La quantité d’informations à laquelle nous sommes chaque jour confrontésconditionne notre survie à la capacité de détecter rapidement ce qui est le pluspertinent dans notre environnement. Nos cerveaux ont ainsi évolué afin dedéclencher, en réponse aux stimuli pertinents, des changements d’état affectif quinous informent alors de l’existence et de la nature de ces stimuli. Or, tandis que lesétats émotionnels, induits par des états corporels, impactent notre perception desstimuli émotionnels, l’influence de ces états corporels sur l’évaluation de lapertinence de stimuli externes est méconnue. Nous avons ici examiné le rôle queces états du corps, transitoires et socialement signifiants, jouent dans l'évaluation dela pertinence des expressions faciales de menace. Lors de nos testscomportementaux, où variaient le degré de pertinence des stimuli et le focusattentionnel, nous avons modulé l'état corporel des participants à l’aide de posturesdominantes ou non dominantes réalisées avant les tâches. Nous avons alorsdémontré que ces postures influencent l'évaluation de la pertinence des expressionsde menace, en accord avec le statut social qu’elles incarnent. De plus, ceci n’a étérévélé que lorsque le traitement de ces stimuli était implicite, soulignant alors lasaillance de ces derniers. Ainsi, nos résultats démontrent que les états corporelsinfluencent non seulement l'évaluation de la pertinence, mais la déterminent, car desstimuli par ailleurs pertinents ne sont plus évalués comme tels selon la postureadoptée. Ces résultats suggèrent que l’état du corps interagit avec nos états affectifspour signaler à l’observateur quels indices sociaux sont pertinents. / Given the quantity of information with which we are constantly confronted, our survival depends on the ability to rapidly detect and attend to what is most relevant. To this end, our brains have evolved to trigger changes in our affective state in response to relevant objects and events, which inform us of their existence and of their nature. While body-induced affective states impact the perception of congruent emotional stimuli, it is still unknown whether body-induced affective states influence the manner in which the relevance of external stimuli is determined and therefore perceived. Here, we examined the role that socially meaningful transient body states play in the evaluation of relevance of facial displays of threat. In a series of behavioral experiments, we modulated participants’ body state, instructing them to hold dominant or non-dominant postures prior to behavioral tests, in which we varied the degree of relevance of the stimuli and the focus of attention. We first demonstrated that these body postures, in accordance with the social status they embody, influenced the evaluation of the relevance of threatening facial displays. Moreover, this impact occurred where facial displays were processed implicitly, highlighting the saliency of these social cues. Overall, our studies demonstrate, that body states, not only influence the evaluation of relevance, but determine it, as otherwise relevant social cues, were no longer evaluated as such. These findings suggest that body states interact with affective states to signal which social cues are relevant to the observer.

Orientador: Zélia Lopes da Silva / Banca: Antonio Celso Ferreira / Banca: Norval Baitello Junior / Banca: Eda Maria Goes / Banca: Maria Teresa Santos Cunha / Resumo: Este trabalho se fundamenta na importância crescente das imagens no século vinte, as quais podem ser entendidas em duplo sentido: como estimulantes dos olhares e como aparências investidas de potencial comunicativo. É privilegiado o uso que a mídia efetuou do universo do olhar. As imagens, em sua ambigüidade, são instrumentos adequados ao uso publicitário em um século em que, paulatinamente, a notícia e a informação são consideradas mercadorias pelos grandes grupos de comunicação. As fontes da pesquisa são as capas de revistas brasileiras de sucesso de mercado. O mercado da informação está fundamentalmente ligado ao exercício da política, eis porque o período de análise corresponde ao final da década de sessenta (início da censura governamental à imprensa) e da década de oitenta (primeira eleição direta para presidente da República após o fim da censura), sendo lícito questionar de que forma a comunicação foi empreendida enquanto entrávamos e saíamos da ditadura militar. As capas são signos do funcionamento da chamada grande imprensa e, ao mesmo tempo, são signos de um olhar que se estrutura no decorrer do século: olhar que busca informação rápida e concisa. Estratégias comuns utilizadas nas imagens de capa são analisadas, como o uso dos códigos das cores e das expressões corporais, assim como os temas que tiveram destaque nas capas das revistas e que mostram a constituição de sentidos propostos à massa de fatos que os próprios meios de comunicação oferecem. As sínteses compostas em imagens estabelecem pautas de discussões, tornando-as importantes e exercendo um poder excludente. As capas das... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The thesis is based on the increasing importance of pictures in the 20th century. Pictures may be understood as (1) gaze stimulating and as (2) appearances charged with communicative potentiality. The use that the media make of the gaze is extremely conspicuous. Even in their ambiguity, pictures are veritable publicity instruments in a century during which news and information became gradually commercial goods in the hands of great communication groups. Our research sources are covers of best selling Brazilian magazines. Since the information market is intimately linked to politics and the analyzed period ranges from the late 60s (the starting point of press censorship by the government) to the late 80s (the first true election for the presidency of Brazil after censorship), it is important to problematize the communication theme as Brazil alternated from censorship and dictatorship to democracy. Magazine covers are performance signs of the big press and, at the same time, of the gaze structuring itself throughout the century: the gaze that seeks precise and fast information. Common strategies in magazine covers, uses of color, body expression codes, underlined themes which show the constitution of meanings suggested to the great amount of photos by the same communication media, are analyzed. Picture-composed synthesis establishes discussions, giving great importance to pictures since they exercise an excluding stance. Magazine covers allure the magazines' target public, or consumers. Beneath the magazines' syntheses lie... (Complete abstract, click electronic access below) / Doutor

