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Emotional learning is an essential adaptive function that mainly occurs through aversive and appetitive conditioning. Despite a comparable evolutionary and clinical significance, appetitive conditioning has rarely been studied in humans, in contrast to aversive conditioning. This divergence might be explained by the difficulty in finding effective appetitive stimuli that elicit strong physiological reactions, and/or by a potential lack of sensitivity of the psychophysiological measures typically used to detect appetitive conditioning. However, promising findings suggest that the postauricular reflex (PAR) and the startle eyeblink reflex may be sensitive to appetitive stimuli. The present study therefore aimed to determine whether these two reflexes represent suitable psychophysiological indicators of human appetitive conditioning. To this end, we adopted a differential appetitive conditioning procedure, in which one neutral figure (CS+) was contingently paired with a pleasant odor (US), whereas another neutral figure (CS-) was never paired with any odor. Taken together, our results revealed that the PAR was specifically potentiated in response to the CS+ only during acquisition, demonstrating its sensitivity to the appetitive contingencies. Likewise, CS-US contingency and CS liking ratings reflected successful appetitive conditioning. In contrast, we found no startle eyeblink reflex modulation in response to the CS+, and no effect of appetitive conditioning on SCR. Our findings hence indicate that the postauricular reflex is a sensitive measure of human appetitive conditioning, therefore representing a valuable tool for further investigating the basic mechanisms underlying emotional learning in humans, as well as their dysfunctions in related disorders.

Stroke is one of the leading causes for disability worldwide. Motor function deficits due to stroke affect the patients’ mobility, their limitation in daily life activities, their participation in society and their odds of returning to professional activities. All of these factors contribute to a low overall quality of life. Rehabilitation training is the most effective way to reduce motor impairments in stroke patients. This multiple systematic review focuses both on standard treatment methods and on innovating rehabilitation techniques used to promote upper extremity motor function in stroke patients. A total number of 5712 publications on stroke rehabilitation was systematically reviewed for relevance and quality with regards to upper extremity motor outcome. This procedure yielded 270 publications corresponding to the inclusion criteria of the systematic review. Recent technology-based interventions in stroke rehabilitation including non-invasive brain stimulation, robot-assisted training, and virtual reality immersion are addressed. Finally, a decisional tree based on evidence from the literature and characteristics of stroke patients is proposed. At present, the stroke rehabilitation field faces the challenge to tailor evidence-based treatment strategies to the needs of the individual stroke patient. Interventions can be combined in order to achieve the maximal motor function recovery for each patient. Though the efficacy of some interventions may be under debate, motor skill learning, and some new technological approaches give promising outcome prognosis in stroke motor rehabilitation., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

info:eu-repo/semantics/published

L’oubli ne saurait être conceptuellement évacué comme l’opposé symétrique de la mémoire. L’histoire de la philosophie a pourtant eu la fâcheuse tendance à n’en donner qu’une définition négative – voire à l’oublier complètement. À la recherche de sa positivité, nous explorons les champs scientifiques qui l’ont entrepris. Mais il semble toujours échapper au regard. La phénoménologie même est impropre à l’étudier comme tel ; la psychanalyse le touche sans le saisir entièrement. Il est la latence au beau milieu de notre existence, la passivité de notre activité. Comparant son hermétisme à celui du pharmakon platonicien, nous entreprenons une herméneutique de l’oubli qui doit décrire sa participation à l’identité narrative et à la configuration subjective et intersubjective du temps.

