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People cooperate every day in ways that range from largescale contributions that mitigate climate change to simple actions such as leaving another individual with choice – known as social mindfulness. It is not yet clear whether and how these complex and more simple forms of cooperation relate. Prior work has found that countries with individuals who made more socially mindful choices were linked to a higher country environmental performance – a proxy for complex cooperation. Here we replicated this initial finding in 41 samples around the world, demonstrating the robustness of the association between social mindfulness and environmental performance, and substantially built on it to show this relationship extended to a wide range of complex cooperative indices, tied closely to many current societal issues. We found that greater social mindfulness expressed by an individual was related to living in countries with more social capital, more community participation and reduced prejudice towards immigrants. Our findings speak to the symbiotic relationship between simple and more complex forms of cooperation in societies.

What are the things that we think matter morally, and how do societal factors influence this? To date, research has explored several individual-level and historical factors that influence the size of our ‘moral circles.' There has, however, been less attention focused on which societal factors play a role. We present the first multi-national exploration of moral expansiveness—that is, the size of people’s moral circles across countries. We found low generalized trust, greater perceptions of a breakdown in the social fabric of society, and greater perceived economic inequality were associated with smaller moral circles. Generalized trust also helped explain the effects of perceived inequality on lower levels of moral inclusiveness. Other inequality indicators (i.e., Gini coefficients) were, however, unrelated to moral expansiveness. These findings suggest that societal factors, especially those associated with generalized trust, may influence the size of our moral circles.

What are the things that we think matter morally, and how do societal factors influence this? To date, research has explored several individual-level and historical factors that influence the size of our 'moral circles.' There has, however, been less attention focused on which societal factors play a role. We present the first multi-national exploration of moral expansiveness-that is, the size of people's moral circles across countries. We found low generalized trust, greater perceptions of a breakdown in the social fabric of society, and greater perceived economic inequality were associated with smaller moral circles. Generalized trust also helped explain the effects of perceived inequality on lower levels of moral inclusiveness. Other inequality indicators (i.e., Gini coefficients) were, however, unrelated to moral expansiveness. These findings suggest that societal factors, especially those associated with generalized trust, may influence the size of our moral circles.

What are the things that we think matter morally, and how do societal factors influence this? To date, research has explored several individual-level and historical factors that influence the size of our ‘moral circles.' There has, however, been less attention focused on which societal factors play a role. We present the first multi-national exploration of moral expansiveness—that is, the size of people’s moral circles across countries. We found low generalized trust, greater perceptions of a breakdown in the social fabric of society, and greater perceived economic inequality were associated with smaller moral circles. Generalized trust also helped explain the effects of perceived inequality on lower levels of moral inclusiveness. Other inequality indicators (i.e., Gini coefficients) were, however, unrelated to moral expansiveness. These findings suggest that societal factors, especially those associated with generalized trust, may influence the size of our moral circles.

The Aromanian Farsheroti Dialect – Balkan PerspectiveThe focus of our interest is the analysis of the Aromanian Farsheroti speech from the Ohrid-Struga region, which has never been a subject of a separate linguistic analysis. This speech is described in comparison to the Macedonian Ohrid-Struga dialects and special emphasis is given to their mutual interferences within the Balkan context. Using such approach, the parallel structures and the differences between these speeches are more clearly pointed out thus presenting a wider picture of the processes typical of the Balkan linguistic community. The efforts for drawing closer to a joint model that enables easier and straightforward communication were the most powerful with the linguistic features and categories that were in a way the most distinct and completely different. Both Aromanian Farsheroti and Macedonian Ohrid speeches adjusted to each other by using all available linguistic means not only from their own languages. For instance, the Aromanian Farsheroti speech has eliminated the case inflections for genitive / dative thus approaching closer to the analytical declination which is the case with the Macedonian language. Even for the complex past tenses from a present point of view can be argued that they outline an almost joint Albanian-Aromanian-Macedonian model. The Aromanian Farsheroti dialect, using its own and the borrowed Albanian linguistic characteristics, has created such model, whereas the Macedonian Ohrid speech, on the other hand, by adopting the constructions with imam (have) and sum (be), has filled the blanks in its own verbal tense system. The constructions showing admirative are another typical feature that the Aromanian has borrowed from the Albanian and has incorporated into the Macedonian system. All these instances show that the mutual interference was very strong and emerged deeply in the structure of the two systems. This is another proof of the great need for mutual conception of the wor

