Science & Technology

Is the concept of 'free will' an illusion ?

By T.K. Randall
June 23, 2014

Image: Inside My Head
Credit: Andrew Mason / CC BY 2.0 (adapted) As a species we like to believe that our actions are governed by our own decisions and that we have the ability to make autonomous choices as we see fit. Some believe however that the very concept of free will is nothing but an illusion.

Scientists at the Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California have recently discovered that the choices we make may actually be influenced by the background activity of the brain.Their findings were based on an experiment in which volunteers were asked to look at a screen before making a decision whether to look left or right. What the researchers found was that it was possible to predict which choice any given person would make by observing their brain activity even before they had actually made a decision.

"The state of the brain right before presentation of the cue determines whether you will attend to the left or to the right," said Dr Jesse Bengson. "[Though] purposeful intentions, desires and goals drive our decisions in a linear cause-and-effect kind of way, our finding shows that our decisions are also influenced by neural noise within any given moment."

Source: Independent

Tags: Free Will, Brain