Abstract
Since the famous experiments by Benjamin Libet it has been debated whether brain signals can precede and predict the outcome of decisions even before subjects believe to be consciously making up their mind. Now it is possible to directly assess such choice-predictive neural signals using multivariate pattern classification. We have shown that the specific outcome of free choices between different plans can be read out of brain activity even several seconds before it is made. Thus, an unconscious causal chain of events can occur outside subjective awareness even before a subject makes up their mind. The nature and computational role of the choice-predictive signals still requires further investigation. Most importantly, the link to “background” brain activity is currently unclear.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The author is an incompatibilist.
References
Arieli A, Sterkin A, Grinvald A, Aertsen A (1996) Dynamics of ongoing activity: explanation of the large variability in evoked cortical responses. Science 273:1868–1871
Blankertz B, Dornhege G, Schäfer C, Krepki R, Kohlmorgen J, Müller KR, Kunzmann V, Losch F, Curio G (2003) Boosting bit rates and error detection for the classification of fast-paced motor commands based on single-trial EEG analysis. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng 11:127–131
Brass M, Haggard P (2007) To do or not to do: the neural signature of self-control. J Neurosci 27:9141–9145
Brass M, Haggard P (2008) The what, when, whether model of intentional action. Neuroscientist 14:319–325
Breitmeyer BG (1985) Problems with the psychophysics of intention. Behav Brain Sci 8:539–540
Burgess PW, Quayle A, Frith CD (2001) Brain regions involved in prospective memory as determined by positron emission tomography. Neuropsychologia 39:545–555
Chiang T (2005) What’s expected of us. Nature 436:150
Deiber MP, Passingham RE, Colebatch JG, Friston KJ, Nixon PD, Frackowiak RS (1991) Cortical areas and the selection of movement: a study with positron emission tomography. Exp Brain Res 84:393–402
Eccles JC (1982) The initiation of voluntary movements by the supplementary motor area. Arch Psychiatr Nervenkr 231:423–441
Eccles JC (1985) Mental summation: the timing of voluntary intentions by cortical activity. Behav Brain Sci 8:542–543
Feigl H (1958) The “mental” and the “physical”. In: Feigl H, Scriven M, Maxwell G (eds) Minnesota studies in the philosophy of science: concepts, theories, and the mind-body problem, vol II. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MM
Fourneret P, Jeannerod M (1998) Limited conscious monitoring of motor performance in normal subjects. Neuropsychologia 36:1133–1140
Friston KJ, Holmes AP, Poline JB, Grasby PJ, Williams SC, Frackowiak RS, Turner R (1995) Analysis of fMRI time-series revisited. Neuroimage 2:45–53
Groll-Knapp E, Ganglberge JA, Haider M (1977) Voluntary movement-related slow potentials in cortex and thalamus in man. Progr Clin Neurophysiol 1:164–173
Haggard P, Eimer M (1999) On the relation between brain potentials and the awareness of voluntary movements. Exp Brain Res 126:128–133
Haynes JD, Rees G (2005) Predicting the orientation of invisible stimuli from activity in human primary visual cortex. Nat Neurosci 8:686–691
Haynes JD, Rees G (2006) Decoding mental states from brain activity in humans. Nat Rev Neurosci 7:523–34
Haynes JD, Sakai K, Rees G, Gilbert S, Frith C, Passingham RE (2007) Reading hidden intentions in the human brain. Curr Biol 17:323–328
Hume D (1777) An enquiry concerning human understanding. Reprinted as Harvard Classics, Collier & Son
Kamitani Y, Tong F (2005) Decoding the visual and subjective contents of the human brain. Nat Neurosci 8:679–685
Kornhuber HH, Deecke L (1965) Hirnpotentialänderungen bei Willkürbewegungen und passiben Bewegungen des Menschen: Bereitschaftspotential und reafferente Potentiale. Pflügers Arch Ges Phys 284:1–17
Kriegeskorte N, Goebel R, Bandettini P (2006) Information-based functional brain mapping. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:3863–3868
Latto R (1985) Consciousness as an experimental variable: problems of definition, practice and interpretation. Behav Brain Sci 8:545–546
Libet B (1985) Unconscious cerebral initiative and the role of conscious will in voluntary action. Behav Brain Sci 8:529–566
Libet B, Gleason CA, Wright EW, Pearl DK (1983) Time of conscious intention to act in relation to onset of verebral activities (readiness-potential): the unconscious initiation of a freely voluntary act. Brain 106:623–642
Marks LE (1985) Toward a psychophysics of intention. Behav Brain Sci 8:547–548
Merikle PM, Cheesman J (1985) Conscious and unconscious processes: same or different? Behav Brain Sci 8:547–548
Moutoussis K, Zeki S (1997) Functional segregation and temporal hierarchy of the visual perceptive systems. Proc R Soc Lond B 264:1407–1414
Nickerson RS (2002) The production and perception of randomness. Psychol Rev 109:330–357
Ramnani N, Owen AM (2004) Anterior prefrontal cortex: insights into function from anatomy and neuroimaging. Nat Rev Neurosci 5:184–94
Ringo JL (1985) Timing volition: questions of what and when about W. Behav Brain Sci 8:550–551
Rollman GB (1985) Sensory events with variable central latencies provide inaccurate clocks. Behav Brain Sci 8:551–552
Soon CS, Brass M, Heinze HJ, Haynes JD (2008) Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human brain. Nat Neurosci 11:543–545
Tanaka K (1997) Mechanisms of visual object recognition: monkey and human studies. Curr Opin Neurobiol 7:523–529
Trevena JA, Miller J (2002) Cortical movement preparation before and after a conscious decision to move. Conscious Cogn 1:162–190
Van de Grind W (2002) Physical, neural, and mental timing. Conscious Cogn 11:241–64
Wundt W (1904) Principles of physiological psychology. Vol. 2
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the Max Planck Society, the German Research Foundation and the Bernstein Computational Neuroscience Program of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The author would like to thank Ida Momennejad for valuable comments on the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Haynes, JD. (2011). Beyond Libet: Long-Term Prediction of Free Choices from Neuroimaging Signals. In: Dehaene, S., Christen, Y. (eds) Characterizing Consciousness: From Cognition to the Clinic?. Research and Perspectives in Neurosciences. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18015-6_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18015-6_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-18014-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-18015-6
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)