Macedonian Language from the Perspective of its Balkan Environment (Language Tendencies)In the past fifteen years, Macedonian standard language and its dialects have been subject to various changes effected for the purpose of establishing clearer and simpler communication. At dialectal level, Macedonian speeches are dissolving and fewer differences can be noticed between city and rural speeches. On the other hand, Macedonian contemporary language is subject to various changes and accelerated development both due to the dissolving of dialects and to the need of adaptation of the influences of foreign languages. Therefore, in this text, I shall attempt to portray two linguistic phenomena, that have not been researched much until now, but that have recently become more intense and which, in a way, show the tendencies in both dialects and contemporary Macedonian language. The first phenomenon that I shall portray is the increasingly present use of double prepositions in Ohrid speech, a phenomenon that has not yet been researched or initiated in the Balkan linguistic environment. The other phenomenon concerns contemporary language and portrays how language deals (in relation to the accommodation by type and tense) with the verbs of foreign origin. Język macedoński w bałkańskim kontekście językowym (tendencje językowe)W ostatnim piętnastoleciu zarówno macedoński standard, jak i dialekty podlegają zmianom, których kierunek wyznacza jasność i jednoznaczność procesu komunikacji. Na poziomie dialektów, język macedoński dzieli się i traci różnicę między miejskim i wiejskim wariantem. Z drugiej strony język macedoński podlega przemianom związanym z przyspieszonym rozwojem i dialektalną dyferencjacją z powodu konieczności adaptacji obcych wpływów. Z tego powodu w moim artykule staram się zaprezentować dwie tendencje językowe, mało dotąd zbadane, które są coraz bardziej widoczne zarówno na poziomie dialektów, jak i na poziomie współczesnego macedońskiego standardu. Pierwsza z nic

The control of object manipulation tasks involves the close interplay of predictive and reactive control mechanisms. For example, when lifting an object, people typically predict the weight based on object size and material as well as sensorimotor memory obtained from previous lifts of the object. When lifting objects with a precision grip, people increase vertical load force to a target level that slightly exceeds the predicted weight. When the object is heavier than expected, the mismatch between expected and actual tactile signals associated with lift-off triggers a corrective action within ~100 ms, that involves probing increases in load force that continue until the object is lifted. Here we investigated whether this correction action can be adaptively influenced by experience. Participants repeatedly lifted an object that was instrumented with force sensors to measure the forces applied by the fingertips, with weight that could be varied without the knowledge of the participant. In 80% of trials, the weight was set to 2 N and, in different blocks of 110 trials, the remaining 20 % of trials (2 trials randomly selected from each successive 10 trials) was set to either 4 or 6 N. We found that the rate of change of the reflexively triggered increase in load force that occurred in the 4 or 6 N trials, scaled with the additional weight. That is, following the initial increase in load force to ~2 N, the subsequent increase in load force was more rapid for the 6 N object than the 4 N object. In contrast, the onset time of the reactive increase in load force was independent of the additional weight. Finally, this adaptation of reactive load force control took place quickly and was evident after only a few lifts of the heavier weight. These results indicate that the reactive increases in load force that occur when a lifted object is heavier than expected can be adapted and tuned, to refine behavior. This further suggests that multiple predictions can be generated about, Thesis (Master, Neuroscience Studies) -- Queen's University, 2013-02-02 13:34:20.533

