Un déficit de la cognition sociale incluant l’attribution d’états mentaux, la perception sociale et la perception des émotions est l’une des caractéristiques les plus handicapantes de la schizophrénie. Les résultats d’une étude par Hardy-Baylé et al. (2003) suggèrent que les difficultés des schizophrènes (SZ) à attribuer des intentions aux autres seraient dues à l’incapacité à utiliser l’information contextuelle. Certaines études (Ivanko & Pexman, 2003; Pexman & Olineck, 2002b) démontrent que des facteurs comme le degré d’incongruité entre le contexte et l’énoncé, l’intonation de la voix et les caractéristiques des personnages peuvent influencer la compréhension de l’intention ironique chez les sujets sains (CT). L’objectif de cette étude est de manipuler des informations contextuelles afin de déterminer si le type de métier du locuteur est un indice social facilitant la compréhension de l’intention du locuteur (théorie de l’esprit ; TdE) et de la perception sociale chez les patients SZ. Trente participants SZ appariés avec trente participants CT ont été recrutés. Ils ont été évalués sur la compréhension de l’ironie et sur la mémoire de travail. Les histoires étaient développées selon deux conditions de métier: un métier favorisant la compréhension de l’ironie (e.g. comédien) et un métier ne favorisant pas la compréhension de l’ironie (e.g. prêtre). Les résultats montrent que les patients SZ ont un trouble de TdE et ils ne semblent pas sensibles aux stéréotypes contrairement aux participants CT. Toutefois, les résultats indiquent que les participants SZ n’ont pas de déficit concernant la perception sociale. / Individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) have a deficit in social cognition including mental state attribution, social perception and emotional perception. The results of a study by Hardy-Baylé et al. (2003) suggest that their inability to infer intentions and beliefs to others may result from their inability to use contextual information. Studies (Ivanko & Pexman, 2003; Pexman & Olineck, 2002b) showed that several factors such as level of incongruity between context and speaker’s utterance, vocal inflections and character’s features can influence the comprehension of an ironic intent among healthy (HT) subjects. The aim of this study is to manipulate contextual information to determine if stereotypes (type of speaker’s occupation) are social factors that cue comprehension of speaker’s intention (theory of mind; ToM) and social perception in schizophrenia. Thirty SZ patients and thirty HT participants were recruited for this study. Participants were tested on working memory and irony comprehension. Each story had been manipulated with two conditions of speaker’s occupation: occupation that cues ironic intent (e.g. actor), and occupation that does not cue ironic intent (e.g. priest). The results showed that SZ patients have an impaired ToM and are not sensitive to stereotypes as CT participants. However, the results revealed that SZ participants do not have a deficit in social perception.

La capacità di capire la mente e di predire il comportamento in età prescolastica si basa su concetti mentali o i bambini capiscono gli altri costruendo significanti nell'interazione senza elaborare una formale teoria della mente – TOM? Studio 1: l'analisi coi modelli di Rasch delle performance di 141 bambini alla versione italiana della TOM Scale (Wellman, Liu, 2004) rileva la sequenza: desideri – credenze – emozioni. I risultati vengono letti nei termini della crescente capacità dei bambini a considerare prospettive diverse, e non solo in termini di sviluppo concettuale. Sudio 2: la codifica delle interazioni di 72 bambini nel gioco di finzione (con una griglia appositamente costruita) mostra un progresso nella costruzione collaborativa dei significati solo parzialmente associato alle abilità TOM e individua nella calma un correlato del successo TOM. studio 3: dall'intervista di 36 madri emerge un legame tra mindfulness materna e calma dei bambini, e tra mind-mindedness e mentalità psicologica materne e capacità di ragionamento mentale dei bambini. La letteratura e i risultati del presente lavoro portano a riconoscere che l'esperienza interpersonale sostiene lo sviluppo del ragionamento mentale e suggeriscono che future valutazioni della capacità di capire la mente coinvolgano più direttamente i bambini di quanto facciano gli attuali strumenti formali. / Do preschoolers need mental concepts in order to reason and predict behavior, or do they construe meaning within interactions and do not need to build formal theories of mind - ToM? In study 1, the Rasch analysis of 141 children's performances on the Italian version of the ToM Scale (Wellman, Liu, 2004) shows a progression of understanding from desire, to belief to emotion. Results are discussed in terms of children's increasing experience at dealing with different perspectives that interacts with conceptual development. In study 2, the observation of 72 preschoolers' dyadic play interactions (coded with an exhaustive scheme developed ad-hoc) shows progress in children's collaborative construction of meaning, partially independent from abilities measured by the ToM Scale, and finds calmness as a correlate of ToM success. In study 3, the interview of 36 mothers reveals that maternal mindfulness is related to children's calmness and that maternal mind- and psychological mindedness are associated with children's facility at reasoning about the mental world. The theoretical review and empirical evidence collected lead to recognizing the role played by interpersonal and interactive experiences in framing mental reasoning, and suggest that future research measure social understanding in more participative, subjective situations than current formal assessment.

