Influence de l'induction des processus d'autorégulation sur le rendement à une tache cognitive.

Examined whether inducing self-regulatory processes through a concurrent verbal report technique could improve the performance of adult participants on a concept formation task. This technique consists of instructing Ss to state explicitly the reasons underlying each of the steps employed in the process of resolving a task. It is indicated that self-regulatory processes should be optimized when individuals have access to external feedback indicating success or failure of their cognitive enterprise. To examine and dissociate the respective effect of these 2 factors, 80 university students were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 experimental conditions in a 2 (with or without concurrent report)?×?2 (with or without feedback) crossed design. Results indicate that Ss who made a concurrent report performed better than those who did not. The presence of feedback seemed to hinder performance. Results are discussed in relation to the recent model of metacognition proposed by M. Lefebvre-Pinard and the 2nd author (in press). (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Un éditorial sur le développement et le rayonnement de la psychologic québécoise et francophone.

The purpose of this brief editorial is to discuss psychology in Québec and some of the foremost researchers who have had a recognized world-wide impact on psychology. Following a brief review of historical facts describing the evolution of psychology in Québec, and of issues related to communicating psychology in French, the contribution of certain distinguished individuals is highlighted. These persons either have played a critical role in international organisations, or have produced scientific work that is widely recognized by their peers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Apprentissage de la notion de nombre par une méthode fondée sur le modèle piagétien de la fusion des classes et des relations.

Constructed a series of "operational exercises" to train children on the concept of number. In an experiment with a total of 20 6-7 yr olds, classified as preoperational by a pretest that included 2 experiments on number, the series was given to 3 groups. In accordance with Piaget's theoretical model on the construction of number, the exercises were based on the generalization of class similarities (Group 1), the generalization of relational differences (Group 2), or on both alternately (Group 3). To measure the effect of the learning exercises, the 2 number experiments were readministered in 2 successive posttests with a 1-mo interval. It was found that (a) the performance of all 3 experimental groups was significantly higher than that of the control group; (b) the 2 groups that received only 1 type of exercise (just class or relation) did not differ from each other; and (c) the group subjected to the 2 kinds of exercises was significantly better on the 2nd posttest, although the same as the previous 2 groups on the 1st posttest. The discussion of results focuses on the differential progress of each group and on the child's construction of number. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Primogéniture et modèle de la confluence dans une université canadienne.

Studied primogeniture and the effect of birth order among 510 1st-yr and 65 4th-yr university students. The predominance of eldest children was less marked than in previous studies, as was predicted. In accordance with the confluence model, the number of Ss of successive ranks diminished in families of 2 and 3 children and somewhat less clearly in 4-child families. These phenomena were more marked for the 4th yr. Hypotheses relating to intelligence, socioeconomic milieu, or differential motivation according to birth order do not satisfactorily explain the observed tendencies. (English abstract) (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effet du canal de communication sur le jugement d'émotions ressenties et simulées.

Studied the extent to which communication channel affects judgments of the type and authenticity of emotions. 80 university students (mean age 21.5 yrs) were presented with short audio, video, and audiovideo excerpts of actors expressing specific emotions. In some cases, the emotion was actually experienced by the actor; in other cases, the emotion was simulated. Ss were distributed over 8 communication channel conditions (i.e., facial, audio, filtered audio, gestural?+?facial, facial?+?filtered audio, facial?+?audio, gestural?+?facial?+?filtered audio, and gestural?+?facial?+?audio) and asked to judge the emotional category (i.e., happiness, fear, anger, surprise, and sadness) and the authenticity of the emotion. The accuracy of the judgments was analyzed in relation to the type of channel and the type of emotion. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Le phonème initial des noms inanimés et son effet sur l'identification du genre grammatical.

Studied the effects of the initial phoneme (either consonant or vowel) of inanimate nouns, and assessed the predictive value of noun endings relative to gender classes on the speed and accuracy of grammatical gender identification. The effect of category labels used to express choice of gender class on gender identification was also examined. Human subjects: 51 male and female Canadian adults (university students) (French-speaking). Ss were presented with 2 lists of common nouns designating inanimate objects that differed in the type of initial phoneme, the predictive strength of the word ending, and grammatical gender. Ss were asked to identify gender as rapidly as possible, using the un/une ("a") or masculine/feminine categories. The results were evaluated according to the number of errors in gender identification. Statistical tests were used. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Progrés dans la recherche sur le toucher.

