An amusing fact for September 1, 2014 from Justin Kitch, Curious CEO Philosophers have forever debated the idea of free will, and whether human beings are able to make unconstrained choices. While it seems obvious we have the ability to make choices independently of cause and effect, whether or not we actually do remains heavily debated. But neuroscientists are now saying our ability to make choices, and sometimes mistakes, might simply arise from random background noise in our brains. Their research shows that the arbitrary state of our brain before a decision is made can influence and predict our decisions. Volunteers sat in front of a screen, and were asked to look left or right when a symbol appeared on the screen, while having their brain activity monitored. The symbols appeared at random intervals so the volunteers could not prepare for them. The team found patterns in the brain’s background noise in the second or so before the symbol appeared on the screen. And before the volunteers even knew they were going to make a decision, the likely outcome of the decision could be predicted.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 11:50:29 +0000
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