volitie Flashcards

1
Q

What is volition?

A

we have the capacity to voluntarily bring about change in the outside world through our own actions

by acting on the world we can make things happen

volition is the capacity to act voluntarily or act freely

The act of making a conscious choice or decision.

capacity for voluntary action
The will

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2
Q

what are the brain systems that enable us to purposefully interact with the world

A

the primary motor cortex (M1)
-the end point of the motor system

all inputs involved in the generation of voluntary action end up in primary motor cortex

all neural signals that are involved in generating movement end up in the primary motor cortex

the primary motor cortex executes motor commands by sending them to the spinal cord and the muscles - that triggers movement of the muscles

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3
Q

somatotopic organisation of the primary motor cortex

A

the primary motor cortex is organised somatotopically - different parts of the motor cortex control different parts of the body

the hands and the face have lots of motor cortex dedicated to them because there are many muscles in these body parts and the movements performed by these body parts are sophisticated

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4
Q

2 primary sources of input to M1: subcortical pathway

A

subcortical pathway which is involved with the internal generation of action - actions that are triggered by internal goals or intentions that we may have

signals originate in the basal ganglia (a collection of nuclei deep within the brain)
these signals are sent to prefrontal cortices and pre-supplementary motor area

these signals are passed on to the supplementary motor area before finally arriving at M1

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5
Q

2 primary sources of input to M1: parietal inputs

A

concerned with sensory guided movements

primary somatosensory cortex signals originate then move to parietal cortices and then premotor cortexes before ending up in M1

Involved in movements such as objects orientated action, grasping objects, reaching for objects

actions where you have to use current sensory input to guide actions

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6
Q

what role does consciousness play in the performance of voulntary action

A

we feel as though consciousness is causing our actions

this gives us the sense of having free will

it doesn’t feel as if our actions are physical processes happening in the brain

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7
Q

what is the role of consciousness in free will

A

due to consciousness, we feel that outcomes in the world are caused by our actions

we feel that our actions are cuased by our own conscious intentions or goals

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8
Q

what theoretical reasons are there for doubting free will (determinism)

A

determinism - the universe runs on deterministic laws - all events can be traced back to prior causes

everything we do must be predetermined - so little room for free will

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9
Q

what theoretical reasons are there for doubting free will

A

the ghost in the machine

for conscious free will to work, what u need to claim is that an immaterial substance like consciousness is able to interact with the physical body

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10
Q

what are illusions of control

A

we may feel like we have more control than we do

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11
Q

what is the sense of agency

A

ppl feel we have less control on our experiences
ppl didn’t feel in control of their actions - table turning

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12
Q

evidence from psychological research

A

our experience of free will might not correspond to reality

2 ppl
ppt and confederate
sat in front of computer screen

wearing headphones

task is to jointly move the mouse around the screen and stop the cursor every 30 secs over an object on the screen

after they make the stopping action they rate the extent to which they consciously intended to stop the mouse

during movement words are played over the headphones - words correspond to objects presented on the screen

confederate doesn’t hear these words, they hear when to stop the mouse so confederate is control

RESULTS
when words were played in the ppt’s headphones and they matched the object that the cursor stopped on, ppt tended to give higher ratings for consciously intending that movement

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13
Q

another experiment supporting free will as an illusion

A

ppt is wearing a cloak and cant see own arms

experimenter places their arms in a position that is similar to where ppts would be

ppt is stood in front of mirror

ppts hearing words - words act as previews for what the experimenter is about to do with their arms

when this happens ppts experience a greater sense of controlling movements

e.g. if they hear word okay and see experimenter’s hands making these gestures, experiences of controlling these movements go up

given a preview of what’s about to happen before it does is sufficient too fool ppts into thinking they can control these movements

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14
Q

conclusion

A

we can be fooled into think we have done something we haven’t
perhaps free will is an illusion

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15
Q

further evidence from cognitive neuroscience

A

questions if our conscious intentions cause our actions

rship between conscious will and the brain activity that causes our movements

ppts watch a hand rotate rapidly around a clock face
while the hands rotate, ppts have to press a button whenever they feel like it

judge the time at which they felt the intention to press the button

EEG recordings to measure building up of activity in the brain which occurs as a person is preparing to make a voluntary movement = readiness potential

compare the intention time judgements with the onset of the readiness potential

if conscious intentions are causing our actions then intentions should happen just before the onset of readiness potential

people’s intention judgements lagged behind the onset of readiness potential

before they were aware, the brain was already starting to prepare action

is it a fair test if ppts can only choose when to act but no choice over what to do

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16
Q

further evidence that free will is an illusion (Soon)

A

rship between conscious intention and decisions and brain activity

ppts freely decided to press left or right button

when they are lying in the scanner, a stream of letters is presented in front of them - using letters to allow ppts to allow when their intentions happened

which letter was on the screen when u decided if to press L or R

what brain regions predicted these L or R responses

1st image:
brain regions predicted the person’s response after the person had reported making up their mind
activations in motor areas

2nd image:
brain regions that experimenters could use to predict whether the person was gonna move L or R before the person had consciously made up their mind
they could predict up to 10s before the person made their action

already activity being encoded in the brain that was indicating where the person was going to move

SO
so brain activity occurring up to 10s before the movement predicted response

ppts aware of decision to make a response about 1s prior to movement

17
Q

theory of apparent mental causation

A

our conscious intentions occur after our brain has decided to act

when we make actions there in an unconscious causal pathway that we are not aware of

there is also an apparent causal pathway for our actions - this is the stuff we are conscious of - the causes of our actions are our thoughts just before we. move

the apparent causal pathway is dissociated from the real causal causal pathway

18
Q

legal implications

A

can we hold ppl responsible for their actions if they don’t have free will

19
Q

free will as a social function

A

2 groups of ppts

read passage from the astonishing hypothesis

  1. Anti free will condition: read passage claiming that scientists now recognise free will is an illusion - a side effect of the architecture of the mind
  2. Control condition: chapter did not mention free will

ppts given maths task
they were told there is a bug in the programme - if they press space bar it will reveal the answer

ppl in anti free will cheated more on the maths task

not believing in free will changed ppl’s moral behaviour

maybe free will regulates our behaviour - ensures that we do the right thing