Il est maintenant bien établi que le cerveau humain est doté d’un système de neurones qui s’active tant à la perception qu’à l’exécution d’une action. Les neurones miroirs, ainsi que le système qu’ils forment avec des structures adjacentes appelées système neurones miroirs (SNM), ont été relié à la compréhension d’action et pourrait être impliqué dans les fonctions sociales de haut niveau tel que l’empathie et l’imitation. Dans la foulée spéculative reliant le SNM à la sphère sociale, le dysfonctionnement de ce système a rapidement gagné intérêt dans la genèse des anomalies du domaine social chez les personnes présentant le Trouble du spectre de l’autisme (TSA). Néanmoins, l’hypothèse voulant que le dysfonctionnement social des TSA repose sur une atteinte du SNM est controversée. En effet, les études soutenant cette hypothèse nécessitent des fonctions cognitives et sociales qui peuvent contribuer à l’obtention de résultats atypiques, telles que la compréhension des consignes, l’attention sur des stimuli sociaux ou la réalisation d’acte moteur. Récemment, un protocole auditif de négativité de discordance (MMN) utilisant des stimuli reliés à l’action humaine a été utilisé pour mesurer l’activité du SNM. Cette technique semble prometteuse dans la mesure où elle ne nécessite pas de capacités attentionnelles ou langagières, elle est brève et demande un montage minimal d’électrodes. Le premier article avait comme objectif principal de mesurer la validité de convergence du protocole MMN relié à l’action avec celui du rythme mu, le protocole le plus utilisé pour enregistrer l’activité miroir à l’aide de l’électroencéphalographie (EEG). Les modes de stimulation ont été délivrées en bloc successif à un groupe de 12 adultes en santé. Alors que les deux techniques ont modulé efficacement les régions fronto-centrales et centrales respectivement, mais ne sont pas corrélées, nous avons conclu qu’il est possible 2 qu’elles mesurent des aspects différents du SNM. Le deuxième article avait comme objectif principal de mesurer l’activité du SNM à l’aide du protocole MMN relié à l’action chez 10 enfants présentant un TSA ainsi que chez 12 enfants neurotypiques dans la même tranche d’âge (5-7ans). Chez les enfants TSA, nous avons montré un patron de latence inversée, comparativement aux enfants du groupe contrôle; ils traitaient plus rapidement les sons contrôles que les sons reliés à l’action humaine, alors que la tendance inverse était observée chez les contrôles. De plus, bien que les deux groupes différaient quant aux sons d’action, ils ne différaient pas quant aux sons contrôles. Quant à l’amplitude, les enfants TSA se distinguaient du groupe contrôle par une amplitude restreinte du son d’action provenant de la bouche. Par ailleurs, les mesures neurophysiologiques et neuropsychologiques n’étaient pas corrélées. En sommes, basé sur la prémisse que ce protocole MMN pourrait mesurer l’activité du SNM, cette thèse a comme but d’améliorer les connaissances quant à son utilisation chez l’adulte et l’enfant neurotypique ainsi que chez l’enfant TSA. Celui-ci pourrait ultimement être utilisé comme un biomarqueur potentiel du TSA., Mirror-neuron system (NMS) has been suggested to underlie action understanding, which is believed to be involved in higher social functions such as empathy and imitation. Numerous studies have also provided indirect evidence supporting the existence of a MNS in the human brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging, transcranial magnetic stimulation, magnetoenceophalography and electroencephalography (EEG). As evidence relating MNS function with social cognition accumulated, its dysfunction was proposed to underlie social impairments in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Although some studies have reported structural and/or functional data supporting this hypothesis, it remains controversial. Indeed, the techniques used to probe MNS activity often require the participant to understand the task, display sustained attention and present spared visual cognitive functions, which could be altered in ASD population. This, in turn, could partly explain differences in MNS activity found between invididuals with ASD and neurotypical participants. The auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) protocol has recently been proposed as a viable tool to assess MNS activity using action-related sounds. This relatively short oddball paradigm does not require visual, attentional or language skills and can be performed with minimal electrode installation (minimal use of 4 electrodes). This action-related MMN may therefore be well-suited to investigate MNS function in very young children or populations with mental disabilities, such as ASD. The first article of this thesis assessed the convergent validity of the action-related MMN protocol with a mu rhythm suppression paradigm, which is the most commonly used EEG measure of MNS activity. To do so, both protocols were consecutively administered in healthy adults in the same experimental session. While both techniques successfully 4 modulated the fronto-central and central brain regions using action-related stimuli, they did not correlate significantly. This suggests that the two techniques may not probe the same aspects of MNS function. The second article aimed at investigating MNS activity in children with ASD using the action-related MMN protocol. Data were compared to age-matched typically developing children. We show that children with ASD present an opposite pattern to that of control children : whereas MMN latencies are shorter for action-related sounds compared to control sounds in neurotypical children, the opposite pattern is observed in children with ASD. Furthermore, although the two groups present different response patterns with regards to action-related sounds, they repond similarly to control sounds. For amplitude measurements, children with ASD display reduced amplitude to action-related sounds produced by the mouth compared to neurotypical children. In summary, this thesis aimed at determining whether and action-related MMN protocol could be used to measure MNS activity in neurotypical adults and children, as well as in ASD children. The action-related MMN could potentially be used as a biological biomarker of ASD pending further studies.