La présente thèse reprend trois articles de recherche (deux études et un article de revue) portant sur les neurosciences cognitives du langage, chacun desquels a été écrit en vue d’identifier les bénéfices que la théorie (neuro)linguistique contemporaine pourrait tirer d’une étude exhaustive des processus cognitifs et neuraux sous-tendant les troubles du spectre autistique (TSA) et inversement. Deux études y sont présentées, utilisant la méthode des potentiels évoqués, lesquelles fournissent des preuves préliminaires, chez des individus typiques, de deux aspects de la compréhension de phrases nécessitant une recherche approfondie chez des personnes autistes : (1) Les corrélats neuraux de la nature syntaxique et sémantique particulière des verbes d’expérience (par exemple The girl has feared the storm) contrairement aux verbes d’action (par exemple The kids have eaten the fries) et leur interface potentielle avec la Théorie de l’Esprit – la capacité d’attribuer des états mentaux à soi et à autrui – pour laquelle les personnes autistes semble accuser un retard et/ou un déficit, et (2) les corrélats neuraux des compétences en « imagerie visuelle », telles quelles sont identifiées à l’aide des Matrices de Raven, sur les processus de détection de violations de catégories grammaticales (par exemple He made the meal to enjoy with friends/He made the enjoy to meal with friends) dans un paradigme expérimental “équilibré” et en modalité visuelle. L’article de revue cherche à fournir une perspective plus large du rôle que les neurosciences cognitives des TSA peuvent jouer dans l’étude biologique du langage. L’importance de considérer l’autisme comme un « style cognitif » plutôt qu’un trouble en soi y est défendue, en particulier contre la notion commune d’autisme en tant que déficit de Théorie de l’Esprit. Au delà de leurs perspectives potentielles de recherche future auprès de populations autistes, ces trois articles cherchent à répondre à plusieurs questions de recherche cruciales sur le développement et la compréhension du langage (c’est à dire le débat sur la «P600 sémantique», les théorie d’échantillonnage asymétrique de la perception de la parole et de la musique, le rôle de la vision dans le langage, la modularité, les styles cognitifs et l’inférence Bayesienne). / The present thesis comprises a set of three research articles (two studies and one review article) on the cognitive neuroscience of language, all of which were written with the purpose of understanding the benefits that contemporary (neuro)linguistic theory may draw from an extensive study of the cognitive and neural processes underlying Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and vice versa. Two studies are presented, using event-related brain potentials, which provide preliminary evidence in typical individuals for two aspects of sentence processing in need of future investigation in ASD participants: (1) The neural correlates of the peculiar syntactic and semantic nature of verbs of experience (Experiencer Subject verbs, i.e., The girl has feared the storm) as opposed to verbs of action (Agent Subject verbs, i.e., The boys have eaten the fries) and their potential interface with Theory of Mind – the ability to attribute mental states to self and others – known to present delays and impairments in autism, and (2) the neural correlates of “visual imagery” skills, as