Human can not causal logic operation decisions, although sometimes decision-making errors.But the freedom to choose ability has nothing to do with right or wrong, just the embodiment of the free will.According to reports in the science daily website on June 9, the United States and state university (UC), Davis center for mind and brain scientists to a new study suggests that man's free will probably from eeg background noise random fluctuations.Relevant papers, published online in the journal of cognitive neuroscience recently.
"How we act independently of the restriction of causal law? This shows that the brain has a random state, can significantly affect people's willingness to decision making." paper first author and a postdoctoral fellow at the center Jesse Bergson, explains that the brain has a normal level, "background noise" is a kind of brain electrical activity in the whole brain wave patterns.During their experiments, they can before the volunteers to make decisions, according to its electrical activity model to predict he is going to make decisions.
Bergson volunteers sat in front of the screen, and concentrate at the center of the screen, at the same time with an electroencephalogram (EEG) recording their brain activity.They let the volunteers to see screen signal hint, decide to left or right to look at, and then report their decisions.Appear on the screen to the left or right to see the tip is random, so volunteers could not prepare in advance.
, the researchers found that the eeg patterns can appear in the signal before 1 seconds or so, before volunteers realized that he made the decision, is to predict what they make decisions about the results."Before the advent of brain state signal, determines what do you want to look to the left or right." said Bergson.
This experiment is the 70 s, psychologists at the university of California San Francisco, Benjamin in beit based on an experiment, it was for volunteers to see signals according to a switch.Betty is in volunteers to detect electrical activity before making decisions.
The new results of this study is to establish a model to describe why brain activity can precede the decision.In addition, in the experiment of beit depends on the volunteers reported they make decisions, and in the new experiments, the time is random, it said "we know they don't make decisions in advance".
In beit experiment has raised the issue of free will, if before we realized that he is going to action, the brain is already ready for action, how can we make a conscious decision to do?But new research shows "electrical noise" may open export for free will.Bergson says, "it by inserting a random effects, allows us to get rid of the simple law of cause and effect."