A 40-year-old, non-aphasic, right-handed, and polyglot (L1: French, L2: Dutch, and L3: English) woman with a 12-year history of addiction to opiates and psychoactive substances, and clear psychiatric problems, presented with a foreign accent of sudden onset in L1. Speech evolved toward a mostly fluent output, despite a stutter-like behavior and a marked grammatical output disorder. The psychogenic etiology of the accent foreignness was construed based on the patient’s complex medical history and psychodiagnostic, neuropsychological, and neurolinguistic assessments. The presence of a foreign accent was affirmed by a perceptual accent rating and attribution experiment. It is argued that this patient provides additional evidence demonstrating the outdatedness of Whitaker’s (1982) definition of foreign accent syndrome, as only one of the four operational criteria was unequivocally applicable to our patient: her accent foreignness was not only recognized by her relatives and the medical staff but also by a group of native French-speaking laymen. However, our patient defied the three remaining criteria, as central nervous system damage could not conclusively be demonstrated, psychodiagnostic assessment raised the hypothesis of a conversion disorder, and the patient was a polyglot whose newly gained accent was associated with a range of foreign languages, which exceeded the ones she spoke., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is an up-and-coming electrical neurostimulation technique increasingly used both in healthy subjects and in selected groups of patients. Due to the high density of neurons in the cerebellum, its peculiar anatomical organization with the cortex lying superficially below the skull and its diffuse connections with motor and associative areas of the cerebrum, the cerebellum is becoming a major target for neuromodulation of the cerebellocerebral networks. We discuss the recent studies based on cerebellar tDCS with a focus on the numerous technical and open issues which remain to be solved. Our current knowledge of the physiological impacts of tDCS on cerebellar circuitry is criticized. We provide a comparison with transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS), another promising transcranial electrical neurostimulation technique. Although both tDCS and tACS are becoming established techniques to modulate the cerebellocerebral networks, it is surprising that their impacts on cerebellar disorders remains unclear. A major reason is that the literature lacks large trials with a double-blind, sham-controlled, and cross-over experimental design in cerebellar patients., SCOPUS: re.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Autoantibodies to the smaller isoform of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) can be found in patients with type 1 diabetes and a number of neurological disorders, including stiff-person syndrome, cerebellar ataxia and limbic encephalitis. The detection of disease-specific autoantibody epitopes led to the hypothesis that distinct GAD autoantibodies may elicit specific neurological phenotypes. We explored the in vitro/in vivo effects of well-characterized monoclonal GAD antibodies. We found that GAD autoantibodies present in patients with stiff person syndrome (n = 7) and cerebellar ataxia (n = 15) recognized an epitope distinct from that recognized by GAD autoantibodies present in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (n = 10) or limbic encephalitis (n = 4). We demonstrated that the administration of a monoclonal GAD antibody representing this epitope specificity; (1) disrupted in vitro the association of GAD with γ-Aminobutyric acid containing synaptic vesicles; (2) depressed the inhibitory synaptic transmission in cerebellar slices with a gradual time course and a lasting suppressive effect; (3) significantly decreased conditioned eyelid responses evoked in mice, with no modification of learning curves in the classical eyeblink-conditioning task; (4) markedly impaired the facilitatory effect exerted by the premotor cortex over the motor cortex in a paired-pulse stimulation paradigm; and (5) induced decreased exploratory behavior and impaired locomotor function in rats. These findings support the specific targeting of GAD by its autoantibodies in the pathogenesis of stiff-person syndrome and cerebellar ataxia. Therapies of these disorders based on selective removal of such GAD antibodies could be envisioned., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Extensive training of repetitive and highly skilled movements, as it occurs in professional classical musicians, may lead to changes in tactile sensitivity and corresponding cortical reorganization of somatosensory cortices. It is also known that professional musicians frequently experience musculoskeletal pain and pain-related symptoms during their careers. The present study aimed at understanding the complex interaction between chronic pain and music training with respect to somatosensory processing. For this purpose, tactile thresholds (mechanical detection, grating orientation, twopoint discrimination) and subjective ratings to thermal and pressure pain stimuli were assessed in 17 professional musicians with chronic pain, 30 pain-free musicians, 20 nonmusicians with chronic pain, and 18 pain-free non-musicians. We found that