assessed through the Raven Matrices, on comprehenders’ ability to detect word category violations (e.g., He made the meal to enjoy with friends/He made the enjoy to meal with friends) in a balanced visual paradigm and their potential insights into the role of visual imagery in language comprehension, known to play a potentially predominant role in ASD. The review article attempts to provide a larger perspective on the role of the cognitive neuroscience of ASD in the biology of language, in which the importance of considering autism as a “cognitive style” rather than as a disorder is given greater value, especially relative to the common notion of autism solely as a Theory of Mind impairment. Aside from their potential prospects for future research in autistic populations, these three articles also attempt to frame their topic of inquiry into the broader context of contemporary research questions on language development and language comprehension, such as the role of animacy in language processing (the “semantic P600” debate), asymmetric sampling theories of speech and music perception, the role of vision in language, modularity, cognitive styles or Bayesian inference. / VERSION ANGLAISE DISPONIBLE AU DÉPARTEMENT; THÈSE RÉALISÉE CONJOINTEMENT AVEC L'ÉCOLE DES SCIENCES DE LA COMMUNICATION DE L'UNIVERSITÉ MCGILL (DRS. K. STEINHAUER ET J.E. DRURY).

本文乃是以「身心之學」貫串全文，以「隱喻」凸顯孟子、莊子各自的工夫論特色，而「孟莊之同」（儒道之同）則可謂本文最重要的結論。 首先，由於工夫修養與主體的轉化和提昇密切相關，而現實生命又是以「心—身」共構體存在於世，故工夫修養亦得落實於「心—身」共構體，此即為「身心之學」的內涵之一，也是筆者著意於「身心之學」的原因之一。孟子和莊子的思想皆包含內聖與外王二面，據本文的析論，孟子和莊子各自的內聖外王思想，其實踐起點、轉折樞紐，均結穴於「身心之學」。要言之，「身心之學」實為孟子（儒家）與莊子（道家）內聖修養及外王實踐之根基。 復次，本文分別從「水喻」和「鏡喻」闡明孟子與莊子各自工夫論的特色及其主要精神，且更進一步地掘發「水喻」和「鏡喻」的底蘊：「水：神氣」與「金：真性」。 最後，本文認為儒道之間，大抵於最「根源∕終極」處，及最「基礎」處，可得其同；而在最「基礎」至最「根源∕終極」之間，則呈現千差萬別。具體說明，內聖方面，自現實性復歸本來性，孟子（儒家）和莊子（道家）均可同意「身心之學」是內聖修養之基礎，亦可承認「心—身」共構體共時涵攝神聖∕凡俗、先天∕後天、善∕惡、清∕濁等二面，此乃對生命最基礎處的相同主張；而對宇宙—生命最根源處，孟子（儒家）和莊子（道家）也都深體其乃是「意識、存有與價值三位一體」，或說「宇宙道體—意識主體—價值本體同根同源」，並共同宣稱本性乃是永恆真常（「金：真性」），心氣則為變化不拘（「水：神氣」）。可是，返本復初的工夫，則有萬千法門，亦即對於如何自現實性復歸本來性，孟子（儒家）和莊子（道家）便有不盡相同的教法。 此外，在外王方面，孟子（儒家）和莊子（道家）也均可贊成「身心之學」乃是成就外王事業的依據、基礎，或說「心—身」共構體是向外王領域前進的起點；對孟子（儒家）和莊子（道家）而言，實踐外王的終極理想，皆是祈願蒼生能夠安頓自家性命，內外一切真誠自然，歸德復道——儒家大同言其秩序，道家至德敘其自然，而安樂於內在之秩序，即是自然！同樣的，從「心—身」共構體推廣至成就外王，孟子（儒家）和莊子（道家）的舉措施為，當然有同有異。

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:40:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Nathalia Ishikawa Baptista.pdf: 1435875 bytes, checksum: 8415993ce2a61757efe0d96f926c9095 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-05 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Verbal irony is a figurative form of communication between human beings, to understand it a specific ability to infer and predict the ironist intention is essential called Theory of Mind. Currently researches using spatial correlation techniques showed activation of the Medial Prefrontal Cortex (MPFC) on irony comprehension tasks. Thus, this thesis aimed to investigate the role of this area irony comprehension. Therefore the Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) was used, i.e. the induction of low intensity electric current on specific cortical structures. The effects of stimulation depend on the current polarity, and thus, it is possible to investigate how the modulation of target area affects the performance in a cognitive task. Thus, 60 participants were recruited; they were all right handed and