content, and arousing emotions. This study investigated the mediating effects of explicit socio-cognitive processes, through the reformulated social information processing (SIP) model, and implicit cognitive processes for exposure to parental IPV on DV perpetration and victimization, as well as the moderating effects of identification with parental figures and emotional arousal for exposure to parental IPV on predicting DV perpetration and victimization. 85 college students (men n = 23, M age = 22.29) were recruited for the study and results revealed that exposure to father-to-mother IPV predicted DV victimization, and that the interaction between exposure to father-to-mother IPV and identification with maternal figure predicted DV victimization. Conversely, identification with a parental figure negatively predicted DV victimization. The results revealed that SIP processes did not mediate the relationship for exposure to parental IPV on DV perpetration, however, SIP process of aggressive responding was positively associated with exposure to father-to-mother IPV and DV perpetration. Next, interaction of exposure to mother-to-father IPV and positive affective arousal is associated with less severe SIP hostile attributions and less positive evaluations of aggression responses. Finally, implicit cognition did not mediate exposure to parental IPV and DV perpetration.

Online dating is a popular phenomenon in the world. Since the main motivation for individuals to use online dating services is finding a partner, the communication strategies for the users to develop a relationship via online dating services and the different communication practices between online and offline dating are thought-provoking. This research aims to answer two research questions: what the communication strategies for online daters of Soul are and what the differences between online and offline dating for users of Soul, including communication practices are. These two research questions aim to increase the possibility of having a successful online dating and provide a deep insight into online dating. Based on the theoretical frameworks of uncertainty reduction theory, social information processing theory, and the hyperpersonal communication, this research interviewed 11 Chinese online daters in the application, Soul and observed their online activities. As a result, this research finds that when encounter with the potential partners, individuals will actively seek information to reduce their uncertainty. The most effective way is interrogation while the most common way is observing personal account. During the information-seeking process, the similarities including interests and hobbies are important. Self-presentation strategies contain the planning strategy, editing strategy, and the strategy of adaptation to the characteristics of the partner. Besides information seeking strategies and self-presentation strategies, individuals also use the long-term arrangement strategy. The differences between online and offline dating contain three aspects: communication practices of information processing (including information processing, communication patterns as well as communication attitudes), the imagined others through online dating communication and different social norms.

A consistent finding in the literature is that children who demonstrate lower levels of social functioning (i.e., exhibit high levels of externalising and internalising problems and low levels of socially competent behaviour) have problems interpreting social cues and enacting appropriate behavioural responses in social situations (that is, they have poor social information processing (SIP) skills). Another consistent finding is that children who demonstrate lower levels of social functioning have problems regulating behaviour and/or emotions (that is, they have poor self-regulation skills). The research questions in this study explore two related issues: whether these associations can explain sex differences in social functioning (with girls consistently exhibiting higher levels of social competence and lower levels of externalising problems than boys) and whether an intervention targeting SIP and self-regulation skills can lead to improvements in social functioning. The study forms one component of a larger developmental prevention project (the Pathways to Prevention Project) which involves the provision of an integrated set of intervention strategies to children attending preschools in a highly disadvantaged Brisbane suburb. It also involves programs with their families, their schools and relevant ethnic communities. This study relates to a sub-sample of 308 children who participated solely in the social skills program. Children from two preschools received the program (N=174) and were compared with children from two other preschools who did not receive the program (N=134). The research questions were addressed using a repeated measures design, with data being collected from all intervention and comparison children pre- and post-intervention (that is, at the beginning and end of the school year) and at a one year follow-up at the end of Grade 1. The study is unique as it involves Australian children from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds, many of whom who are non-English speaking. Few studies have involved such diverse samples and none have been implemented in an Australian context. The first two research questions seek to confirm findings from prior studies, examining whether females exhibit higher levels of social functioning than males and whether there is a significant relationship between social functioning and SIP and self-regulation skills. The third research question significantly extends prior findings by examining whether there are sex differences in SIP and self-regulation skills and whether these can account for sex differences in social functioning. This issue has been largely overlooked in the literature. The fourth research question examines whether a social skills intervention designed to improve preschool