pain-free musicians displayed greater touch sensitivity (i.e. lower mechanical detection thresholds), lower tactile spatial acuity (i.e. higher grating orientation thresholds) and increased pain sensitivity to pressure and heat compared to pain-free non-musicians. Moreover, we also found that musicians and non-musicians with chronic pain presented lower tactile spatial acuity and increased pain sensitivity to pressure and heat compared to pain-free non-musicians. The significant increment of pain sensitivity together with decreased spatial discrimination in pain-free musicians and the similarity of results found in chronic pain patients, suggests that the extensive training of repetitive and highly skilled movements in classical musicians could be considered as a risk factor for developing chronic pain, probably due to use-dependent plastic changes elicited in somatosensory pathways., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The research presentee in this thesis aimed to study neural mechanisms of olfaction, and the way they are integrated in emotion regulation processes. Distraction and reappraisal strategies were studied using fMRI in two separate experiments in which subjects had to decrease the intensity of emotions induced by odors. In a third experiment, psychophysical and psychophysiological data were collected to assess the ability of pleasant odors to down-regulate negative feelings induced by unpleasant pictures. The results show that the regulation of odor-triggered emotions recruits brain areas that are usually described in studies based on Visual stimulations (prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal lobule, middle temporal gyrus) but also others more specic to this sensory modality (insular cortex, fusiform gyrus, lingual gyrus). Moreover, the prefrontal cortex seems to modulate the activity within olfactory areas, such as the piriform and the orbitofrontal cortex when subjects use distraction. The data from the third experiment also reveal that a pleasant odor is able to decrease negative aects that have been previously induced by unpleasant pictures, both at subjective and psychophysiological level.Therefore, it appears that odor-triggered emotions can be down-regulated by both distraction and reappraisal strategies. This processinvolves brain regions usually recruited by the regulation of visual-triggered emotions, but also other areas more specic to theregulation of emotions elicited by odors. Moreover, odors themselves can regulate negative feelings.; Ces travaux ont pour but d'étudier des mécanismes centraux de l'olfaction, et la manière dont ils sont intégrés dans les processus de régulationémotionnelle. Les stratégies de distraction et de réévaluation ont fait l'objet de deux expériences distinctes en IRMf, dans lesquelles les sujets devaientdiminuer l'intensité d'émotions suscitées par des odeurs. Dans une troisième expérience, des données psychophysiques et psychophysiologiques ont étécollectées pour évaluer la capacité d'une odeur agréable à réguler un sentiment négatif préalablement induit par uneimage désagréable.Les résultats montrent que la régulation d'émotions induites par des odeurs mobilise des aires cérébrales décrites dans les études utilisant du matérielvisuel (cortex préfrontal, lobule pariétal inférieur, gyrus temporal moyen) mais aussi d'autres plus spécifiques à cette modalité sensorielle (insula, gyrusfusiforme, gyrus lingual). De plus, le cortex préfrontal semble moduler certaines aires du cortex olfactif comme le cortex piriforme et le cortexorbitofrontal lorsque les sujets utilisent une stratégie de distraction. Les données issues de la troisième expérience révèlent également qu'une odeuragréable permet de diminuer l'impact d'un affect négatif préalablement induit, tant au niveau subjectif que psychophysiologique.Par conséquent, il semble exister chez l'Homme une réelle capacité à la régulation des émotions induites par des odeurs. Ce processus met enjeu desrégions habituellement décrites pour la régulation d'émotions induites par des stimuli visuels, mais également d'autres aires plus spécifques.De plus, les odeurs elles-mêmes sont capables de réguler une émotion négative.

During human walking, there exists a functional neural coupling between arms and legs, and between cervical and lumbosacral pattern generators. Here, we present a novel approach for associating the electromyographic (EMG) activity from upper limb muscles with leg kinematics. Our methodology takes advantage of the high involvement of shoulder muscles in most locomotor-related movements and of the natural co-ordination between arms and legs. Nine healthy subjects were asked to walk at different constant and variable speeds (3–5 km/h), while EMG activity of shoulder (deltoid) muscles and the kinematics of walking were recorded. To ensure a high level of EMG activity in deltoid, the subjects performed slightly larger arm swinging than they usually do. The temporal structure of the burst-like EMG activity was used to predict the spatiotemporal kinematic pattern of the forthcoming step. A comparison of actual and predicted stride leg kinematics showed a high degree of correspondence (r >0.9). This algorithm has been also implemented in pilot experiments for controlling avatar walking in a virtual reality setup and an exoskeleton during over-ground