match the inclusion criteria. They were allocated to one of three groups of stimulation (anode, cathode or placebo), and received the tDCS for twenty minutes over the MPFC. After, the participants performed a test of verbal irony comprehension, with 204 stories visually presented. This phase was conducted during the EEG recording of the participants. Thus, the effects of tDCS over MPFC were accessed by: i. the behavioral test performance (measured by total score and average reaction time); ii. the brain activity underlying the task (measured by event-related evoked potentials - ERP - N400 and P600). The results indicate the involvement of the MPFC in semantic integration of affective aspects of figurative language. The increased cortical excitability of the area (anodal stimulation) resulted in a decrease of cognitive demand to integrate these aspects; in addition, it decreased the reaction time for the semantic incongruences. Thus, our results indicate that irony comprehension depends on the integration of information: cognitive and affective. Hence for a true appreciation of it s meaning is necessary to develop language skills as well the Theory of Mind. / A ironia verbal é uma forma figurada de comunicação entre seres humanos, para compreendê-la é fundamental a habilidade de inferir e predizer a intenção daquele que emite a ironia a chamada Teoria da Mente. Atualmente as pesquisas com técnicas de correlação espacial evidenciaram a ativação do Córtex Pré-frontal Medial (CPFM) na compreensão de ironia. Sendo assim, a presente dissertação teve como objetivo investigar o papel dessa estrutura na compreensão da ironia. Para isso, foi utilizada a técnica de Estimulação transcraniana por corrente contínua (ETCC), ou seja, a indução de corrente elétrica de baixa intensidade sobre estruturas corticais específicas. Os efeitos dessa estimulação dependem da polaridade da corrente, e desta forma, é possível verificar como a modulação da área-alvo interfere no desempenho em uma tarefa cognitiva. Sendo assim, foram recrutados 60 participantes de pesquisa, que deveriam ser destros e estarem de acordo com os critérios de inclusão. Eles foram alocados em um dos três grupos de estimulação (anódica, catódica ou placebo), e receberam a ETCC por vinte minutos em CPFM. Após esta fase, os participantes realizaram um teste de compreensão de ironia verbal, com 204 histórias apresentadas visualmente. Esta fase foi realizada durante o registro eletroencefalográfico (EEG) dos participantes. Desta forma, os efeitos da ETCC em CPFM foram verificados: i. no desempenho comportamental no teste (mensurado pelo total de acertos e média de tempo de reação/resposta); ii. assim como na atividade cerebral subjacente a tarefa (mensurada pelos Potenciais evocados relacionados a evento ERP N400 e P600). Os resultados indicam o envolvimento do CPFM na integração semântica de aspectos afetivos da linguagem figurada. O aumento da excitabilidade cortical desta área (estimulação anódica) resultou em uma menor demanda cognitiva para integrar estes aspectos, além disso, diminuiu o tempo de resposta para as incongruências semânticas. Desta forma, entende-se que a compreensão da ironia depende da integração de informações: cognitivas e afetivas. E para que haja a verdadeira apreciação de seu significado é necessário o desenvolvimento de habilidades linguísticas e de Teoria da Mente.