Introduces the special issue on New Directions in Touch, which focuses on a number of critical topics concerning the sense of touch, with invited reviews written by some of the top researchers in the field today. Some of these are traditional topics that have seen impressive advances in recent years, while others are quite new. The intent in highlighting this work is to reflect the increasing excitement in recent years surrounding the exponential increase in highly innovative and diverse research devoted to the sense of touch. There are nine articles in the special issue, covering a wide assortment of topics related to human tactile and haptic sensing and its application, including sensation, perception, cognition and their underlying neural mechanisms, and how basic research on touch has been applied to the design of haptic interfaces for teleoperation and virtual environments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Le diagnostic et le traitement des troubles du sommeil: nécessité d'une interaction médico-psychologique.

Reviews research and treatment methods for sleep disorders, emphasizing the concerted contributions of psychology and medicine. In view of the possibility on the one hand of general physicians' overusing pharmacological treatment, and on the other hand of psychologists' bypassing medical consultation, the authors recommend the introduction of basic notions of normal and abnormal sleep and appropriate treatment in the training programs of practitioners in both disciplines. The development of additional sleep-disorder centers, well entrenched in health services programs, should fill an important health need and serve as a resource for general practitioners in medicine and psychology. (English abstract) (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attention soutenue et motivation : une approche chronopsychologique.

Discusses the effects of motivation on ability to sustain attention. We emphasize the fact that motivation should be considered a masking factor in ultradian rhythmicities of cognitive efficiency. In the first part of this article, several studies are listed. These studies attempted to show behavioral fluctuations when sustained attention is required. The inconsistency of the results brought forth by such studies is pointed out. In the second part of the article, the question of the status granted to motivation in chronopsychological studies, where motivation is manipulated in several ways, is discussed. Interpretations are revisited in terms of intrinsic and/or extrinsic motivation concepts. Some of these chronopsychological studies used only extrinsic motivation whereas others created conditions in which intrinsic motivation was favoured (for example, knowledge of results, which appears to be a prominent masking factor). Finally, we propose several hypotheses in order to support the assumption of a stabilizing effect provided by intrinsic motivation. We conclude by insisting upon the necessity of involving participants in tasks requiring complex cognitive activity, which contrasts with the monotonous and too simple tasks used frequently in chronopsychological studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Le décalage dans le développement de la notion d'objet: Mobilité et immobilité de l'objet.

Studied the development of object–person divergence in infants and the association of this divergence or decalage with the physical properties of the objects. Human subjects: 15 male and female Canadian infants (mean age 9 mo). Ss were given 5 identification tasks using mobile and immobile objects: (1) reorientation; (2) disappearance in place; (3) substitution; (4) disappearance in movement of dissimilar objects; and (5) disappearance in movement of similar objects. Ss were asked to indicate if the object was the same after a spatial-temporal transformation. Responses of the subjects to the identification task were recorded and classified by observers into 6 categories: disinterest, looking at object without moving, picking up the transformed object, picking up the nontransformed object, picking up 2 objects, and reproducing the transformation. The results were analyzed statistically and compared with those of another group of 16 infants performing a permanence test. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Le lexique mental: Modèle d'organisation du lexique mental.

Discusses a model of a mental lexicon that considers the position of a word in a sentence, the morphological structure of the word, and morphological rules for interpreting unknown words. The model suggests that the mental lexicon contains 3 dictionaries: 1 of radical and root words, 1 of affixes, and 1 of rules. The application of morphological rules, especially the rules for derived words, and methods of accessing the mental lexicon are examined. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Le r?le du corps calleux dans le transfert interhémisphèrique d'apprentissages visuels chez le chat siamois.

Investigated the function of the visual projections from the retinas of the Siamese cat, which are essentially crossed with a weak ipsilateral projection originating from the temporal hemiretina. In Exp I, the functional role of the ipsilateral projection was examined. Ss underwent a section of either the optic chiasma or the optic tract (unilaterally) and were subjected monocularly to a series of visual discriminations (luminosity and patterns). The results show that the Ss were able to learn brightness discriminations, but not those based on patterns. This suggests that the role of the ipsilateral projection is limited to the luminosity task. In Exp II, the possible implication of the corpus callosum in interocular transfer was investigated. Ss with severed corpus callosums that were tested in transfer tasks performed poorly when compared to normal controls. Although the Ss showed some saving when tested with the untrained eye, their capacity for interhemispheric transfer was drastically reduced. These results suggest that the corpus callosum is the main commissure for the integration of visual information stored in both cerebral hemispheres. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation entre le niveau d'excitabilite medullaire et la probabilite conditionnelle d'apparition du signal d'execution pendant la periode preparatoire a une reponse motrice.

