"Neuroscience is a newcomer to the field of free will. What are exactly the kind of questions that are worth asking? What different kinds of experiments that can say something about conscious and unconscious decisions can help us be more modest in what we realize we can control, and what we can't? Generally, humans have a sense that they control themselves and sometimes their environment more than they do."
"You don't try to control every contraction of every muscle in your hand. And if you did try to control that, well, good luck to you. Because if you try to concentrate exactly on how it is that you're walking, it's even hard to walk. So there are certain places in the brain that if you stimulate there, a person begins to laugh. You ask them, wait, why are you laughing? And they say, oh, I just remembered this really funny joke."
Neuroscience and philosophy examine how unconscious brain processes shape decisions that feel conscious. Brain experiments reveal that people routinely overestimate their control and that many motor actions and responses are not consciously initiated. Attempts to consciously control fine or automatic movements can impede performance, such as walking. Electrical stimulation of particular brain regions can elicit behaviors while the brain rapidly constructs plausible explanations for them. These findings indicate an illusion of conscious control and highlight limits on voluntary agency. Mindfulness techniques and conceptual analysis can reframe perception and encourage modest recalibration of beliefs about personal control and free will.
Read at Big Think
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