En s’appuyant sur l’hypothèse frontale du vieillissement (West, 1996), ce travail vise à évaluer le vieillissement normal de capacités frontales (contrôle exécutif, prise de décision, énergisation, métacognition ; Stuss, 2008)et à analyser les liens éventuels entre ces habiletés,l’autonomie et la qualité de vie des aînés. Quarante personnes jeunes (26±5 ans), 40 âgées (68,7±3,7 ans)et 30 très âgées (83,4±3,5 ans) en bonne santé ont participé à notre étude. Les aînés ne montraient pas de traits dépressifs/anxieux, ni de déclin cognitif typiques d’un vieillissement pathologique. Ils présentaient une autonomie et une qualité de vie satisfaisantes.Certaines habiletés cognitives semblent se détériorer après 65 ans (flexibilité, énergisation, prise de décision sous risque explicite, théorie de l’esprit, détection de la coopération/tromperie), d’autres après 80 ans (fluence verbale, mémoire épisodique, dénomination, inhibition,prise de décision en situation ambiguë), d’autres encore seraient préservées (lecture, rappel immédiat,réalisation de tâches de flexibilité spontanée et de temps de réaction simple). La conscience que les sujets ont d’eux-mêmes dépendrait de leur âge. Trois profils distincts de fonctionnement frontal ont été décrits pour chaque groupe de participants, montrant une variabilité intra groupe importante. Le niveau d’autonomie des personnes âgées serait associé au contrôle exécutif,celui de qualité de vie à l’énergisation et à la métacognition. Ces résultats vérifient partiellement nos hypothèses et conduisent à envisager le développement de programmes d’entraînement cognitif multidimensionnels, susceptibles d’influencer la sphère personnelle des aînés. / Starting from the “frontal lobe hypothesis of cognitive aging” (West, 1996), the main objective of this work is to study frontal lobe functions (executive control, decision making,energization, metacognition; Stuss, 2008) and their possible associations with levels of autonomy and quality of life in normal aging. Forty young adults (26±5years), forty old adults (68,7±3,7 years) and thirty very old adults (83,4±3,5 years) participated to our study.These healthy subjects didn’t show any depressive/anxious symptoms and global cognitive decline, which are frequently observed in pathologic alaging. They have a good level of autonomy and general satisfaction of life. A number of frontal lobe abilities seem to decrease after 65 years old (flexibility,energization, explicit decision-making, theory of mind,detection of cooperative and deceptive situations).Other functions decline after 80 years old (verbalfluency, episodic memory, naming, inhibition, implicit decision-making). Reading, immediate recall, realization of spontaneous flexibility and simple reaction time tasks are preserved with aging. Self-consciousness seems to depend on individuals’ age. We have described three different clusters of the frontal functioning for each group of participants, showing the existence of animportant intragroup variability. Old adults’ level of autonomy seems to be associated with the executive control, old adults’ quality of life correlated with the energization and metacognitive functions. These resultsconfirm in part our hypothesis and support the development of multidimensional cognitive training programs, which could impact old adults’ personal sphere.