Durant ses activités quotidiennes, un marcheur interagit avec son environnement et en particulier avec les autres marcheurs, notamment en évitant toute collision. La nature de l'information visuelle utilisée pour une interaction sans collision est une question encore très ouverte à ce jour. Dans ce cadre, cette thèse vise à répondre aux questions suivantes : quels sont les indices visuels qu'un individu perçoit à partir du mouvement des autres ? Quels sont les mécanismes d'interprétation possibles et les modèles utilisés pour déterminer les possibles risques de collision ? Afin de répondre à ces questions, nous avons mis en place des expérimentations impliquant des évitements de collision entre deux marcheurs en utilisant la réalité virtuelle, permettant un contrôle détaillé de l'environnement visuel et des informations visuelles disponibles. La première étude s'est concentrée sur la nature de l'information visuelle fournie par un autre marcheur, en particulier, si ces informations sont extraites d’une perception locale considérant les segments corporels, ou d’une perception globale du mouvement du corps. La deuxième étude s'est concentrée sur l’influence de la trajectoire de l’autre marcheur (en ligne droite ou en courbe) sur la capacité à estimer de façon précise un possible risque de collision. Enfin, la troisième étude s'est concentrée sur l’effet du contact visuel sur l'interaction entre les deux marcheurs. Nous avons présenté ici le couplage entre les possibilités d'action perçues et les possibilités offertes par la nature de l'information visuelle et démontré que les marcheurs peuvent détecter les collisions futures prévues lorsqu'un autre marcheur suit une trajectoire avec des accélérations constantes. / During daily activities, a walker interacts with their environment, especially the other walkers, avoiding any collision with them. The nature of visual information that is used for a collision-free interaction requires further understanding. Specifically, the thesis aims to answer the following questions: what are the visual cues an individual perceives from the movement of others? What are the possible interpretation mechanisms and models used for determining future predicted crossing distances? To answer these questions, we designed experiments considering collision avoidance interactions between two walkers in virtual reality, allowing detailed control of the visual environment and the available visual information. The first study of the thesis focused on the nature of visual information provided from another walker, investigating whether these visual cues are extracted from local body parts or from global perception of the body motion. The second study investigated the influence of the walker's path (straight or curved), which the participant is interacting with for the accurate estimation of future risk of collision. Finally, the third study investigated whether eye contact influences the interaction. Here we have demonstrated the coupling of perceived actionopportunities affordances from the nature of visual information and evidenced that walkers can detect future predicted collisions when another walker follows a path with constant acceleration.