stepping. The proposed approach may have important implications for the design of human–machine interfaces and neuroprosthetic technologies such as those of assistive lower limb exoskeletons., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Neuroprosthetic technology and robotic exoskeletons are being developed to facilitate stepping, reduce muscle efforts, and promote motor recovery. Nevertheless, the guidance forces of an exoskeleton may influence the sensory inputs, sensorimotor interactions and resulting muscle activity patterns during stepping. The aim of this study was to report the muscle activation patterns in a sample of intact and injured subjects while walking with a robotic exoskeleton and, in particular, to quantify the level of muscle activity during assisted gait. We recorded electromyographic (EMG) activity of different leg and arm muscles during overground walking in an exoskeleton in six healthy individuals and four spinal cord injury (SCI) participants. In SCI patients, EMG activity of the upper limb muscles was augmented while activation of leg muscles was typically small. Contrary to our expectations, however, in neurologically intact subjects, EMG activity of leg muscles was similar or even larger during exoskeleton-assisted walking compared to normal overground walking. In addition, significant variations in the EMG waveforms were found across different walking conditions. The most variable pattern was observed in the hamstring muscles. Overall, the results are consistent with a non-linear reorganization of the locomotor output when using the robotic stepping devices. The findings may contribute to our understanding of human-machine interactions and adaptation of locomotor activity patterns. © 2014 Sylos-Labini, La Scaleia, d'Avella, Pisotta, Tamburella, Scivoletto, Molinari, Wang, Wang, van Asseldonk, van der Kooij, Hoellinger, Cheron, Thorsteinsson, Ilzkovitz, Gancet, Hauffe, Zanov, Lacquaniti and Ivanenko., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Einleitung: Die Messung der Herzratenvariabilität (HRV), d.h. der ständigen Variation des Herzschlags, ermöglicht eine Beurteilung der autonomen Funktion des Herzens und die Erfassung physischer und psychischer Belastungszustände. In der Audiologie werden Patienten anhand ihrer Leistung in audiometrischen Testverfahren beurteilt, vermehrte Höranstrengung kommt hier jedoch unzureichend zum Ausdruck. Die folgende Studie sollte klären, ob auditorische Belastung in Form eines Sprachverständnistests mit der HRV sensitiv erfasst werden kann und ob Hörsituationen mit Störgeräuschen eine höhere Stressantwort hervorrufen. Methoden: Die Datenerhebung erfolgte an 24 jungen hörgesunden Probanden, wobei diese während der HRV-Aufzeichnung Wortlisten des Freiburger Sprachtests in Ruhe und unter Zuschaltung eines Störgeräusches (Rauschen) schriftlich wiedergeben sollten. Vor und nach der Testung erfolgten jeweils Ruhemessungen. Ergebnisse: Auditorische Belastungen konnten mithilfe der HRV zuverlässig erfasst und von Ruhebedingungen unterschieden werden. Die Testanforderungen riefen Parameterveränderungen im Sinne einer Koaktivierung von Sympathikus und Parasympathikus hervor, wobei dieses Muster Ausdruck erhöhter Aufmerksamkeit zu sein scheint. Ein signifikanter HRV-Unterschied zwischen den beiden Schwierigkeitsgraden zeigte sich nicht. Geschlecht der Probanden und Reihenfolge der Testphasen spielten eine untergeordnete Rolle. Schlussfolgerungen: Die HRV-Aufzeichnung scheint geeignet, Höranstrengung bei gesunden Personen objektiv zu messen. Weitere Studien an größeren Kontroll- und Patientenstichproben sollten klären, ob diese zur Verbesserung der Diagnostik und Therapie von Hörbeeinträchtigten beitragen kann., Introduction: Heart rate variability (HRV) as a permanent variation of the heart beat has proved to be a sensitive tool to judge the autonomic function of the heart and to measure physical and mental stress. Concerning audiology, patients' word recognition ability is the basis for further treatment, although test results do not always represent auditory effort properly. The aim of the following study was to analyse, if auditory stress caused by a speech comprehension test can be measured by HRV and if speech comprehension in noise is significantly more disturbing. Methods: 24 young probands with normal hearing participated in the study. They had to reproduce in written form monosyllable word lists of the “Freiburg Speech Test” in silence and in noise, while HRV was measured continuously. Before and after the testing, baseline and recovery data was recorded. Results: In the present study, auditory stress could be detected reliably and distinguished from passive conditions by means of HRV measurement. During the speech comprehension tasks, HRV was altered in terms of a coactivation of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic branch of the autonomous nervous system. This might be characteristic of tasks requiring increased attention. Audiometric test conditions without and with noise did not differ significantly. Gender differences and the influence of test order were negligible. Conclusions: HRV recording appears to be an objective tool to measure auditory effort. The current results have to be validated in further studies including larger samples of healthy and hearing-impaired people.

