Développement du cerveau des adolescents et changements en cognition sociale

L'adolescence est importante pour le développement social. Nous voulons comprendre le couplage perception sociale/contrôle de l'action et leurs fondements neuronaux en nous concentrant sur deux axes du contrôle de l'action : l'inhibition et l'observation d'action. Inhibition. Des enfants, adolescents et adultes ont effectué une tâche de pro et antisaccades(utilisée pour étudier l’inhibition) dans une expérience comportementale et en IRMf, utilisant des visages comme stimuli sociaux. Nous rapportons des différences d'âge dont un recrutement plus important avec l’âge des réseaux oculomoteur et de la perception de visages, ainsi qu'une interaction tache-stimulus uniquement chez l’adolescent dans les régions occipito-temporales, l'aire motrice supplémentaire et le gyrus postcentral.Observation d’action. Des adolescents et adultes ont observé des actions qui variaient selon la socialité et transitivité, pendant que nous mesurions leur activité cérébrale. Nous rapportons un recrutement fronto-pariétal et occipito-temporal chez les deux groupes. Cependant, à partir des schémas d'activité cérébrale, la dimension sociale est mieux décodée chez l’adulte dans les régions occipitales, pariétales et le sillon temporal postérieur supérieur, indiquant une représentation plus faible de la socialité chez l’adolescent.Ensemble, ces études contribuent à la compréhension du réglage fin entre la perception sociale et le contrôle de l'action. Ceci est essentiel pour évaluer les trajectoires anormales dans ces domaines qui pourraient conduire à des troubles connus dès l'adolescence, tels l’addiction ou la dépression.Humans are social beings, and adolescence is important in social development. We aimed to understand the social-perception/action-control coupling and their neural underpinnings, in adolescence, focusing on two axes of action: inhibition and action observation. Inhibition. Children, adolescents and adults performed a mixed pro and antisaccade task (used to study inhibitory control), in a behavioral study and a functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI) study, with faces as social stimuli. We reported age related differences in behavior as well as in brain representations, notably with a higher recruitment of the oculomotor and face networks with age, as well as a task-stimulus interaction (higher activity to antisaccades away from faces than antisaccades away from cars) only in adolescents in occipitotemporal regions, supplementary motor area and postcentral gyrus.Action observation. Adolescents and adults observed actions, which varied along sociality and transitivity while we measured their brain activity with fMRI. We reported similar recruitment of brain regions in adolescents and adults, yet the social dimension was better decoded from brain activity patterns in adults than adolescents in lateral occipital, parietal and posterior superior temporal sulcus regions indicating a weaker representation of sociality in adolescents. Together, these studies contribute to understanding the fine-tuning of two key systems that change during adolescence: social perception and action control. This is central for assessing abnormal trajectories in these domains that could lead to disorders known to start in adolescence, like conduct disorder, substance abuse or depression

Brain Activity During Antisaccades to Faces in Adolescence

International audienceCognitive control and social perception both change during adolescence, but little is known of the interaction of these 2 processes. We aimed to characterize developmental changes in brain activity related to the influence of a social stimulus on cognitive control and more specifically on inhibitory control. Children (age 8–11, n = 19), adolescents (age 12–17, n = 20), and adults (age 24–40, n = 19) performed an antisaccade task with either faces or cars as visual stimuli, during functional magnetic resonance brain imaging. We replicate the finding of the engagement of the core oculomotor and face perception brain regions in all age-groups, with increased involvement of frontoparietal oculomotor regions and fusiform face regions with age. The antisaccade-related activity was modulated by stimulus category significantly only in adolescents. This interaction was observed mainly in occipitotemporal regions as well as in supplementary motor cortex and postcentral gyrus. These results indicate a special treatment of social stimuli during adolescence

Double and Kubi RObots in Education: Can Telepresence Contribute to Student Engagement and Social Inclusion for Occasional Distance Learning?

International audienc

Double and Kubi RObots in Education: Can Telepresence Contribute to Student Engagement and Social Inclusion for Occasional Distance Learning?