TV – och datorspel har historiskt sätt utvecklats från att ses som underhållning riktat till en yngre målgrupp - till en miljonindustri världen över med spelare i alla åldrar. Som akademiskt studieområde har spel inte uppmärksammats förrän långt senare i förhållande till äldre medieformer likt TV och film. Spelforskningen har huvudsakligen fokuserat på huruvida spel gör sina spelare våldsbenägna eller ej, men har på senare tid även börjat ifrågasätta hur framställningen av kvinnor, män samt personer av olika etnicitet sänder för signaler till sina spelare.  Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka en spelkaraktär vilken kan ses som förkroppsligandet av två historiska minoriteter inom spelvärlden: detta då hon är en kvinnlig, färgad spelkaraktär. Detta i kontrast till de vita män vilka i haft konsekvent exponering spelhistoriskt sätt. Denna studie har undersökt hur Sheva Alomars fem kostymalternativ i survival-horror spelet Resident Evil 5 (2009) kan förstås utifrån teorier om stereotyp, etnicitet samt genus. Den analysmetod som används har varit en semiotisk bildanalys av karaktären i respektive dräkt för att undersöka vilka budskap som kunnat utläsas. Studien utgår från teoretiska ramverk vilka huvudsakligen behandlar begreppen stereotyp, etnicitet och genus med fokus på hegemonisk maskulinitet och vithet. Även feministiska teorier likt ”Kvinnan som belöning”, ”Male Gaze”, samt ”Erotiserad Aggression” appliceras på materialet för att belysa de maskulina strukturer som genomsyrar spelindustrin, vilka även avspeglas i det visuella material som spelen tillhandahåller. Resultatet i denna studie visar att Sheva Alomar som färgad, kvinnlig spelkaraktär framställts på ett nedvärderande, sexistiskt och rasistiskt sätt i Resident Evil 5. Detta då hon som färgad spelkaraktär får förkroppsliga etniska stereotyper likt afrikansk urinvånare samt discodiva – samt även förkroppsliga genusstereotyper och fantasier som den sexiga sekreteraren eller den oskyldiga, men sexiga Rödluvan. Då de fyra dräkter som är specifika bonusdräkter är påtagligt mer sexualiserande i sin framställning i förhållande till karaktärens originaldräkt, konkretiseras det att kvinnans kropp används som belöning för spelaren. Resultaten avspeglar samma historiska mönster som tidigare representationsforskning funnit rörande spel: att kvinnor trots ökande förekomst samt ökande kompetens och narrativa betydelse i spel fortfarande sexualiseras och framställs som ögongodis för den sannolikt manliga spelaren.

A presente pesquisa analisa três filmes do diretor norte-americano Gus Van Sant: Elefante (2003), Últimos dias (2005) e Paranoid Park (2007). Esses três filmes, muitas vezes pensados como uma trilogia, não se igualam apenas no campo estético, mas também em sua proposta política, já que os três apresentam fatos sociais e acontecimentos (mais próximos à esfera do jornalismo). Assim, a pesquisa desenvolve sua argumentação tendo como ponto de partida a realidade concreta e os modos de construção de suas possíveis representações. Não se trata, nesse caso, precisamente de um tipo de realismo enquanto gênero, mas, sobretudo, um modo realista imbricado na forma ficcional dos filmes em função das questões políticas e de sociabilidade que eles suscitam. A pesquisa aborda, dessa forma, três pontos a partir dos quais pensar o cinema contemporâneo, apontando algumas de suas escolhas no campo da visibilidade e em sua política. No trabalho, são três as dimensões do olhar que se colocam a partir do discurso cinematográfico: 1. o olhar do autor, que intenciona uma enunciação; 2. o olhar da cena e a performatividade das imagens, que tensionam o lugar de intenção da autoria; 3. o olhar da cena social, que encontra o lugar político das imagens e do espectador em relação à circulação delas. A esse processo foi dado o nome de dialética do olhar, pois ele constrói a todo instante os espaços de alteridade, ou do Mesmo e do Outro, na imagem. / This research analysis three films directed by Gus Van Sant, from United States, were selected: Elephant (2003), Last Days (2005) and Paranoid Park (2007) These three movies, often studied as a trilogy, are not only connected by a common aesthetical field, but also in its propositional politics, since the three movies present social facts and events (more like how events are brought up in the field of journalism). Therefore, the research considers as its starting point the factual reality and the construction of its possible representations. We are not specifically talking about Realism, as it\'s approached as a gender, but, most of all, according to the political questions and sociability evoked by our object. This research aims to point three parameters in order to discuss the contemporary cinema and its option into the political and visibility\'s fields. We\'re focused in three dimensions of the gaze posed considering the cinematographic discourse: 1) the author\'s gaze, that aims to create a tendency in an enunciation, 2. the scene\'s gaze and the images\' performativity, that stress the position of the authorship\'s intentionality; 3. the gaze of the social scene, that meets the images\' political position, from the spectator to its circulation. This process was named as gaze dialectic, since it is capable of constructing at every moment spaces of alterity, or, Itself and the Other in the image.