children's SIP and self-regulatory skills can lead to improvements in these skills and increase levels of social functioning. The fifth research question examines the relative effect of the intervention for boys and girls. Using pre-intervention data, the study confirmed prior research, finding significant sex differences in social functioning with girls exhibiting higher levels of social competence and lower levels of externalising problems. A significant relationship was also found between measures of SIP, self-regulation skills and social functioning. A significant sex difference was found in SIP and self-regulation skills, with girls performing better than boys on these measures. After adjusting for children's scores on the SIP measure, sex differences in social competence were no longer significant. Sex differences in externalising problems remained significant but were markedly reduced. A similar pattern of findings was observed when adjusting for self-regulation skills. These findings represent a major contribution to the understanding of sex differences in social functioning. In comparison to non-participants, participants in the social skills program demonstrated significant improvements in SIP, self-regulation skills and social competence which were sustained 12 months after the completion of the intervention. In general, program participation was not found to be associated with changes in children's levels of externalising and internalising behaviour problems, although there were strong and significant reductions in externalising behaviour problems for disruptive children who were consistently engaged with the program. Program effects were greatest where it was consistently reinforced by teachers. No significant sex differences in program effects were found. Implications for future policy are that child-focused programs designed to increase school readiness and levels of social competence should include SIP and self-regulation components. More intensive programs may be required for long term improvements in behaviour problems. In terms of future practice, it is concluded that the implementation and evaluation of programs for young disadvantaged children from a range of multi-cultural backgrounds must limit English language requirements to increase program engagement, and encourage parental involvement using strategies such as parent training groups that do not demand high levels of parental literacy. Teacher involvement also needs to be maximised either through the provision of teacher training or through intensive mentoring.

Submitted by Patrícia Sales (patriciarsales@gmail.com) on 2018-04-11T17:01:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO_PATRÍCIA_REIS.pdf: 3464705 bytes, checksum: 5e23815f93e10de42134123fd8c03a11 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Urania Araujo (urania@ufba.br) on 2018-05-03T19:29:26Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO_PATRÍCIA_REIS.pdf: 3464705 bytes, checksum: 5e23815f93e10de42134123fd8c03a11 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-03T19:29:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO_PATRÍCIA_REIS.pdf: 3464705 bytes, checksum: 5e23815f93e10de42134123fd8c03a11 (MD5) / Esta pesquisa pretendeu analisar a informação através da tatuagem a partir de sujeitos cognoscentes. Partindo de uma abordagem qualitativa e descritiva em relação aos objetivos pretendidos, a pesquisa visa abordar, com uma perspectiva inter e multidisciplinar, o movimento da informação em uma sociedade totalmente dinâmica articulada com outros elementos informacionais, corroborando para a criação da tatuagem. Foi preciso ampliar o entendimento sobre a linguagem representada pela imagem tatuada ao conteúdo informacional semântico e estético. Para tanto, desvenda-se, neste estudo, o corpo humano como suporte da informação, a percepção da informação, e, a partir de então, se visa adquirir o esclarecimento necessário para alcançar a compreensão da informação social proposta por Erving Goffman. Apresenta-se histórico sobre a tatuagem, possibilidades e justificativas sobre seu uso. Utilizou-se a entrevista para a coleta de dados junto a 13 sujeitos tatuados. A análise do discurso teve o fito de averiguar as respostas e considerar a percepção que os sujeitos têm a partir das enunciações tatuadas em sua pele. A pesquisa demonstrou que a tatuagem se revela como um conjunto de informação articulado com aspectos vividos e sociais, uma obra de arte, e constatou a existência do preconceito em torno dessa “arte em pele”. Dessa forma, a pesquisa teve como intenção ampliar o estudo do objeto informação para além de suportes convencionais e assim fortalecer a consolidação da Ciência da Informação. / Abstract: This research provided an advertisement through photography from cognoscing subjects. Starting from a qualitative and descriptive approach in relation to the intended objectives, a visa research, an inter and multidisciplinary perspective, the information movement in a totally dynamic society articulated with other informational elements, corroborating for a creation of the tattoo. It was necessary to broaden the understanding of a language represented by the tattooed image to the semantic and aesthetic informational content. For more information, contact the vendor, visit the portal, and receive information on the subject. It presents history about a tattoo, possibilities and justifications about its use. An interview was used to collect data from 13 tattooed subjects. An analysis of the discourse with the aim of ascertaining how responses and considerations about perception and subjects from the enunciations tattooed on their skin. One research has shown that a tattoo is revealed as a set of information articulated with living and social actions, a work of art, and found the existence of the prejudice around "art on the skin." In this way, the research had the intention to extend the study of the informative document in addition to conventional supports and to assimilate a consolidation of the Information Science.