Diese Arbeit untersucht, wie herkömmliche Lernanwendungen um Informationen über den emotionalen Erregungszustand eines Nutzers erweitert werden können. Den Benutzer zu jedem Zeitpunkt des Lernens auf einem optimalen Erregungsniveau zu halten, wirkt sich positiv auf den Lernerfolg und im Zuge dessen auch auf die Motivation des Lernenden aus. Da während des Lernens sowohl auf Nutzer- als auch auf Systemseite eine Anpassung erfolgen kann, werden beide Aspekte in dieser Arbeit beleuchtet.

Psychopathy is a personality disorder frequently associated with immoral behaviors. Previous behavioral studies on the influence of psychopathy on moral decision have yielded contradictory results, possibly because they focused either on judgment (abstract evaluation) or on choice of hypothetical action, two processes that may rely on different mechanisms. In this study, we explored the influence of the level of psychopathic traits on judgment and choice of hypothetical action during moral dilemma evaluation. A population of 102 students completed a questionnaire with ten moral dilemmas and nine non-moral dilemmas. The task included questions targeting both judgment (Is it acceptable to. in order to.) and choice of hypothetical action (Would you.in order to.). The level of psychopathic traits of each participant was evaluated with the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy (LSRP) scale. Logistic regression fitted with the generalized estimating equations method analyses were conducted using responses to the judgment and choice tasks as the dependent variables and psychopathy scores as predictor. Results show that a high level of psychopathic traits, and more specifically those related to affective deficit, predicted a greater proportion of utilitarian responses for the choice but not for the judgment question. There was no first-order interaction between the level of psychopathic traits and other potential predictors. The relation between a high level of psychopathic traits and increased utilitarianism in choice of action but not in moral judgment may explain the contradictory results of previous studies where these two processes were not contrasted. It also gives further support to the hypothesis that choice of action endorsement and abstract judgment during moral dilemma evaluation are partially distinct neural and psychological processes. We propose that this distinction should be better taken into account in the evaluation of psychopathic behaviors. © 2013 Tassy, Deruelle, Mancini,Leistedt and Wicker., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

SCOPUS: ed.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

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Das Projekt beschäftigte sich mit der Frage, ob physiologische Reaktionen von Personen durch Ereignisse auslöst werden können, auch wenn diese Ereignisse aus konventioneller Sicht nicht wahrnehmbar sind, weil sie an einem anderen Ort oder erst in der Zukunft stattfinden. Hinweise darauf wurden wiederholt in Studien mit einer speziellen Rateaufgabe gefunden. In dem Projekt wurde erstmals das Konzept der Orientierungsreaktion für die Untersuchung solcher anomalen Zusammenhänge zwischen Ereignissen und physiologischen Reaktionen herangezogen. In drei Studien wurde untersucht, ob bei der seriellen Präsentation von Objekten eine verstärkte Orientierungsreaktion bei dem Objekt (Zielobjekt) auftritt, das aufgrund eines aus konventioneller Sicht nicht wahrnehmbaren Ereignisses eine spezifische Bedeutsamkeit hat. In Studie 1 kam ein modifizierter Tatwissentest zum Einsatz, in Studie 2 die Rateaufgabe. In Studie 3 wurden beide Methoden kombiniert. Als methodologische Fragestellung wurde der Einfluss von Positionseffekten in Experimenten mit serieller Objektpräsentation untersucht. Die konzeptuelle Fragestellung beschäftigte sich mit neuen Erkenntnissen über die Orientierungsreaktion. Die Ergebnisse zeigten keine statistisch signifikanten Unterschiede zwischen Zielobjekten und irrelevanten Objekten in der elektrodermalen Aktivität, der phasischen und tonischen Herzrate, der Atemaktivität und der Pulsaktivität (p > .1, d < .15). Es gab Hinweise darauf, dass die physiologischen Reaktionen von der seriellen Position der Objekte beeinflusst wurden. In simulierten Studien führte dies zu Verschiebungen der Signifikanzgrenze, wenn die Zielobjekte unterschiedlich häufig auf den Positionen der Serie präsentiert wurden. A priori war die Wahrscheinlichkeit für eine falsche Zurückweisung der Nullhypothese dadurch vergrößert. Insgesamt lieferte das Projekt keine Hinweise darauf, dass physiologische Reaktionen durch Ereignisse ausgelöst werden können, die aus konventioneller Sicht nicht wahrnehmbar sind. Die methodologische Analyse lässt auf mögliche statistische Verzerrungen in früheren Studien mit der Rateaufgabe schließen. Eine erhöhte Wahrscheinlichkeit für eine falsche Zurückweisung der Nullhypothese kann durch eine balancierte der Verteilung der Stimuluspositionen verhindert werden. Die beobachteten Positionseffekte sprechen für eine Integration von Prozessen der Informationsverarbeitung und Entscheidungsfindung in das Konzept der