Alain Trognon

Organization of turn-taking and mechanisms for turn-taking repairs in a chaired meeting

Abstract In their famous article published in 1974, Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson studied the organization of turn-taking in conversations, and proposed a model alleged to be both context- and content- independent. However, they evoke specific exchange formats where the system of rules in effect is obviously not the one described in the model. These include meetings, interviews, debates, and ceremonies, to which we might add, among other things, speech exchanges in the school or in a legal environment. Some of these formats have since been described, namely, classroom conversation (Sinclair and Coulthard 1975; Coulthard 1977; McHoul 1978). But as Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson also state, the turn-taking system in effect in informal conversations may be a central component of the one that governs more formal interactions, such that the formal system would in some sense have an additional set of secondary-level features not contained in the informal system and that different turn-taking systems [may be] involved (Sacks et al. 1974: 701). The present article attempts to demonstrate this by studying the turn-taking sequence of a political meeting. After presenting an excerpt of the meeting, we shall first briefly summarize the rules governing turn-taking in ordinary conversations in order to examine (1) how the rules are modified in this particular context, and (2) how the participants orient themselves with respect to those rules. We shall see that this particular turn-taking system, hereafter called the specific system, generates conversational problems of its own and provides strategic opportunities for the meetings participants.

Contextual Determination of Human Thinking: About Some Conceptual and Methodological Obstacles in Psychology Studies.

This theoretical paper discusses some conceptual and methodological obstacles that one encounters when analyzing the contextual determination of thinking in psychology. First, we comment upon the various representations of the ‘cognitive’ individual that have been formed over the years – from the epistemic subject to the psychological subject, and finally, to the psychosocial actor. Second, we recall the main criticisms of ‘methodological solipsism’ found in cognitive psychology research, and we discuss heuristic methods for analyzing the contextual determination of thinking in psychological studies. Finally, we propose an analysis of some data using the approach based on interlocutory logic as a way to formalize reasoning moves and their transformations in the unfolding interaction.

Healing gardens and cognitive behavioral units in the management of Alzheimer's disease patients: the Nancy experience.

The French Alzheimer Plan 2008-2012 anticipates the implementation of new Units specialized in cognitive rehabilitation and psycho-behavioral therapy of Alzheimers disease (AD) patients. Conceived for AD and other dementia patients of all ages, their objectives are to propose a cognitive rehabilitation program, to prevent or treat psycho-behavioral crises, and to provide support and educational therapy to the family and professional caregivers, in order to ease the patients return to his or her previous way of life. Studies on green spaces and healing gardens in health-care settings have revealed objective and measurable improvements in the patients well-being. The Plan officially stipulates for the first time the need to make healing gardens an integral part of these Units, but it does not provide specific recommendations or criteria for implementing such gardens. Although green spaces and gardens are available in many French Care Units, they are rarely specifically adapted to the needs of AD patients. In Nancy, the Art, Memory and Life garden, a specific concept guided by a neuropsychological approach, was developed and complemented by an artistic vision based on cultural invariants. The main objective of this article is to describe the various steps of the process that led to the creation of this garden: the collection of experiences and information by a pilot group, surveys of patients, visitors, and caregivers before and after establishment of the garden, and implementation of a multi-professional group project. The specifications, the organizational criteria, the therapeutic project, and the criteria for the conception of such a garden stemming from our clinical experience with the Art, Memory and Life garden in Nancy, are described herein. We also present the first assessment following the implementation of the project.

Ergonomie cognitive d’un conseil génétique pour le test présymptomatique de maladie de Huntington

Resume Dans cet article, nous analysons l’activite d’une equipe pluridisciplinaire en consultation medicale predictive. Plus precisement, nous etudions deux interactions qui se deroulent entre une personne asymptomatique qui demande un test predictif de maladie de Huntington et deux medecins successivement. Nous mettons a jour les processus en jeu dans ce rapport de face a face et nous demontrons l’echec de la tentative des professionnels a agir sur la conviction, ou la rationalite personnelle, de la consultante vis-a-vis du risque genetique. Nous montrons ainsi que les pratiques communicationnelles engendrees par la medecine moderne sont delicates et gouvernees par des processus qui en sont independants.

