• Neuroinformatics
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High levels of trait impulsivity are considered a risk factor for substance abuse and drug addiction. We recently found that non-planning trait impulsivity was negatively correlated with post-commissural putamen volumes in men, but not women, using the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP). Here, we attempted to replicate this finding in an independent sample using an updated version of the KSP: the Swedish Universities Scales of Personality (SSP). Data from 88 healthy male participants (Mean Age: 28.16 +/- 3.34), who provided structural T1-weighted magnetic resonance images (MRIs) and self-reported SSP impulsivity scores, were analyzed. Striatal sub-region volumes were acquired using the Multiple Automatically Generated Templates (MAGeT-Brain) algorithm. Contrary to our previous findings trait impulsivity measured using SSP was not a significant predictor of post-commissural putamen volumes (beta = .14, df = 84, p = .94). A replication Bayes Factors analysis strongly supported this null result. Consistent with our previous findings, secondary exploratory analyses found no relationship between ventral striatum volumes and SSP trait impulsivity (beta = -.05, df = 84, p = .28). An exploratory analysis of the other striatal compartments showed that there were no significant associations with trait impulsivity. While we could not replicate our previous findings in the current sample, we believe this work will aide future studies aimed at establishing meaningful brain biomarkers for addiction vulnerability in healthy humans.

Sexual minority adolescents (SMA) are more likely to suffer from depression, putatively through experiences of social stress and victimization interfering with processing of social reward. Alterations in neural reward networks, which develop during adolescence, confer risk for the development of depression. Employing both social and monetary reward fMRI tasks, this is the first neuroimaging study to examine function in reward circuitry as a potential mechanism of mental health disparities between SMA and heterosexual adolescents. Eight SMA and 38 heterosexual typically developing adolescents completed self-report measures of depression and victimization, and underwent fMRI during monetary and peer social reward tasks in which they received positive monetary or social feedback, respectively. Compared with heterosexual adolescents, SMA had greater interpersonal depressive symptoms and exhibited blunted neural responses to social, but not monetary, reward in socioaffective processing regions that are associated with depressive symptoms. Specifically, compared with heterosexual adolescents, SMA exhibited decreased activation in the right medial prefrontal cortex, left anterior insula (AI), and right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) in response to being liked. Lower response in the right TPJ was associated with greater interpersonal depressive symptoms. These results suggest that interpersonal difficulties and the underlying substrates of response to social reward (perhaps more so than response to monetary reward) may confer risk for development of depressive symptoms in SMA.

The perception of eye-gaze is thought to be a key component of our everyday social interactions. While the neural correlates of direct and averted gaze processing have been investigated, there is little consensus about how these gaze directions may be processed differently as a function of the task being performed. In a within-subject design, we examined how perception of direct and averted gaze affected performance on tasks requiring participants to use directly available facial cues to infer the individuals' emotional state (emotion discrimination), direction of attention (attention discrimination) and gender (gender discrimination). Neural activity was recorded throughout the three tasks using EEG, and ERPs time-locked to face onset were analyzed. Participants were most accurate at discriminating emotions with direct gaze faces, but most accurate at discriminating attention with averted gaze faces, while gender discrimination was not affected by gaze direction. At the neural level, direct and averted gaze elicited different patterns of activation depending on the task over frontal sites, from approximately 220-290 ms. More positive amplitudes were seen for direct than averted gaze in the emotion discrimination task. In contrast, more positive amplitudes were seen for averted gaze than for direct gaze in the gender discrimination task. These findings are among the first direct evidence that perceived gaze direction modulates neural activity differently depending on task demands, and that at the behavioral level, specific gaze directions functionally overlap with emotion and attention discrimination, precursors to more elaborated theory of mind processes.

Dans nos sociétés, l’individu et l’individualité constituent le socle de la citoyenneté : pas de citoyenneté sans individualité, la citoyenne ou le citoyen est d’abord une ou un individu. Or, dans les philosophies sociales et politiques qui sont au principe de la définition des sociétés modernes, le rapport à l’individualité n’est pas conçu de la même façon pour les hommes et pour les femmes. L’auteure se penche sur les fondements du rapport entre individualité et citoyenneté en adoptant une lecture sexuée, ce retour pouvant éclairer les enjeux qui nourrissent le rapport hommes-femmes dans les démocraties modernes. In our societies, individual and individuality are basic to citizenship : there is no citizen without individuality; the citizen is an individual. However, within social and political philosophy that defines modern societies, relation to individuality is thought differently for men and women. This article explores the foundation of the relation between individuality and citizenship, choosing a gendered interpretation. This exercise throws new light on stakes that nourish the men-women relation in modern democracies.

International audience; Despite the growing public concern in recent years about the place of women in business, gender diversity in corporate governance has made little progress. As a consequence, the issue has captured the attention of policymakers throughout the world.Several countries are currently adopting or considering the adoption of laws or regulations to promote gender diversity on corporate boards. The purpose of this paper is to compare the effectiveness of using legislative or regulatory means to increase female representation instead of allowing firms to voluntarily fix their own non legally binding targets. We find that the relation between gender diversity and performance is positive in countries using the voluntary approach while it is negative in countries using the regulatory approach. We conclude that public policy aimed at increasing the number of women on corporate boards should be introduced gradually and voluntarily rather than quickly and coercively to avoid sub-optimal board composition.

Depuis 30 ans, les femmes, en France, ont été proportionnellement plus nombreuses à gouverner qu'à légiférer. Cette situation paradoxale renvoie à la particularité des institutions de la Ve République. Le rappel historique de la présence des femmes au gouvernement permet de typer les différentes phases de l'évolution et de repérer les variables clés qui expliquent leur autonomisation (empowerment) au sein de l'exécutif. Le questionnement de l'auteure porte sur les viviers d'où sont issues les femmes nommées ministres et sur les ressources politiques dont elles bénéficient. La légitimité des Françaises en politique, même dans un régime présidentialiste, passe obligatoirement par leur entrée au Parlement à parité avec les hommes. For the past 30 years, there have been far more French women in government than in parliament. This paradox can be explained by the specific nature of institutions in the Fifth Republic. After a reminder of the main stages in the development of this situation, the article points out key variables for the empowerment of women within the executive. It also concentrates on the main recruitment channels for female Ministers and the political resources they can rely on. Even within a presidential regime, the legitimacy of French women in politics can only be established through parity in numbers with male members of parliament.

In "Changer de différence, Le féminin et la question philosophique" published by Galilée in 2009, Catherine Malabou declares that philosophy is a woman's grave. And during a conference held at the Sorbonne in December 2008 these were Carole Dely's words: "de la philosophie et derechef qu'elle fait ma-â-l-e" (a play on the French words mal: harm or pain, and mâle: male). In the case of Nietzsche, it is difficult to dissociate intention from style, and the "woman question" from pudeur (a term that has no direct equivalent in English, but is often translated as modesty or a sense of shame). Thus Jacques Derrida and Sarah Kofman manage to divert the accusation of misogyny that has been directed against him. Dans "Changer de différence. Le féminin et la question philosophique" publié chez Galilée en 2009, Catherine Malabou déclare que la philosophie est le tombeau de la femme. Et Carole Dely lors d’une conférence en Sorbonne, en décembre 2008, posait la question : « De la philosophie, et derechef qu’elle fait ma-â-l-e ? ». Dans le cas de Nietzsche, il est difficile de dissocier le propos du style, et la « question de la femme » de celle de la pudeur. C’est ainsi qu’à son sujet, Jacques Derrida et Sarah Kofman parviennent à déplacer l’accusation de misogynie.