Les cinq études détaillées au cours de cette thèse interrogent divers aspects de la théorie de l’esprit, de la conscience de soi ainsi que du lien (multiple ou unique) qui unit ces deux capacités sociocognitives si particulières. Les deux premières études mettent en évidence différentes variables qui peuvent – ou non- influencer l’attribution d’intention et de fausse croyance à autrui. La troisième étude porte plus précisément sur les différents composants de la conscience de soi et sur leur trajectoire développementale. La quatrième étude interroge le lien développemental entre la théorie de l’esprit et la conscience de soi, alors que la dernière étude questionne la présence de ce lien chez les chimpanzés (Pan Troglodytes). Nous démontrerons, tout au long de cette thèse, que la théorie de l’esprit et la conscience de soi sont composées de différents éléments et que leur acquisition est graduelle. / Doctorat en Sciences Psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Gli obiettivi della presente tesi sono di analizzare, nei bambini con sviluppo tipico e atipico, la costruzione dell'intersoggettività attraverso l'uso di oggetti nello sviluppo atipico (ASD) e attraverso l'interazione con un robot umanoide nello sviluppo tipico. Per quanto riguarda i robot umanoidi, il problema è osservare la possibile attribuzione di caratteristiche simili all'uomo a un robot che possa rendere l'interazione uomo-robot simile all'interazione uomo-uomo che è una classica interazione intersoggettiva per la presenza di due soggetti umani. Questo scopo viene indagato considerando due quadri teorici: 1) la Teoria della Mente che spiegano la costruzione dell'intersoggettività attraverso l'attribuzione di stati mentali ad altri; 2) Prospettiva socio-materiale che postula che in molti casi la costruzione dell'intersoggettività sia mediata dagli oggetti. Quindi, la domanda che sorge in questa dissertazione sui robot umanoidi è: cosa succede quando l'oggetto mediatore (il robot) è anche il partner interattivo. Per raggiungere questo scopo, la presente tesi investiga due temi principali: 1) i modelli di interazione con e l'attribuzione di una mente a un robot da parte di bambini con sviluppo tipico; 2) i modelli di interazione nello sviluppo atipico - bambini autistici - in un'interazione bambino-adulto mediata da oggetti. Il primo tema viene analizzato in una prospettiva teorica e un approccio metodologico innovativi, che porta a una comprensione dell'interazione bambino-robot. La prospettiva teorica collega il ruolo della Teoria della Mente alll'HRI; l'approccio metodologico osserva le strategie decisionali dei bambini nell'HRI, confrontando questi modelli comportamentali quando i bambini interagiscono con un essere umano e con un robot. Il secondo tema della tesi riguarda il ruolo dell'oggetto come mediatore della relazione tra bambini autistici e adulti. Questo viene studiato attraverso la prospettiva socio-materiale che suggerisce che le caratteristiche materiali degli oggetti e le loro qualità sociali intrinseche siano strettamente connesse. / The aims of the present dissertation are to analyse, in children with typical and atypical development, the construction of the intersubjectivity through the use of objects in atypical development (ASD) and through the interaction with a humanoid robot in typical development. About the humanoid robots, the issue is to observe the possible attribution of human-like features to a robot that can make the human-robot interaction similar to the human-human interaction that is a classic intersubjective interaction because of the presence of two human subjects. This purpose is investigated considering two theoretical frameworks: 1) Theory of Mind that explain the construction of the intersubjectivity through the attribution of mental states to others; 2) Socio-material perspective which postulates that the construction of the intersubjectivity is mediated by objects in many cases. Thus, the question arises in this dissertation about the humanoid robot is: what happen when the mediator object (the robot) is also the interactive partner. To achieve this purposes, the present thesis studies two main topics: 1) the interactional patterns with and the attribution of a mind to a robot by typically developing children; 2) the interactional patterns in atypical development - autistic children - in a child-adult interaction mediated by objects. The first topic is analysed in an innovative theoretical perspective and a through novel methodological approach, leading to an innovative understanding of the child-robot interaction. The theoretical perspective connects the role of Theory of Mind in HRI; the methodological approach observes children’s decision-making strategies in the HRI, comparing these behavioural patterns when children interact with a human and with a robot. The second issue of the thesis is about the role of the object as mediator of the relationship between autistic children and adults. This is studied through the Socio- material perspective that hypothesised that material features of the objects and their intrinsic social qualities are strictly connected.

