Miscellaneous Chatter > Philosophy & Science
Neural precursors of deliberate and arbitrary decisions in the study of voluntar
sciborg2:
Neural precursors of deliberate and arbitrary decisions in the study of voluntary action
--- Quote ---Abstract
The readiness potential (RP)—a key ERP correlate of upcoming action—is known to precede subjects’ reports of their decision to move. Some view this as evidence against a causal role for consciousness in human decision-making and thus against free-will. Yet those studies focused on arbitrary decisions—purposeless, unreasoned, and without consequences. It remains unknown to what degree the RP generalizes to deliberate, more ecological decisions. We directly compared deliberate and arbitrary decision-making during a $1000-donation task to non-profit organizations. While we found the expected RPs for arbitrary decisions, they were strikingly absent for deliberate ones. Our results and drift-diffusion model are congruent with the RP representing accumulation of noisy, random fluctuations that drive arbitrary—but not deliberate—decisions. They further point to different neural mechanisms underlying deliberate and arbitrary decisions, challenging the generalizability of studies that argue for no causal role for consciousness in decision-making to real-life decisions.
Significance Statement:
The extent of human free will has been debated for millennia. Previous studies demonstrated that neural precursors of action—especially the readiness potential—precede subjects’ reports of deciding to move. Some viewed this as evidence against free-will. However, these experiments focused on arbitrary decisions—e.g., randomly raising the left or right hand. We directly compared deliberate (actual $1000 donations to NPOs) and arbitrary decisions, and found readiness potentials before arbitrary decisions, but—critically—not before deliberate decisions. This supports the interpretation of readiness potentials as byproducts of accumulation of random fluctuations in arbitrary but not deliberate decisions and points to different neural mechanisms underlying deliberate and arbitrary choice. Hence, it challenges the generalizability of previous results from arbitrary to deliberate decisions.
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TLEILAXU:
Haven't read it (and not going to for a few days coz' busy) but let me just say that I'm happy to see biorxiv links brought up here!
H:
To say that I barely understand the full implication here would be vastly charitable, but I'll venture out on the limb and say this might imply that consciousness is a sort of meditative "agent" in "deliberate decisions."
So, when one thinks, and thinks about thinking, and then acts on that thinking, consciousness does seem to have a role. So, in this way, perhaps this is the point of consciousness? A recursive, "calculus" of sorts, to mediate (and influence) the notion of "future" to the notion of action?
sciborg2:
--- Quote from: H on March 20, 2019, 04:01:50 pm ---To say that I barely understand the full implication here would be vastly charitable, but I'll venture out on the limb and say this might imply that consciousness is a sort of meditative "agent" in "deliberate decisions."
So, when one thinks, and thinks about thinking, and then acts on that thinking, consciousness does seem to have a role. So, in this way, perhaps this is the point of consciousness? A recursive, "calculus" of sorts, to mediate (and influence) the notion of "future" to the notion of action?
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If by consciousness you mean a metaphysically neutral extended decision making process then yeah if replicated it would be an indication of such.
If you mean something specifically not under Physicalism then I suspect the answer - without saying anything affirming or denying metaphysics - no dice. I say this b/c one of the long standing critics of Libet-type experiments is the physicalist/materialist Daniel Dennet.
H:
--- Quote from: sciborg2 on March 20, 2019, 06:19:58 pm ---
--- Quote from: H on March 20, 2019, 04:01:50 pm ---To say that I barely understand the full implication here would be vastly charitable, but I'll venture out on the limb and say this might imply that consciousness is a sort of meditative "agent" in "deliberate decisions."
So, when one thinks, and thinks about thinking, and then acts on that thinking, consciousness does seem to have a role. So, in this way, perhaps this is the point of consciousness? A recursive, "calculus" of sorts, to mediate (and influence) the notion of "future" to the notion of action?
--- End quote ---
If by consciousness you mean a metaphysically neutral extended decision making process then yeah if replicated it would be an indication of such.
If you mean something specifically not under Physicalism then I suspect the answer - without saying anything affirming or denying metaphysics - no dice. I say this b/c one of the long standing critics of Libet-type experiments is the physicalist/materialist Daniel Dennet.
--- End quote ---
The heart of the matter being, of course, that I am not sure what I am saying.
It's unclear to me if the sort of recursive thing would not just be another layer of physicalism. In that sense, I don't know that it would be outside, say, the chain of cause and effect. However, it does rely then on something non-physical, which is mental representation. Which, the basis of is likely physical in some sense, but the content of which is not. So, I don't know what that would count as.
In a nut shell, I should probably let the adults talk about this...
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