Correspondence Between Evert Willem Beth and Jean Piaget (1951–1955)

Today’s logic has gradually moved away from a natural logic and the scientific community largely accepts logical pluralism. At the same time, psychology has more or less abandoned his references to classical logic in order to theorize its experimental results. Finally, the demand for collaboration between the two disciplines is becoming more and more up to date, without to be realized. As part of an effort to understand the scope of such cooperation, the present study assessed Piaget’s and Beth’s attempt in the early 1950s to bring psychology and logic together by using the approach of genetic epistemology. The edition of their correspondence gave us an insight in the circularity of Piaget’s historical account of genetic epistemology with respect to logic: Piaget observed empirically an isomorphism between the ‘pre-propositional logic’ of the general coordination of actions and a certain part of formal logic. He then established the psychological development of this part of formal logic. But, in fact, the study of the pre-propositional operations expected to be the basis of some intuitive simple logical structures was itself governed by a complex logical structure. The implications of these results for developing a pragmatic version of epistemology are discussed in this paper.

Analyse interlocutoire d’une plainte exprimée par une équipe mobile de soins palliatifs

Resume Dans cet article, les auteurs presentent la construction collaborative d’une plainte exprimee par une equipe de soins placee en situation d’interaction entre deux passations individuelles (pre-test/post-test) du Questionnaire de Climat d’Entreprise (QCE). L’analyse de l’interdiscours realisee avec la logique interlocutoire met en evidence la syntaxe de cette elaboration ainsi que le tissage d’une representation de leur situation professionnelle par les participants, tous membres d’une equipe mobile de soins palliatifs d’un centre hospitalier.

Etude des Facteurs psychosociaux, du burnout, de la Vigueur et des troubles musculosquelettiques chez les soignants hospitaliers

Resume Alors que cohabitent chez les soignants hospitaliers, les facteurs psychosociaux, le burnout et les troubles musculosquelettiques, l’originalite de cette etude consiste a evaluer leurs liens dans une perspective ergonomique. Avec un questionnaire construit a partir des theories de Karasek (1990) et Siegrist (1996) pour les facteurs psychosociaux, de Shirom (2004) pour le Burnout et la vigueur et de Kuorinka (1987) pour les troubles musculosquelettiques, auquel ont repondu 176 infirmier(e)s et aides-soignant(e)s hospitalier(e)s francais(e)s, nous proposons un modele theorique predictif du burnout et de la douleur ressentie.

L’équipe paramédicale à l’hôpital psychiatrique : Retentissement actuel d’une évolution de deux décennies Analyse d’un entretien de supervision

Resume A l’aube de la reforme de la formation des infirmiers en France, ce travail tente de faire le point sur l’evolution de l’exercice de l’infirmier et de l’insertion des aides-soignants dans les services d’hospitalisation psychiatrique. Postulant que l’interaction est une interface ouverte sur l’individu d’un cote et sur les systemes collectifs de l’autre, les auteurs abordent leur etude par l’analyse d’un entretien de supervision d’une equipe soignante d’une institution hospitaliere psychiatrique.

Conversing as Metaphor of Human Thinking: Is Mind like a Conversation?

How can researchers shape their ideas so that they understand the mind better? This theoretical paper discusses the merits of the conversation metaphor as a means of analyzing the human mind. We will develop arguments concerning conversation as i) a situated and distributed activity, ii) a “product” in perpetual construction, and iii) the amount of credence and belief we afford it. Finally, we will advocate for metaphorical tools that promote a more dynamic conceptualization of human thinking.

Vers une clinique de la temporalité

The discovery of time cells has expanded our knowledge in the field of spatial and temporal information coding and the key role of the hippocampus. The internal clock model complemented with the attentional gate model allows a more in-depth understanding of the perception of time. The motor representation of duration is ensured by the basal ganglia, while the cerebellum synchronizes short duration for the movement. The right prefrontal cortex seemingly intervenes in the handling of temporal information in working memory. The temporal lobe ensures the comparison of durations, especially the right lobe for the reference durations and the medial lobe for the reproduction of durations in episodic memory. During normal aging, the hypothesis of slowing of the temporal processor is evoked when noting the perception of the acceleration of the passage of time that seemingly occurs with advancing age. The various studies pertaining specifically to time cognition, albeit heterogeneous in terms of methodology, attest to the wide-ranging disturbances of this cognitive field during the course of numerous disorders, whether psychiatric - depression and schizophrenia notably - or neurological. Hence, perturbations in temporality are observed in focal brain lesions and in subcortical disorders, such as Parkinsons disease or Huntingtons chorea. Alzheimers disease represents a particularly fertile field of exploration with regard to time cognition and temporality. The objectified deconstruction of temporal experience provides insights into the very processes of temporality and their nature: episodic, semantic and procedural. In addition to exploration based on elementary stimuli, one should also consider the time lived, i.e. that of the subject, to better understand cognition as it relates to time. While the temporal dimension permeates the whole cognitive field, it remains largely neglected: integration of a genuine time cognition and temporality clinic in daily practice remains to be implemented.