L’être humain évolue quotidiennement au cœur d’un monde social hautement complexe auquel il est singulièrement adapté d’un point de vue évolutif. L’individu qui navigue de façon adéquate, parmi les situations et les interactions sociales, y parvient grâce à une machinerie cognitive sophistiquée et spécialisée connue sous le terme de « cognition sociale », composée d’un ensemble de fonctions acquises durant le développement et permettant la perception, le traitement, l’interprétation et la réaction à des stimuli sociaux dynamiques et nuancés. Le développement social serait sous-tendu par le fonctionnement cognitif global (p. ex. le fonctionnement intellectuel, le langage, la mémoire, l’attention, les habiletés visuoperceptuelles), ainsi que par des habiletés sociocognitives spécifiques (p. ex. la théorie de l’esprit, l’empathie, la reconnaissance des émotions faciales, la prise de perspective, l’attribution d’intentions, le raisonnement moral), le tout assuré par un ensemble de structures et réseaux neuronaux connu sous le terme « cerveau social ». Malgré les connaissances empiriques suggérant une association entre les facteurs neuronaux, cognitifs et environnementaux du développement social, notre compréhension des interactions dynamiques et complexes entre les habiletés sociocognitives, l’influence externe de facteurs environnementaux, ainsi que leurs impacts individuels et combinés sur le développement social typique demeure préliminaire. L’objectif général de cette thèse était d’étudier deux corrélats principaux qui sous-tendent la compétence sociale durant le développement, soient la cognition sociale et le comportement social. Le modèle SOCIAL (Beauchamp & Anderson, 2010) est utilisé comme cadre théorique et empirique pour explorer de multiples facettes du développement de la compétence sociale et des liens entre les habiletés sociocognitives (p.ex. le raisonnement moral et la prise de perspective) et le comportement social global. La première étude explore la contribution des aspects cognitifs (théorie de l’esprit) et affectifs (empathie) de la prise de perspective au raisonnement moral et au comportement social des enfants et des adolescents neurotypiques. Un outil novateur d’évaluation du raisonnement moral, le Socio-Moral Reasoning Aptitude Level (So-Moral), fut utilisé pour rehausser la valeur écologique du construit. Ainsi, des dilemmes sociomoraux quotidiens ont été présentés aux participants, qui ont également complété des mesures de théorie de l’esprit, d’empathie, et de comportement social. Les résultats suggèrent que les aspects cognitifs (théorie de l’esprit) et affectifs (empathie) de la prise de perspective contribuent conjointement à prédire la maturité morale chez les enfants, mais pas chez les adolescents. Par ailleurs, certaines lacunes au plan du raisonnement moral seraient associées à des instances plus fréquentes de comportements externalisés, mais aucun lien entre la maturité morale et les comportements prosociaux n’a été détecté. La théorie de l’esprit contribuerait de manière significative à la maturité du raisonnement moral chez les enfants, suggérant l’importance d’une évaluation cognitive d’une situation sociomorale. Comme les facteurs prédictifs du raisonnement moral différeraient chez les enfants et les adolescents, il est possible que des mécanismes sous-jacents distincts soient impliqués. La deuxième étude documente l’association entre les facteurs externes, tels qu’opérationnalisés par le temps hebdomadaire passé à jouer à des jeux vidéo, et le comportement social. Cette étude vise également à comprendre les liens entre l’usage des jeux vidéo, la cognition sociale et l’adaptation sociale chez des enfants du primaire. L’étude révèle que les enfants qui passent moins de temps à jouer à des jeux vidéo par semaine tendent à exhiber plus de comportements prosociaux. Toutefois, aucun lien n’a été identifié entre la fréquence d’usage de jeux vidéo et les comportements mésadaptés. Il est donc possible que les interactions sociales complexes, réelles et face-à-face soient particulièrement importantes au développement des compétences sociales chez les enfants. De façon globale, les données de la thèse contribuent à établir un portrait plus complet des relations complexes et dynamiques entre la cognition sociale, les expériences sociales et le comportement social lors du développement typique. Les résultats offrent des pistes novatrices quant à l’approfondissement des connaissances théoriques, empiriques et cliniques au sujet du développement social, et fournissent des fondements empiriques pour soutenir l’élaboration de programmes d’intervention et d’outils d’évaluation de la cognition et de la compétence sociale. / Humans are characterized by species-specific social skills and interactions, which direct much of their behaviors, dictate thought processes and form the foundations of human consciousness and reality. These social abilities are highly complex and intricate, involving a large range of developmentally acquired skills allowing the perception, processing, interpretation and response to dynamic social