This study is about how a person who is used to play games experiences playing a game with their eyes as input. The participants played a 3D game where the player had to collect coins by moving a ball over them. The participants first tried the game with keyboard as input and then right after only interacting by gazing via screen. The achieved score was recorded both for input from keyboard and input from eye. After the game session the participants were asked to answer two questionnaires that contained questions about their background and questions referring to the game they just played. The experiment was performed in a lab with a TobiiT60 eye tracker. All participants got lower score when they used eye tracking as input but most of the participants found it to be more fun. We reached the conclusion that, with the game used in our experiment, the participants felt that gaining a high score was not the most important. Instead they ranked having fun as a more important factor. Our experiment has shown that using an eye tracker can make a casual game more fun.

Uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka hur Kim Kardashian West porträtterar sig själv i sina selfies och porträtt på sitt Instagramkonto. Fokus ligger på att undersöka detta utifrån maktaxlarna kön och sexualitet och hur hon iscensätter dessa i sina bilder. En av frågeställningarna som uppsatsen syftar till att besvara är hur hennes selfies och porträtt kan tolkas i relation till femininitet, sexualitet, kropp och makt. En annan frågeställning syftar till att besvara huruvida selfien som fenomen är sexistisk och objektifierande, eller om den är ett uttryck för självbestämmande över ens kropp. Materialet som används för att besvara frågeställningarna är fyra bilder som Kim Kardashian West har lagt upp på sitt Instagramkonto. Två av dessa är selfies och två är porträtt. Tre av bilderna föreställer Kim Kardashian West lättklädd och sexuellt poserande. En av bilderna porträtterar henne i ett entreprenörssammanhang. Uppsatsen utgår från flera teoretiska ramverk, exempelvis Erikssons och Göthlunds redogörelse för teoribildningen om hur kvinnokroppen har porträtterats genom tiderna och Mulveys teori om ”the male gaze”. Vidare redogör uppsatsen för tidigare forskning om bland annat selfies och porträtt och vikten av att ha ett personligt varumärke i en tid av medialisering och kändiskultur. Analysen baseras på en semiotisk bildanalys uppdelad i två olika nivåer, denotativ och konnotativ, på alla fyra bilder. Efter analysen följer en avslutande diskussion som återkopplar till frågeställningarna och drar slutsatser kring dessa. Resultatet pekar på att selfien är ett komplext fenomen. Trots att Kim Kardashian Wests selfies ofta anspelar heteronormativa ideal kring sexualitet och den kvinnliga kroppen, så kan selfien likväl tolkas som ett uttryck för självbestämmande som ett uttryck för sexism och objektifiering. Nyckelord: Kim Kardashian West, Instagram, selfie, sociala medier, kändiskultur, the male gaze, kvinnokroppen, femininitet, performativitet, objektifiering.

The human’s ability to see, listen and speak is naturally embedded in how we interact and communicate with each other, but not only do we interact with other humans, we also spend a lot of time interacting with computers. In our study we take a starting point in embodied interaction and draw on people’s abilities from everyday life and apply them to computation in form of eye-tracking and speech recognition. Previous research mainly explored these inputs separately and little has been discovered regarding the combination. We applied a qualitative approach consisting of free surfs, task based evaluations and ten interviews, and we aimed for an understanding of how people perceive this interaction and to discover potential use contexts. The results indicate that people are positive towards the combination of eye-tracking and speech recognition for interacting with computers but found it hard to imagine a rich set of contexts in which it could be used.

