Cancer, relations interpersonnelles et soutien social (une analyse psychosociale de l'expérience des patients)

Cette recherche vise à analyser l'expérience des patients cancéreux quant à leurs relations interpersonnelles dans le contexte de la maladie, ainsi que dans son ancrage psychosocial. Grâce à l'élaboration d'un nouvel outil, il s'agira également d'étudier comment les attitudes vis-à-vis de l'entourage influencent l'ajustement psychosocial des patients. 42 entretiens semi-directifs ont été réalisés auprès de patients atteints d'un cancer. Ces derniers ont fait l'objet d'une analyse avec le logiciel Alceste et d'une analyse de contenu. Une seconde étape a consisté en l'élaboration d'une échelle d'attitudes vis-à-vis de l'entourage (EAE) dont les propriétés psychométriques ont été analysées. Une analyse en pistes causales a été réalisée avec LISREL8.51 pour étudier les relations entre les dimensions de l'EAE, le soutien social perçu, le coping et les états d'huleur du patient. Nos résultats montrent que la place de l'entourage relève essentiellement de la sphère psychosociale (versus biomédicale) et que les représentations relatives de l'entourage sont structurées par les caractéristiques bio-psychosociales des patients. l'analyse de la validité de l'EAE nous permet d'aboutir à un outil composé de 23 items évaluant cinq dimensions : le besoin d'autonomie, la désillusion relationnelle, la mobilisation des ressources sociales, les bénéfices socio-affectifs et le sentiment d'être un fardeau. Cette échelle constitue un instrument fiable et valide permettant de prédire l'état émotionnel des patients, par la médiation du soutien social perçu et du coping. Ce travail montre que l'étude des perceptions relatives aux relations interpersonnelles dans le contexte de la maladie est nécessaire à la compréhension du sens associé au soutien social et de son impact sur l'ajustement des patients cancéreux.AIX-MARSEILLE1-BU Lettres (130012101) / SudocSudocFranceF

Assessment and analysis of human laterality for manipulation and communication using the Rennes Laterality Questionnaire

International audienceDespite significant scientific advances, the nature of the left-hemispheric systems involved in language (speech and gesture) and manual actions is still unclear. To date, investigations of human laterality focused mainly on non-communication functions. Although gestural laterality data have been published for infants and children, relatively little is known about laterality of human gestural communication. This study investigated human laterality in depth considering non-communication manipulation actions and various gesture types involving hands, feet, face and ears. We constructed an online laterality questionnaire including 60 items related to daily activities. We collected 317 594 item responses by 5904 randomly selected participants. The highest percentages of strong left-lateralized (6.76%) and strong right-lateralized participants (75.19%) were for manipulation actions. The highest percentages of mixed left-lateralized (12.30%) and ambidextrous (50.23%) participants were found for head-related gestures. The highest percentage of mixed right-lateralized participants (55.33%) was found for auditory gestures. Every behavioural category showed a significant population-level right-side bias. More precisely, participants were predominantly right-lateralized for non-communication manual actions, for visual iconic, visual symbolic, visual deictic (with and without speech), tactile and auditory manual gestures as well as for podial and head-related gestures. Our findings support previous studies reporting that humans have left-brain predominance for gestures and complex motor activities such as tool-use. Our study shows that the Rennes Laterality Questionnaire is a useful research instrument to assess and analyse human laterality for both manipulation and communication functions

Réseau social et caractéristiques individuelles

National audienc

Human laterality for manipulation and gestural communication related to 60 everyday activities: impact of multiple individual-related factors

International audienceLiterature on laterality emphasises the importance of implementing a comprehensive investigation of humans’ and non-humans’ laterality for both non-communication and communication functions. Adopting a global approach should enhance our understanding of the mechanistic drivers of human brain functional lateralisation and help to explore further the nature of the left-hemispheric systems for both functions. This study investigated human laterality for both functions by taking, for the first time, numerous behaviours and multiple potential influential factors into consideration. We analysed replies to the Rennes Laterality Questionnaire that takes into account simultaneously: participants’ behavioural, demographic and social characteristics as well as their genetic/social learning components and collateral factors such as health problems. We collected and analysed a large data set including 450,220 item responses (317,594 items related to behavioural laterality and 132,626 items related to personal information) by 5,904 participants. The majority of participants were right-lateralised for nine behavioural categories. The laterality of right-lateralised individuals for the behaviours considered varied very little between behavioural categories, contrary to the laterality of ambiguously- and left-lateralised individuals. This is the first evidence of the stability of right-lateralised individuals and the relative flexibility of ambiguously- and left-lateralised individuals with regards to behavioural laterality related to 60 everyday activities. Moreover, the laterality patterns of our study population were linked in particular to the following individual-related factors: demographic characteristics (current continent of residence), social characteristics (socio-professional group and study level), and collateral factors (writing hand, forced right-hand use, guiding eye, and health problems related to ear and back). We discuss our findings in relation to the evolutionary roots of human brain lateralisation for non-communication and communication functions

