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Observed reaching speed signals stimulus value and informs foraging
No full textOptimal foraging requires agents to strike a balance between potential costs and rewards of interacting with stimuli in the environment. Research on human and animal foraging shows that the value an agent assigns to a stimulus is correlated with the speed of their reaching movement towards that stimulus (Shadmehr et al., 2019). Humans and other animals learn about the value of stimuli in their environment by observing others acting (Pyke, 1984; Boyd, Richerson & Henrich, 2011). Considering that humans are able to derive specific mental states such as intentions, emotions or confidence from specific movement parameters (Becchio et al., 2012), we aimed to investigate whether observers can use an actor's movement speed to: 1) infer the value of a foraging stimulus; and 2) use such cues to inform their own foraging behavior. The current study first replicated the effect of stimulus value on reaching movements in a novel foraging task (Exp. 1, N = 34). In three further experiments, we demonstrate that, depending on the speed by which an actor reaches for stimuli, observers infer the value of these stimuli (Exp. 2, N = 54), express foraging preferences (Exp. 3, N = 54), and invest time and effort to forage (Exp. 4, N = 105). This demonstrates that observers optimize their own explore-exploit decisions by inferring the value of a stimulus from the manner by which an actor approaches it, highlighting the fundamental role that action understanding plays in successful foraging
Holistic care economies:Degrowth ways of provisioning and the Global East
No full textThis chapter in the Routledge Handbook of Degrowth (2025) introduces a degrowth understanding of holistic care economies as multi-dimensional economic systems. Such systems centre on the interconnected practices of care that sustain both human and non-human life. As an essential building block, collective provisioning systems make basic services and infrastructure available to meet all people's basic needs. Various proposals for such systems have been put forward recently, including for a Foundational Economy, Universal Basic Services and Unconditional Autonomy Allowance. This chapter briefly discusses these three approaches, then draws on literature and experience from the former state-socialist Global East and their respective provisioning systems. It argues that, with a critical mindset, a deeper engagement with the legacy of the Global East, for example in terms of basic infrastructure design and planning, (experiential) knowledge and prefigurative practices, can inform and inspire degrowth approaches. While it can be a messy endeavour, learning from the contradictions and dysfunctions of collective provisioning infrastructures in the Global East is needed to enhance decolonial degrowth scholarship and help design future resilient, sustainable and holistically caring economies - for all
Investment Migration in Europe and the World:Current Issues
No full textOver the past decades a growing number of countries have offered citizenship or residence in return for a donation or investment. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of this phenomenon, this open access collection examines its legal, political, and conceptual implications. The volume consists of four parts. The first part documents recent trends in investment migration and seeks to understand its implications for our understanding of the concept of citizenship. The second part provides a legal and normative assessment of investment migration, from the perspective of both EU and international law. The third part presents case studies of investment migration practices in countries from around the world, including from jurisdictions that have so far remained under-researched. The fourth part deals with the specific EU legal-political context and also engages with the case launched by the European Commission against Malta. The book assembles the leading experts in the field and offers a rigorous and balanced analysis of this sometimes controversial field
When Illiberals Govern:Educational and Cultural Policies in Hungary and Poland
No full textIlliberal governments have been widely associated with democratic backsliding, the erosion of the rule of law, and executive aggrandisement. However, their impact on the various domains of knowledge production has not received enough scholarly attention. Through what policies do illiberal actors ensure the reproduction of their narratives? Do illiberal political leaders see education and culture as ideological vehicles, or do they consider them as arenas for power distribution? The article addresses these questions through the educational and cultural policy changes in two crucial cases of illiberals in power: post-2010 Hungary and 2015–2023 Poland. The article distinguishes between overt and hidden policy agendas, i.e., initiatives and aspirations that are driven by values and social or economic goals vs. policies serving purposes that cannot be openly represented. Through the analysis of legislative changes, party programs, and party discourse, complemented with semi-structured expert interviews, the study finds that despite sharing similar policy agendas, Fidesz and PiS considerably differ in the extent to which they transformed educational and cultural policies during their reign. While the main feature of educational and cultural policies in Hungary has been radical political power concentration, these policies in Poland rather served the ideological goals of the illiberal culture war. The article concludes that these differences were caused by the latitude afforded to these parties by their respective legislative majorities, indicating that whether illiberals have a supermajority in parliament influences the extent to which they can abuse their power
Medicalization of Death and Dying in Post-War Hungary and the Netherlands.:Taboo and Transparency in Legal Thinking
No full textMedicalization of death and dying after World War II represented a significant shift in both Eastern and Western Europe, with implications for medical law and ethics. Death and dying became subjects of medical decisions and interventions. Increasingly, death occurred in hospitals and was preceded by various medical procedures aimed at prolonging life, sometimes artificially. Along with the process of medicalization, families and communities became less involved in the last phase of their loved ones’ lives. In this paper, we explore the repercussions of this process in two post-war societies that took very different paths in addressing doctors’ involvement in end-of-life decisions: Hungary and the Netherlands. The Netherlands is widely known for granting access to physician-assisted dying, including euthanasia and assisted suicide, following decades of legal cases, empirical reports, and legislative changes. In Hungary, although the issue has surfaced repeatedly in public discussions, it still constitutes a medical and legal taboo. Patient autonomy in Hungary developed much later and the legal progress has stagnated since 1997. Patients can refuse certain types of treatment, but only through a bureaucratic procedure. To understand the sharp contrast between the current laws in the two countries, we trace and compare legal developments and ethical thinking in both jurisdictions. We examine changes in the approach to the patient-doctor relationship, the role of information disclosure, patient autonomy, transparency, and the obstacles to these. Our analysis shows that striking the right balance between doctors’ professional responsibilities and patients’ rights remains a challenge in both countries
