Attention, Representation, and Human Performance

This volume presents a rare occasion where scholars from Europe, North Africa and North America share their research programs and findings revolving around an important theme: integration. Despite different research foci and methodologies, there is a strong consensus that we need to understand a psychological phenomenon in all its complexity, involving its neural, psychological, and social dimensions, involving perception and conception, and decision processes, involving motivation, emotion, and cognition – all in complex interaction.

This volume is intended to reach out to basic and applied psychological researchers, cognitive and affective scientists, learning scientists, biologists, sociologists, neuropsychological researchers, and philosophers, who have an interest in an integrated understanding of the mind at work, particularly pertaining to explanations of real-life phenomena that have social and practical significance. A distinct feature of this volume is that most research involved is heavily built on neuropsychological evidence, while loyal to the experimental tradition with its focus on functional behavior in various situations and conditions that mimic or resemble real life. The viability of this approach to doing cutting-edge research that is relevant and applicable to many real-life phenomena should also make this body of research useful for a wide range of human endeavor, from religion, education, to industrial and organizational psychology.

Slim Masmoudi received his Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from the University Lumière Lyon 2 (France) and is Assistant Professor at the University of Tunis, where he teaches and studies perception, problem-solving, reasoning, decision-making, and creativity in close relationship with the conceptual structures and semantic memory. His current research covers the different regulation and modulation effects of emotion and motivation on these cognitive functions. He was the coordinator of the "conceptual change" research team in EDIPS Laboratory (HS04), and is currently a member of the "Cognition and Learning" team. He co-chaired the first two international conferences of cognitive psychology cem07 and Cem09 held in Tunisia. He co-edited the book entitled Du percept à la Décision: Integration de la Cognition, l’Emotion et la Motivation (From Percept To Decision: Integrating of Cognition, Emotion and Motivation) published by Deboeck (2010) and the book entitled Cognition, Emotion et Motivation: Intégrer … Mieux expliquer la performance (Cognition, Emotion and Motivation: integrating … to better explain performance) published by CNIPRE (2008). He has in press the translation of Understanding Motivation and Emotion by Johnmarshall Reeve with Deboeck. He has published many book chapters and journal articles.

David Yun Dai is an associate professor of educational psychology and methodology at University at Albany, State University of New York. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from Purdue University and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, and an assistant professor of psychology at Central Missouri State University before joining the faculty of the University at Albany in 2001. He has published five books and over 60 journal articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries, and book reviews in general psychology, educational psychology, and gifted education. He was a Fulbright Scholar to China during 2008-2009, and the recipient of the Early Scholar Award from the National Association for Gifted Children in 2006.

Abdelmajid Naceur received his Ph.D. at the University Bielefeld, Germany and he is currently Assistant Professor at the University Tunis, where he teaches cognitive psychology, psychology of learning and decision making. He coordinates the "Cognition and Learning" research team in EDIPS Laboratory. He is head of the Department of Educational Sciences. His current main areas of research interests are related to the interaction between cognition and emotion, and especially to the role of affect in information processing and cognitive models in emotional processing. He co-edited the Book Du percept à la Décision: Integration de la Cognition, l’Emotion et la Motivation (From Percept To Decision: Integrating of Cognition, Emotion and Motivation) published by Deboeck (2010). He co-organized the first two international conferences of cognitive psychology in Tunisia cem07 and Cem09.