stimuli. The fine-tuning of these diverse abilities across the lifespan contributes to an individual’s social competence, allowing the navigation of the social world. Smooth and adaptive social development is supported by core cognitive functions (e.g. intellectual ability, language, memory, attention, visual-perceptive skills), as well as by specific skills (e.g. theory of mind, empathy, emotion recognition, perspective taking, intent attribution, moral reasoning) referred to under the umbrella of “social cognition” and subsumed by neural structures and networks of the “social brain”. Despite strong evidence supporting the associations between neural, cognitive and social functioning, much remains to be learned about the interplay between socio-cognitive abilities during development, the external influence of environmental factors, as well as their individual and additive impact on social behavior. The main objective of this dissertation was to study two manifestations of social competence in typical development, namely, social cognition and social behavior. The SOCIAL model (Beauchamp & Anderson, 2010) is used as the theoretical and empirical framework providing fertile ground for the investigation of multiple facets of the development of social competence and a better understanding of the global interplay of socio-cognitive skills (e.g., moral reasoning and perspective taking) and social behavior more broadly. The first study explores the contribution of cognitive (theory of mind) and affective (empathy) aspects of perspective taking to moral reasoning and social behavior in typically developing children and adolescents. An innovative neuropsychological tool for assessing moral reasoning, the Socio-Moral Reasoning Aptitude Level (So-Moral), was used to enhance the ecological value of the construct. Everyday socio-moral reasoning dilemmas were presented to children and adolescents to evaluate their moral maturity, and assessments of theory of mind, empathy and social behavior were also completed. Jointly, both aspects of perspective taking (theory of mind and empathy) predicted moral reasoning maturity in children, but not in adolescents. Poorer moral reasoning skills were associated with more externalizing behavior problems across the age span, but no associations were found with respect to prosocial behavior. Theory of mind skills were independent predictors of moral reasoning, suggesting that a cognitive understanding of the situation may be especially useful when children are asked to reason about a moral conflict. Contributing factors to moral reasoning differed in children and adolescents, suggesting differential underlying mechanisms. The second study investigates the contribution of external influences, as operationalized by time spent playing video games, to social behavior. A secondary objective was to add to the growing body of literature exploring associations between video game playing, social cognition and social behavior, in an age group less frequently focused on (elementary school-aged children). The main results of the study indicate that children who spend less time per week playing video games have greater prosocial tendencies, but no association was found with behavior problems. Findings highlight the possibility that real-life, complex, and nuanced social interactions outside screen-based play may be central to fostering social competence skills in children. Overall, the results of the studies presented in this dissertation contribute to building a more comprehensive picture of the complex interplay between social cognition, social experience and social competence during typical development. Findings offer new avenues for improving theoretical, empirical and clinical knowledge of social development and provide an empirical basis for the development of social skills intervention programs as well as social cognition assessment tools.

The present doctoral thesis addresses the insufficient exploration of the concept of play style in current video game player's research. To reach the goal, theoretical framework of style as an intentional model of player's believes and desires is used. The main proposition of this particular paper is based on the presumption that play style works as a tool for predicting opponent's behavior. The research consists of two parts. The first one proposes a categorization which might in greater accuracy explain existing forms of play. The second part researches the topic of intentionality further through the procedural model of style prediction in progaming area, which is exemplified by the video game League of Legends. The results are based on extensive analysis of players' texts, interviews with semiprofessional players, commentators and game journalists. The conclusion implies a significant number of play styles and procedural complexity of recursive theory of mind ("I think about what you think that I think") in the field of video games. Keywords: Play Style, Intentionality, Intentional Model, Metagame, Metacognition, Mindgame, Progaming, Theory of Mind, Player Typology, Video Game