Orientierungsreaktion., The project investigated whether physiological responses in humans can be evoked by events, even if these events are conventionally considered as unperceivable because they occur at a distant place or in the future. This was repeatedly indicated by studies that employed a particular guessing task. For the first time, the project investigated anomalous correlations between events and physiological responses by means of the concept of orienting response. Three studies investigated whether the particular significance of an object (target object) leads to an increased orienting response during a serial presentation of objects, even if the particular significance of the object is gained in an event conventionally considered as unperceivable. In Study 1, a modified Guilty Knowledge Test was used and in Study 2, the guessing task was used. Both methods were combined in Study 3. A methodological analysis investigated the influence of serial position effects on statistical analyses in experiments using a serial object presentation. The conceptual question of the project was concerned with new insights into the orienting response. Results showed no statistically significant differences between target objects and irrelevant objects for electrodermal activity, phasic and tonic heart rate, respiratory activity, and pulse activity (p > .1, d < .15). Evidence was found for a confound of physiological responses with the serial position of objects. As a result, simulated studies showed a biased level of significance if the stimulus positions were unbalanced. Therefore, the probability of a false rejection of the null hypothesis was increased a priori. Taken together, the project provided no evidence for physiological responses that were evoked by events that are conventionally considered as unperceivable. The methodological analysis implies a statistical bias in prior studies that used the guessing task. An increased probability of a false rejection of the null hypothesis is preventable by balancing the positions of the stimuli. The observed effects of serial positioning suggest an integration of the effects of information processing and decision making into the concept of the orienting response.

Unter Einschluss des Fallbeispiels einer 19-jährigen Schülerin mit Bulimie werden empirische Befunde zur intergenerationellen Weitergabe von Traumatisierungen dargestellt. Zunächst wird verdeutlicht, dass es in familiären Systemen eine Tendenz zur Weitergabe traumatischer Erfahrungen über mehrere Generationen gibt. Diese manifestiert sich sehr unterschiedlich, z. B. in posttraumatischen Belastungsstörungen, Angststörungen, affektiven Störungen, Aggressivität, sozialem Rückzug oder riskantem Gesundheitsverhalten in der nächsten oder übernächsten Generation. Wirksam werden neben physiologischen Mechanismen (Kortisolspiegel) psychosoziale "Vermittler" wie die Bindungssicherheit, emotionale Regulierung und Verfügbarkeit, der Erziehungsstil sowie familiendynamische Prozesse wie Familiengeheimnisse, Kommunikationsstörungen und daraus folgende Störungen der Mentalisierung, Grenzenstörungen, Loyalitäts- und Delegationskonflikte. Die Darstellung des Fallbeispiels sowie Befunde und Überlegungen zur Resilienz schließen den Beitrag ab.

Classiquement, les interactions homme - système artificiel (IHSA) ont été étudiées par le seul intermédiaire des changements du comportement humain face à une variation du système. Si cette approche a permis de faire progresser les IHSA, surtout lorsque les observations débouchaient sur de la modélisation descriptive, un pan important de l'interaction reste néanmoins méconnu. En effet, alors que, par exemple dans l'aéronautique militaire, les contraintes physiologiques étaient prises en compte (ex : voile noir), les contraintes cognitives créées par le fonctionnement du cerveau étaient largement méconnues. Dans cette perspective, l'erreur humaine devient un "symptôme" des carences du système. Une approche originale et innovante pour traiter la problématique des interactions homme-système est d'utiliser les outils et les concepts des neurosciences intégratives et de la neuropsychologie. Les travaux de ces disciplines, basées sur l'étude du substrat des mécanismes cérébraux des fonctions cognitives, ont fait progresser les connaissances sur la compréhension des interactions de l'homme avec son environnement. Ces résultats scientifiques suscitent depuis peu l'intérêt pour les facteurs humains et ont donné très récemment naissance à un nouveau courant aux Etats-Unis : la neuroergonomie. C'est dans cette démarche de neuroergonomie que nous avons tenté de mieux comprendre la similarité de certains troubles des fonctions exécutives (FE), capacités cognitives de haut niveau, qui apparaissent chez le sujet diminué (pathologie neurologique, manque de sommeil, prise de certains médicaments etc.) et chez le pilote sain en situation dégradée. En effet, les erreurs de pilotage peuvent être, dans certains cas, attribuées à des perturbations temporaires des FE. Ces constatations plaident en faveur de l'hypothèse de mécanismes cérébraux communs suggérant l'existence d'un continuum