Many experimental facts confirm the hypothesis that the relation between the duration of the preparatory period, and the performance level obtained in an RT situation, partly depends on the conditional probability of the response signal. This study shows that the effects of such a variable appear in physiological changes accompanying the preparatory sets, especially the excitability of the spinal motor structures. The level of spinal excitability has been tested by the monosynaptic reflexes method, with Ss placed in a simple RT situation, during the period separating the preparatory from the response signal, or the preparatory signal from the preceding response. In both procedures the interval explored was systematically varied and the time uncertainty concerning the moment of occurrence of the awaited signal was rendered independent of the duration of the interval by the use of a periodic stimulus acting as a time mark. A positive relation was observed between the duration of the variable interval and the amplitude of the spinal reflexes. It was indentical in the 2 procedures when exploration concerned a muscle which was not involved in carrying out the response. The development of the spinal excitability level for the muscle involved in carrying out the response differs according to the meaning of the awaited signal: it grows during the interval between the trials. Results show the double aspect of the preparatory phenomena, of activating and generalized nature and, of lowering and focused nature. The hypothesis is confirmed in both cases. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Le meilleur des mondes, le pire des mondes: La place des relations intimes en psychologie et dans notre vie quotidienne.

This article examines the place of relationships in our daily lives and in the field of psychology. The first section of the article offers reasons why relationships are central for humans. Next, the place of relationships in the history, institutional aspects, and subfields of psychology is presented. Then a paradox about relationships is presented: They are both among the most positive, uplifting of life's experiences and yet they can also be among life's darkest aspects. Despite the negative aspects of relationships, most people are very happy in their intimate relations. The paper ends with possible explanations for why satisfaction may be so high. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Le nationalisme d'un groupe minoritaire: pour le meilleur ou pour le pire?

This study pertains to the causes and effects of the nationalism of a minority group. According to the predictive model presented, identification with the minority group is positively associated with collective relative deprivation, whereas identification with the majority group is negatively associated with these feelings. The model links collective relative deprivation to nationalism and neoracist beliefs. Finally, it is expected that nationalism would be associated with neoracist beliefs. Hypotheses were tested among 346 college students. Results showed the importance of identification with the minority group in the emergence of feelings of collective relative deprivation and support of nationalism. Contrary to predictions, nationalism was not related to neoracist beliefs. The discussion draws on research pertaining to inter-group relations and nationalism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Avant-propos du numéro spécial sur le raisonnement informel.

Preface that in part comments that the motivation for this issue came from a growing concern with the way in which the study of formal reasoning has been developing. Forty years ago, when the cognitive study of reasoning began in earnest, it was done under the assumption that the ability to make logically valid inferences was a cornerstone of rational thought. This assumption dominated research in the field to such an extent that it persevered for decades, despite overwhelming evidence to suggest that intelligent college students repeatedly failed to reason logically on relatively simple problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Le multiculturalisme au canada: Contexte et état actuel.

This introduction to the special issue of the Canadian Review of the Behavioural Sciences on multiculturalism is intended to prepare the reader for the articles that follow on changes in the ethnography of Canada and the history and the current state of multicultural policy in Canada. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Commentaire sur le colloque "Alternatives to classical statistical procedures."

A commentary is presented on the colloquium "Alternatives to Classical Statistical Procedures" organized by Zumbo. Each presentation of the colloquium is summarized and briefly critically reviewed. Together, the presentations yield an array of diverse methodological solutions to the fact that psychological data do not conform to the ideal of the normal distribution nor to the assumptions of parametric analysis (e.g., independent observations). These considerations suggest that psychologists should question how their variables of interest are measured. The present commentary adds to this suggestion the following one: psychologists should also critically review the effect size of the phenomena they study. The consideration of both measurement problems and effect size should bring psychologists towards a coherent use of inferential statistics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Connaissance des résultats et contr?le spatiotemporel dans une tache d'anticipation-co?ncidence chez des enfants de 6 à 10 ans.

Studied the effects of knowledge of results (KR), either spatial or temporal, on performance of a coincidence-timing task among Canadian children. Human subjects: 90 male and female Canadian children (aged 6–10 yrs). Ss were divided into 3 age groups (mean age 6.8 yrs, 8.3 yrs, and 10.2 yrs). Each age group was divided into 3 experimental groups: 1 group received spatial KR, 1 group received temporal KR, and 1 group received no KR during practice sessions for a coincidence-timing task. The task consisted of moving an object horizontally with the hand to a spot corresponding to the movement of a visual stimulus. The object was to reach the correct spot at the same time as the visual stimulus, which came from either the right or the left at speeds of 100 or 152 cm/s. The results were analyzed according to Ss' age, speed of stimulus, direction of stimulus, type of KR training, and whether or not the S's object arrived before or after the visual stimulus. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)