A multifactorial investigation of captive gorillas’ intraspecific gestural laterality

International audienceMultifactorial investigations of intraspecific laterality of primates' gestural communication aim to shed light on factors that underlie the evolutionary origins of human handedness and language. This study assesses gorillas' intraspecific gestural laterality considering the effect of various factors related to gestural characteristics, interactional context and sociodemographic characteristics of signaller and recipient. Our question was: which factors influence gorillas' gestural laterality? We studied laterality in three captive groups of gorillas (N = 35) focusing on their most frequent gesture types (N = 16). We show that signallers used predominantly their hand ipsilateral to the recipient for tactile and visual gestures, whatever the emotional context, gesture duration, recipient's sex or the kin relationship between both interactants, and whether or not a communication tool was used. Signallers' contralateral hand was not preferentially used in any situation. Signallers' right-hand use was more pronounced in negative contexts, in short gestures, when signallers were females and its use increased with age. Our findings showed that gorillas' gestural laterality could be influenced by different types of social pressures thus supporting the theory of the evolution of laterality at the population level. Our study also evidenced that some particular gesture categories are better markers than others of the left-hemisphere language specialization

Challenges Facing the Study of the Evolutionary Origins of Human Right-Handedness and Language

International audienceA growing consensus favors the predominance of the human left hemisphere in manipulation and language (speech and gestures). However, the mechanisms underlying brain lateralization for noncommunication and communication functions are still unclear. Many studies emphasize the ambiguous nature of the relationship between the directions of brain lateralization for manipulation and for language. A comparative evolutionary approach investigating lateralization and communication mechanisms in our closest living relatives can improve our understanding of human hemispheric specialisation. We review theories concerning the evolutionary origins of human right-handedness and language and studies, highlighting the relevance of a comparative evolutionary approach. We discuss four methodological issues related to the study of handedness and communication: 1) categorisation of signaling based on criteria of intentionality; 2) use of a comprehensive multimodal and multifactorial approach; 3) investigation of laterality in intraspecific gestures; and 4) comparison of manual laterality between gestures and noncommunication actions. Deeper investigations of the multifaceted nature of intentionality in communication and the multidimensionality of manual laterality and communication in humans and other primates are needed. Finally, we make four recommendations to enhance our understanding of the evolutionary origins of human right-handedness and language: 1) implementing a comprehensive and integrated investigation of laterality and communication; 2) considering socioecologically relevant contexts; 3) investigating intraspecific aspects of communication in humans and other primates that vary in their degree of sociality; and 4) using appropriate, standardized methods of data collection and analysis

Intraspecific gestural laterality in chimpanzees and gorillas and the impact of social propensities

International audienceA relevant approach to address the mechanisms underlying the emergence of the right-handedness/left-hemisphere language specialization of humans is to investigate both proximal and distal causes of language lateralization through the study of non-human primates’ gestural laterality. We carried out the first systematic, quantitative comparison of within-subjects’ and between-species’ laterality by focusing on the laterality of intraspecific gestures of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) living in six different captive groups. We addressed the following two questions: (1) Do chimpanzees and gorillas exhibit stable direction of laterality when producing different types of gestures at the individual level? If yes, is it related to the strength of laterality? (2) Is there a species difference in gestural laterality at the population level? If yes, which factors could explain this difference? During 1356 observation hours, we recorded 42335 cases of dyadic gesture use in the six groups totalling 39 chimpanzees and 35 gorillas. Results showed that both species could exhibit either stability or flexibility in their direction of gestural laterality. These results suggest that both stability and flexibility may have differently modulated the strength of laterality depending on the species social structure and dynamics. Furthermore, a multifactorial analysis indicates that these particular social components may have specifically impacted gestural laterality through the influence of gesture sensory modality and the position of the recipient in the signaller’s visual field during interaction. Our findings provide further support to the social theory of laterality origins proposing that social pressures may have shaped laterality through natural selection