The Aromanian Farsheroti Dialect – Balkan PerspectiveThe focus of our interest is the analysis of the Aromanian Farsheroti speech from the Ohrid-Struga region, which has never been a subject of a separate linguistic analysis. This speech is described in comparison to the Macedonian Ohrid-Struga dialects and special emphasis is given to their mutual interferences within the Balkan context. Using such approach, the parallel structures and the differences between these speeches are more clearly pointed out thus presenting a wider picture of the processes typical of the Balkan linguistic community. The efforts for drawing closer to a joint model that enables easier and straightforward communication were the most powerful with the linguistic features and categories that were in a way the most distinct and completely different. Both Aromanian Farsheroti and Macedonian Ohrid speeches adjusted to each other by using all available linguistic means not only from their own languages. For instance, the Aromanian Farsheroti speech has eliminated the case inflections for genitive / dative thus approaching closer to the analytical declination which is the case with the Macedonian language. Even for the complex past tenses from a present point of view can be argued that they outline an almost joint Albanian-Aromanian-Macedonian model. The Aromanian Farsheroti dialect, using its own and the borrowed Albanian linguistic characteristics, has created such model, whereas the Macedonian Ohrid speech, on the other hand, by adopting the constructions with imam (have) and sum (be), has filled the blanks in its own verbal tense system. The constructions showing admirative are another typical feature that the Aromanian has borrowed from the Albanian and has incorporated into the Macedonian system. All these instances show that the mutual interference was very strong and emerged deeply in the structure of the two systems. This is another proof of the great need for mutual conception of the wor

The Aromanian Farsheroti Dialect – Balkan PerspectiveThe focus of our interest is the analysis of the Aromanian Farsheroti speech from the Ohrid-Struga region, which has never been a subject of a separate linguistic analysis. This speech is described in comparison to the Macedonian Ohrid-Struga dialects and special emphasis is given to their mutual interferences within the Balkan context. Using such approach, the parallel structures and the differences between these speeches are more clearly pointed out thus presenting a wider picture of the processes typical of the Balkan linguistic community. The efforts for drawing closer to a joint model that enables easier and straightforward communication were the most powerful with the linguistic features and categories that were in a way the most distinct and completely different. Both Aromanian Farsheroti and Macedonian Ohrid speeches adjusted to each other by using all available linguistic means not only from their own languages. For instance, the Aromanian Farsheroti speech has eliminated the case inflections for genitive / dative thus approaching closer to the analytical declination which is the case with the Macedonian language. Even for the complex past tenses from a present point of view can be argued that they outline an almost joint Albanian-Aromanian-Macedonian model. The Aromanian Farsheroti dialect, using its own and the borrowed Albanian linguistic characteristics, has created such model, whereas the Macedonian Ohrid speech, on the other hand, by adopting the constructions with imam (have) and sum (be), has filled the blanks in its own verbal tense system. The constructions showing admirative are another typical feature that the Aromanian has borrowed from the Albanian and has incorporated into the Macedonian system. All these instances show that the mutual interference was very strong and emerged deeply in the structure of the two systems. This is another proof of the great need for mutual conception of the wor

Macedonian Language from the Perspective of its Balkan Environment (Language Tendencies)In the past fifteen years, Macedonian standard language and its dialects have been subject to various changes effected for the purpose of establishing clearer and simpler communication. At dialectal level, Macedonian speeches are dissolving and fewer differences can be noticed between city and rural speeches. On the other hand, Macedonian contemporary language is subject to various changes and accelerated development both due to the dissolving of dialects and to the need of adaptation of the influences of foreign languages. Therefore, in this text, I shall attempt to portray two linguistic phenomena, that have not been researched much until now, but that have recently become more intense and which, in a way, show the tendencies in both dialects and contemporary Macedonian language. The first phenomenon that I shall portray is the increasingly present use of double prepositions in Ohrid speech, a phenomenon that has not yet been researched or initiated in the Balkan linguistic environment. The other phenomenon concerns contemporary language and portrays how language deals (in relation to the accommodation by type and tense) with the verbs of foreign origin. Język macedoński w bałkańskim kontekście językowym (tendencje językowe)W ostatnim piętnastoleciu zarówno macedoński standard, jak i dialekty podlegają zmianom, których kierunek wyznacza jasność i jednoznaczność procesu komunikacji. Na poziomie dialektów, język macedoński dzieli się i traci różnicę między miejskim i wiejskim wariantem. Z drugiej strony język macedoński podlega przemianom związanym z przyspieszonym rozwojem i dialektalną dyferencjacją z powodu konieczności adaptacji obcych wpływów. Z tego powodu w moim artykule staram się zaprezentować dwie tendencje językowe, mało dotąd zbadane, które są coraz bardziej widoczne zarówno na poziomie dialektów, jak i na poziomie współczesnego macedońskiego standardu. Pierwsza z nic