Aim: The aim of the thesis was to investigate the impact of gaze-based assistive technology on daily activities in children with severe physical impairments and without speech. The objectives were to develop and pilot a gaze-based assistive technology intervention (GAT intervention) at home and in school for these children and to understand its impact on daily activities as experienced by their parents. Methods: Study I was a pilot study in which the basic components that were developed for the intervention were evaluated for students with physical impairments. The study aimed at improving the use of computers as assistive technology (AT) in school. Based on the findings in Study I, the GAT intervention was developed. The GAT intervention aimed at implementing gaze-based AT in daily activities. It consisted of two parts; having access to gaze-based AT and having access to services from a multi professional communication team during nine to ten months. Studies II-IV concerned gazebased AT for children with severe physical impairments without speech who participated in the GAT intervention. The participants were ten children (ages 1-15) (Studies II, III), and their parents (Study IV). Studies II and III had longitudinal designs and children were followed during 15-20 months with repeated measurements before, after and at follow-up. In Study II children’s repertoire of computer activities, extent of use, and goal attainment with gaze-based AT was evaluated, as well as parents’ satisfaction with the AT and with services. In Study III children’s eye gaze performance when using gaze-based AT was examined. In Study IV, parents were interviewed twice with the aim of  exploring their experiences of children’s gaze-based AT use in daily life. In Study IV a hermeneutical approach was used. Results: The findings of Study I showed that the basic components of intervention improved the use of computers in school. Study II showed an increased repertoire of computer activities with the gazebased AT, maintained use in daily activities for all at follow up, and that all children attained goals for gaze-based AT use in daily activities. Parents were satisfied with the gaze-based AT, and with the services in the GAT intervention. In study III, nine children improved in eye gaze performance over time when using the gaze-based AT in daily activities. Study IV revealed that children’s gaze-based AT usage in daily activities made a difference to parents since the children demonstrated agency, and showed their personality and competencies by using gaze-based AT, and for the parents this opened up infinite possibilities for the child to do and learn things. Overall, children’s gaze-based AT usage provided parents with hope of a future in which their children could develop and have influence in life. Conclusions: This thesis shows that these children with severe physical impairments and without speech acquired sufficient gaze control skills to use gaze-based AT for daily activities in the home and at school. The gaze-based AT had a positive impact on performing activities, for example, play activities and communication- and interaction-related activities. For the parents, children’s gaze-based AT usage made a difference since it shaped a hope of a better future for their children, where they can develop and gain influence in their future life. Furthermore, the children continued to perform daily activities with gaze-based AT over time. This finding suggests that key persons were provided with sufficient knowledge and skills to support children in maintained use of gaze-based AT after withdrawal of the services provided in the GAT intervention.

Cette thèse s’intéresse à la manière d’optimiser l’apprentissage du pilotage par l’amélioration de l’éducation du comportement oculaire. Dans divers domaines (e.g., médical, aéronautique), différentes méthodes d’éducation du comportement oculaire ont démontré leur efficacité quant à leur capacité à optimiser le temps d’apprentissage d’une tâche. Toutefois, dans le domaine du pilotage, cela n’a reçu que très peu de validation empirique (Ziv, 2016) notamment à cause de difficultés de mise en œuvre technique et méthodologique inhérentes à la nature dynamique et complexe de l’activité de pilotage (Eyrolle et al., 1996). Dans le but d’éduquer le comportement oculaire des élèves-pilotes, nous avons tout d’abord modélisé les caractéristiques du comportement oculaire à adopter. Puis nous avons conçu, développé et validé expérimentalement un outil spécifique, le PilotGazeTrainer, permettant de mettre en œuvre une nouvelle méthode originale d’éducation du comportement oculaire basée sur deux principes essentiels : l’analyse permanente du regard du participant, et l’affichage en temps-réel de feedbacks visuels ou sonores. Afin d’évaluer cette nouvelle méthode, nous avons réalisé plusieurs expérimentations sur un simulateur de vol et sur un micromonde développé pour l’occasion (l’AbstractFlyingTask). Les premiers résultats montrent que notre méthode permet, en très peu de temps, une modification durable du comportement oculaire bénéfique pour les personnes concernées. Ces résultats comportementaux ont également révélé le potentiel des outils développés – le micromonde AbstractFlyingTask et le PilotGazeTrainer – pour éduquer le comportement oculaire. / This thesis focuses on how to optimize the learning of piloting by improving the ocular behavior educationIn several fields (e.g., medical, aeronautics), various methods of ocular behavior educating have demonstrated their effectiveness in their ability to optimize the learning of a task. However, the education of ocular behavior has received few empirical validations in the field of piloting training (Ziv, 2016) especially because of difficulties in the technical and methodological implementation (e.g., real-time analysis of the gaze location) inherent in the dynamic and complex nature of the piloting situation (Eyrolle, Mariné & Mailles, 1996). In order to educate the ocular behavior of the pilot students, we first modeled the characteristics of the ocular behavior to be adopted. Then we designed, developed and validated experimentally a first specific tool, the PilotGazeTrainer (a software), which allows the implementation of a new and original method of ocular behavior education based on two essential principles: the permanent analysis of the participant's ocular behavior, and the production in real-time of visual or sound feedbacks. In order to evaluate this new method, we conducted several experiments on a flight simulator and on a microworld developed for the purposes of this evaluation (the AbstractFlyingTask). The first results show that our method allows a lasting modification of the ocular behavior in a very short intervention time. These behavioral results also revealed the potential of the developed tools - the AbstractFlyingTask microworld and the PilotGazeTrainer - to educate ocular behavior.