Latéralité des gestes communicatifs intraspécifiques chez les chimpanzés et les gorilles

National audienceLa latéralité sociale est au centre de deux théories majeures concernant d'une part l'évolution de la latéralité au niveau populationnel et d'autre part l'évolution du langage. De nombreuses études se sont intéressées à la latéralité des gestes communicatifs se produisant entre individus d'espèces différentes (l'espèce étudiée et un expérimentateur). A l'inverse, rares sont les études portant sur les gestes impliqués dans la communication intraspécifique. Nous nous sommes donc intéressés à la latéralité des gestes les plus fréquemment utilisés par deux espèces de grands singes vivant en captivité : les chimpanzés (Pan troglodytes ; N=39) et les gorilles (Gorilla gorilla gorilla ; N=35). Vingt et un gestes pour les chimpanzés et seize gestes pour les gorilles ont été pris en considération. Les chimpanzés utilisaient leur main droite pour 62% des gestes communicatifs et 56% pour les gorilles. Nos résultats vérifient le modèle de Ghirlanda et collègues (2009) selon lequel les biais de latéralité au niveau populationnel auraient pour origine les interactions intraspécifiques. De plus, nos résultats confortent les études suggérant que la latéralité gestuelle serait un précurseur à la spécialisation hémisphérique gauche pour le langage

Captive chimpanzees’ manual laterality in tool use context: Influence of communication and of sociodemographic factors

International audienceUnderstanding variations of apes’ laterality between activities is a central issue when investigating the evolutionary origins of human hemispheric specialization of manual functions and language. We assessed laterality of 39 chimpanzees in a non-communication action similar to termite fishing that we compared with data on five frequent conspecific-directed gestures involving a tool previously exploited in the same subjects. We evaluated, first, population-level manual laterality for tool-use in non-communication actions; second, the influence of sociodemographic factors (age, sex, group, and hierarchy) on manual laterality in both non-communication actions and gestures. No significant right-hand bias at the population level was found for non-communication tool use, contrary to our previous findings for gestures involving a tool. A multifactorial analysis revealed that hierarchy and age particularly modulated manual laterality. Dominants and immatures were more right-handed when using a tool in gestures than in non-communication actions. On the contrary, subordinates, adolescents, young and mature adults as well as males were more right-handed when using a tool in non-communication actions than in gestures. Our findings support the hypothesis that some primate species may have a specific left-hemisphere processing gestures distinct from the cerebral system processing non-communication manual actions and to partly support the tool use hypothesis

Do Mechanical Effectiveness and Recipient Species Influence Intentional Signal Laterality in Captive Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)?

International audienceStudying the relationships between the directions of brain lateralization for handedness and language can shed light on mechanisms underlying hemispheric specialization for manipulation and signalling functions. We investigated the influence of manipulation and communication functions and of recipient species (conspecific- versus human-directed communication) on manual laterality in signalling context, taking several factors into account simultaneously. We assessed laterality in 39 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), including 4 manipulators (mechanically effective social actions used to get things done) and 18 gestures (mechanically ineffective social actions implying that the signaller takes the recipient’s response into account). We focused on the following factors: interactional context components (e.g., visual fields of both interactants), degree of use of signals (“rare” for signals performed by only a few subjects in the population or “common” for signals performed by many subjects), mechanical effectiveness, subjects’ sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., age and hierarchy), and recipient species. We found a significant population-level right-hand bias for one type of human-directed gesture (slap hand). Mechanical effectiveness influenced laterality: right-hand use was more pronounced for conspecific-directed gestures than for conspecific-directed manipulators. The laterality of conspecific-directed gestures overall did not differ from that of human-directed gestures. However, we found an indirect influence of recipient species on laterality as conspecific- and human-directed gestural lateralities were modulated differently by the position of the recipient in the signaller’s visual field and by signaller’s age. We hypothesize that the communication nature of gestures might have developed from manipulators. Manipulators may have contributed to the emergence and the evolution of the left-lateralized communication system in primates