La prise d’information est très importante pour les animaux. En effet, le comportement sera mieux adapté s’il s’appuie sur l’évaluation précise des paramètres du milieu. Notre étude porte sur l’utilisation de l’information sociale chez deux espèces d’oiseaux. Deux expériences ont été menées sur le canari domestique (Serinus canaria) en laboratoire, au sein du LECC de Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense. Quatre expériences portant sur le pigeon biset (Columba livia) ont eu lieu en milieu urbain au Jardin des Plantes au centre de Paris.Chez le canari, nous avons démontré une utilisation de l’information sociale, ceci en utilisant des indices visuels et/ou acoustiques dans une activité d’approvisionnement. Les ambiances de chants ont été plus utilisées par les canaris que les cris ; les oiseaux ont été par ailleurs sensibles aux informations ambigües. Chez les pigeons nous avons observé une capacité de discrimination et de reconnaissance d’individus hétérospécifiques (nourrisseurs humains). Deux profils comportementaux ont été mis en évidence (régulier vs occasionnel), ces profils étaient corrélés aux caractéristiques morpho-physiologiques des pigeons. Les pigeons ont été capables aussi d’utiliser des indices acoustiques tel que des cris de prédateurs (cris de : corneilles, goélands et faucons crécerelle), bruit d’envol des congénères et même des cris d’alarme hétérospécifique (merle noir) afin de détecter la présence de danger. Enfin nous avons constaté que la quantité de nourriture disponible influençait le comportement d’approvisionnement des pigeons. En conclusion, les canaris domestiques et les pigeons bisets sont capables d’utiliser différents types d’indices sociaux pendant leurs approvisionnements et extraient des informations à partir de ces indices afin de mieux exploiter les sources de nourrissage. / Social information, foraging behaviour, urban area, Serinus canaria, Columba liviaGetting information is very important for animals. Indeed, the behavior will be better suited if based on accurate assessment of environmental parameters. Our study focuses on the use of social information in two species of birds. Two experiments were conducted on the domesticated canary (Serinus canaria) in laboratory conditions, at the LECC of the University Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense (France). And four others were conducted on the rock dove (Columba livia) in urban area “Jardin des Plantes” in Paris.In canaries, we demonstrated the use of social information, this by using visual and acoustic cues in foraging activities. The songs noises were more used by the canaries that calls. The birds were still susceptible to ambiguous information. In pigeons, we observed a capacity of discrimination and recognition of heterospecific individuals (human feeders). Two behavioral profiles were identified (regular vs. occasional), these profiles linked to the morpho-physiological characteristics of pigeons. The pigeons were also able to use acoustic cues such as predator calls (crows, gulls, and kestrels), flight noise of conspecifics and even heterospecific alarm calls (Blackbirds) to detect the presence of danger. Finally we found that the quantity of food available played a role on foraging behavior of pigeons.In conclusion, domestic canaries and feral pigeons are able to use different types of social cues when foraging and extract information from these cues for an efficient exploitation of the feeding sources.