volitie Flashcards
What is volition?
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
what are the brain systems that enable us to purposefully interact with the world
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
somatotopic organisation of the primary motor cortex
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
2 primary sources of input to M1: subcortical pathway
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
2 primary sources of input to M1: parietal inputs
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
what role does consciousness play in the performance of voulntary action
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
what is the role of consciousness in free will
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
what theoretical reasons are there for doubting free will (determinism)
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
what theoretical reasons are there for doubting free will
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
what are illusions of control
we may feel like we have more control than we do
what is the sense of agency
ppl feel we have less control on our experiences
ppl didn’t feel in control of their actions - table turning
evidence from psychological research
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
another experiment supporting free will as an illusion
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
conclusion
we can be fooled into think we have done something we haven’t
perhaps free will is an illusion
further evidence from cognitive neuroscience
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
further evidence that free will is an illusion (Soon)
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
theory of apparent mental causation
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
legal implications
can we hold ppl responsible for their actions if they don’t have free will
free will as a social function
2 groups of ppts
read passage from the astonishing hypothesis
- 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
- 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
