There is a game in which you are supposed to find out what your friend likes or in simple terms how much you know your friend!
A fairly simple game if you think about it but then if you think about it the whole concept of your choice is actually an illusion!
No it is not a concept which I am telling but this is a concept which has been proved by an experiment!
This experiment is often quoted whenever you have discussion of free will! Even Dan Brown finds it interesting!
You think you are making a willful choice but this experiment prove that the brain makes a choice before you just seconds before you actually make your choice!
Intrigued!? Read on!
The experiment is called the Libet Experiment!
Benjamin Libet built on earlier work showing a slow buildup of electrical activity in motor areas of the brain, called the readiness potential (RP), which appears before a voluntary movement.
His main question was whether this preparatory brain activity starts before or after a person becomes consciously aware of deciding to move.
Participants sat in front of a circular clock with a fast-moving spot and were asked to perform a simple, spontaneous movement, typically flexing a finger or wrist, at a time of their own choosing, without prior planning or rhythm.
While they did this, electrodes recorded brain activity (EEG) over motor areas to measure the readiness potential, and the participants later reported the clock position at the instant they first felt the “urge” or “wish” to move, known as time W.
Libet found that the readiness potential in the brain typically began about 550 milliseconds before the actual movement, whereas the reported time W of conscious intention occurred only about 200 milliseconds before the movement!
This meant that neural activity related to initiating the movement started roughly 350 milliseconds before the subject became consciously aware of deciding to move!
Which meant that your brain knew what your decision was before your conscious decision!
Libet interpreted these results as evidence that voluntary actions are initiated unconsciously, with conscious intention arising only after the brain has already begun the process.
However, because there was still a brief interval (around 200 milliseconds) between conscious intention and movement, he argued that consciousness might retain a “veto” power, allowing a person to cancel the action that unconscious processes have initiated!
Of course there are many critics for the experiment and the results of the experiments but the fact still remains that the findings are somethings to be thought about…or did your brain already think about it!
Of course it is a no brainer that Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan is an amazing musician!
Shubh ratri…
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