International audienc

Evaluating students’ experiences in hybrid learning environments: A comparative analysis of Kubi and double telepresence robots

Social Robotics15th International Conference, ICSR 2023, Doha, Qatar, December 3–7, 2023, Proceedings, Part IIInternational audienceAmidst the Covid-19 pandemic, distance learning was employed on an unprecedented level. As the lockdown measures have eased, it has become a parallel option alongside traditional in-person learning. Nevertheless, the utilization of basic videoconferencing tools such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet comes with a multitude of constraints that extend beyond technological aspects. These limitations are intricately linked with human behavior, psychology, but also pedagogy, drastically changing the interactions that take place during learning. Telepresence robots have been widely used due to their advantages in enhancing a sense of in-person. To investigate the opportunities, the impact, and the risks associated with the usage of telepresence robots in an educational context, we conducted an experiment in a real setting, in the specific use case of a design school and a project-based class. We are interested in the experience of a classroom and the relationships between a distance student, his/her peers, and the professor/instructor. This study employed two types of robots: a Kubi robot (a semi-static tablet-based system) and a Double robot (a mobile telepresence robot). The primary objective was to ascertain the perceptions and experiences of both remote and in-person students during their interaction with these robots. The results of the study demonstrate a marked preference among students for the Double robot over the Kubi, as indicated by their feedback

Action Observation Network activity related to object-directed and socially-directed actions in Adolescents

The Action Observation Network (AON) encompasses brain areas consistently engaged when we observe other’s actions. Although the core nodes of the AON are present from childhood, it is not known to what extent they are sensitive to different action features during development. As social cognitive abilities continue to mature during adolescence, the AON response to socially-oriented actions, but not to object-related actions, may differ in adolescents and adults. To test this hypothesis, we scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) 28 typically-developing teenagers and 25 adults while they passively watched videos of hand actions varying along two dimensions: sociality (i.e. directed towards another person or not) and transitivity (i.e. involving an object or not). We found that observing actions recruited the same fronto-parietal and occipito-temporal regions in adults and adolescents. The modulation of voxelwise activity by the social or transitive nature of the action was similar in both groups of participants. Multivariate pattern analysis, however, revealed that the accuracy in decoding the social dimension from the brain activity patterns, increased with age in lateral occipital and parietal regions, known to be involved in semantic representations of actions, as well as in posterior superior temporal sulcus, a region commonly associated with perception of high level features necessary for social perception. Change in decoding the transitive dimension was observed only in the latter region. These findings indicate that the representation of others’ actions, and in particular their social dimensions, in the adolescent AON is still not as robust as in adults

Action Observation Network Activity Related to Object-Directed and Socially-Directed Actions in Adolescents

International audienceThe human action observation network (AON) encompasses brain areas consistently engaged when we observe other's actions. Although the core nodes of the AON are present from childhood, it is not known to what extent they are sensitive to different action features during development. Because social cognitive abilities continue to mature during adolescence, the AON response to socially-oriented actions, but not to object-related actions, may differ in adolescents and adults. To test this hypothesis, we scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) male and female typically-developing teenagers ( n = 28; 13 females) and adults ( n = 25; 14 females) while they passively watched videos of manual actions varying along two dimensions: sociality (i.e., directed toward another person or not) and transitivity (i.e., involving an object or not). We found that action observation recruited the same fronto-parietal and occipito-temporal regions in adults and adolescents. The modulation of voxel-wise activity according to the social or transitive nature of the action was similar in both groups of participants. Multivariate pattern analysis, however, revealed that decoding accuracies in intraparietal sulcus (IPS)/superior parietal lobe (SPL) for both sociality and transitivity were lower for adolescents compared with adults. In addition, in the lateral occipital temporal cortex (LOTC), generalization of decoding across the orthogonal dimension was lower for sociality only in adolescents. These findings indicate that the representation of the content of others' actions, and in particular their social dimension, in the adolescent AON is still not as robust as in adults. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The activity of the action observation network (AON) in the human brain is modulated according to the purpose of the observed action, in particular the extent to which it involves interaction with an object or with another person. How this conceptual representation of actions is implemented during development is largely unknown. Here, using multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, we discovered that, while the action observation network is in place in adolescence, the fine-grain organization of its posterior regions is less robust than in adults to decode the abstract social dimensions of an action. This finding highlights the late maturation of social processing in the human brain

Reducing the use of screen electronic devices in the evening is associated with improved sleep and daytime vigilance in adolescents

The use of screen electronic devices in the evening negatively affects sleep. Yet, sleep is known to be essential for brain maturation and a key factor for good academic performance, and thus is particularly critical during childhood and adolescence. Although previous studies reported associations between screen time and sleep impairment, their causal relationship in adolescents remains unclear. Using actigraphy and daily questionnaires in a large sample of students (12 to 19 years old), we assessed screen time in the evening and sleep habits over 1 month. This included a 2 week baseline phase, followed by a 40 min sleep education workshop and a 2 week interventional phase, in which participants were asked to stop using screen devices after 9 pm during school nights. During the interventional phase, we found that the reduction of screen time after 9 pm correlated with earlier sleep onset time and increased total sleep duration. The latter led to improved daytime vigilance. These findings provide evidence that restricting screen use in the evening represents a valid and promising approach for improving sleep duration in adolescents, with potential implications for daytime functioning and health