In my last blog I shared perspectives of neuroscientists who adhere to the materialist view of free will, referred to as determinism, specifically that one’s free will really does not exist but emanates from the brain! I will share a review by Bahar Gholipour of studies by Aaron Schurger, a researcher at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research in Paris, France. Her review appeared in The Atlantic in September, 2019. First, some background. I will subsequently post a series of blogs addressing this important review.
A landmark and well known study conducted by Benjamin LIbet was interpreted to be a genuine argument against free will. His interpretation became shared by a majority of neuroscientists and philosophers who believed that humans are not authors of their actions and decisions. Libet’s study was based on his observations of the readiness potential, or Bereitschaftspotential, first described by two German scientists in 1964. The purpose of their experiment was to search for neural signals in study participants’ brains that preceded finger taps made at whatever irregular intervals they selected. Brain waves were observed in the milliseconds leading up to the finger taps. It was an almost undetectable wave that appeared for about a second before each tap. This wave was called the Bereitschaftsdpotentail, or the readiness potential. The investigators believed they could see the brain readying itself to create a voluntary movement.
It was this wave that Libet studied and used “to make the case . . . that the brain shows signs of a decision before a person acts, but that, incredibly, the brain’s wheels start turning before the person even consciously intends to do something.” Gholipour stated that “It would be quite an achievement for a brain signal 100 times smaller that major brain waves to solve the problem of free will. . . . the Bereitschaftspotential has one more twist: It might be something else entirely.” Please read on.