cognitif (Pastor, 1999), des performances intellectuelles optimales à un fonctionnement très dégradé, proche de celui retrouvé dans la pathologie. Nous avons réalisé une première étude visant à comprendre l'influence du risque et de la récompense sur la prise de décision en aéronautique, en utilisant un protocole de neuroéconomie, des mesures psychophysiologiques et l'IRMf. Les résultats préliminaires de neuroimagerie indiquent que le passage de la prise de décision "à froid" vers la prise de décision "à chaud" se traduit par un basculement préfrontal dorsolateral (siège des FE) vers des activations préfrontales ventromédianes (aire connectée aux régions émotionnelles du cerveau). Ce basculement était accompagné d'une augmentation du rythme cardiaque, signe de l'effet émotionnel provoqué par la récompense. Nous avons également mené une étude afin de détecter les perturbations subtiles des FE au cours du vieillissement normal pour définir des indices prédictifs de la capacité à piloter dans l'aviation générale où aucune limite d'âge n'existe. Les résultats ont mis en évidence la grande vulnérabilité de certaines FE aux effets de l'âge et, par ailleurs, que les capacités de raisonnement, de mémoire de travail mais aussi l'expérience de vol et le niveau d'impulsivité trait étaient associés à la performance de pilotage et à l'erreur décisionnelle. Enfin, nous avons opérationnalisé nos résultats par des expérimentations réalisées en vol réel en employant des mesures oculométriques. L'étude a montré la fiabilité du système à collecter les prises d'informations visuelles des pilotes. La dilatation pupillaire semblait également pointer certains effets du stress et de la charge cognitive. Toutes ces recherches illustrent la capacité de la neuroergonomie à nourrir en retour les disciplines dont elle émerge, notamment les facteurs humains. Traditionally, the human-system interactions (HIS) have been studied through the modification of the human behavior in response to system variations. Although this approach has opened the way to great progresses in HIS framework, especially when observations led to descriptive modeling, an important part of the interaction remains unknown. Indeed, while, for instance in military aeronautics, the physiological constraints were taken into account (eg. grey-out), the cognitive constraints inherent to the brain functioning were largely unknown. In this perspective, human error becomes a symptom of the system deficiency. An innovative and original approach to cope with the problematic of the HIS is to use the tools and concepts of the integrative neurosciences and of the neuropsychology. These researches, based upon the study of the neural substrate of the cognitive mechanisms, have made the knowledge related to the man interaction with his environment grow. These scientific results arouse human factor interest and generated a new discipline in the USA: neuroergonomics. In this framework, we tried to better understand the similarity of some impairment of the executive functions (EFs) which are high level cognitive abilities that appear within the diminished subject (neurological pathology, sleep deprivation, effects of some medications etc.) and within the healthy pilot facing degraded conditions. Indeed, piloting errors may be, in some cases, attributed to temporary perturbations of the EFs. These findings plead in favor of the hypothesis of common cerebral mechanisms and suggest the existence of a cognitive continuum, spanning from optimal intellectual performances to a degraded functioning, as found in pathological subjects. We have performed a first study aiming at understanding the cross influences of the risk and the reward on decision making in aeronautics. This experiment has involved psychophysiological measure, neuroimaging tools (fMRI) and a neuroeconomics experimental protocol. The neuroimaging preliminary results point out that the shift from "cold" reasoning to "hot" reasoning has resulted in a transfer from dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (main center of the EFs) activations toward ventromedial prefrontal cortex (strongly connected to emotional brains areas) activations. This shift was associated with an increase heart rate, sign of the emotional impact of the reward. We have also conducted a research to assess the subtle perturbations of the EFs during normal aging so as to identify predictive clues of the ability to pilot in general aviation, where no age limit is defined. The results showed a stronger vulnerability of EFs to the aging effects and, besides, reasoning, working memory abilities and also flight experience and trait impulsivity were related to piloting performance and poor decision making. Finally, we have operationalized our results by experimentations carried out in real flight with oculometric means. The study revealed the feasibility of collecting visual information taking of pilots in real flight, and the pupil dilation indicated stress and mental load effects. All theses researches illustrate the capacity of neuroergonomics to grow beyond the disciplines from which it emerges, in particular human factors.