An Emergentist Interpretation of Benjamin Libet
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Time to Lay the Libet Experiment to Rest: Commentary on Papanicolaou (2017)
Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice © 2017 American Psychological Association 2017, Vol. 4, No. 3, 324–329 2326-5523/17/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cns0000124 COMMENTARY Time to Lay the Libet Experiment to Rest: Commentary on Papanicolaou (2017) John F. Kihlstrom University of California, Berkeley For more than 30 years, “the Libet experiment” has inspired and dominated philosoph- ical and scientific discussions of free will and determinism. Unfortunately, this famous experiment has been compromised by a serious confounding variable (i.e., there has been no control for watching the clock), and the method of data collection ignored conscious mental activity that occurred prior to the decision to act. Because Libet’s results appear to be wholly an artifact of his method, his experiment should be discounted in future discussions of the problem of free will. Keywords: agency, consciousness, free will, Libet experiment, readiness potential For more than 30 years, an experiment by In his experiment, Libet and his colleagues Benjamin Libet, a psychophysiologist interested asked subjects to perform a simple spontaneous in psychoanalytic theory, has inspired and dom- motor activity, flicking a finger or flexing a inated discussions of free will and conscious wrist, while watching a fast-moving clock, and agency. Starting with Libet, Wright, and Glea- to note the time at which they decided to make son (1982), Libet capitalized on an electroen- the movement (Libet, 1985; Libet, Gleason, cephalographic (EEG) signature known as the Wright, & Pearl, 1983; Libet et al., 1982). Ex- readiness potential (RP, or Bereitschaftspoten- amining the EEG data, they observed that the tial in the original German; Kornhuber & RP began approximately 350 ms before subjects Deecke, 1965, 1990), a negative shift in voltage decided to make the movement—which, in turn, which occurs prior to voluntary muscle move- occurred about 200 ms before the movement ments—somewhat in the manner of an event- began. -
Tilburg University Christian Faith, Free Will and Neuroscience Sarot, M
Tilburg University Christian Faith, Free Will and Neuroscience Sarot, M. Published in: Embodied Religion Publication date: 2013 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication in Tilburg University Research Portal Citation for published version (APA): Sarot, M. (2013). Christian Faith, Free Will and Neuroscience. In P. H. A. I. Jonkers, & M. Sarot (Eds.), Embodied Religion (pp. 105-120). (Ars Disputandi Supplement Series; No. 6). Igitur. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 25. sep. 2021 6 Christian Faith, Free Will and Neuroscience MARCEL SAROT Tilburg University ABSTRACT In this contribution I explain what the libertarian conception of free will is, and why it is of moral and religious importance. Consequently, I defend this conception of free will against secular and religious charges. After that, I present and evaluate neuroscientific experi- ments on free will, especially Benjamin Libet’s experiments. -
Will There Be a Neurolaw Revolution?
Will There Be a Neurolaw Revolution? ∗ ADAM J. KOLBER The central debate in the field of neurolaw has focused on two claims. Joshua Greene and Jonathan Cohen argue that we do not have free will and that advances in neuroscience will eventually lead us to stop blaming people for their actions. Stephen Morse, by contrast, argues that we have free will and that the kind of advances Greene and Cohen envision will not and should not affect the law. I argue that neither side has persuasively made the case for or against a revolution in the way the law treats responsibility. There will, however, be a neurolaw revolution of a different sort. It will not necessarily arise from radical changes in our beliefs about criminal responsibility but from a wave of new brain technologies that will change society and the law in many ways, three of which I describe here: First, as new methods of brain imaging improve our ability to measure distress, the law will ease limitations on recoveries for emotional injuries. Second, as neuroimaging gives us better methods of inferring people’s thoughts, we will have more laws to protect thought privacy but less actual thought privacy. Finally, improvements in artificial intelligence will systematically change how law is written and interpreted. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 808 I. A WEAK CASE FOR A RESPONSIBILITY REVOLUTION.......................................... 809 A. THE FREE WILL IMPASSE ......................................................................... 809 B. GREENE AND COHEN’S NORMATIVE CLAIM ............................................. 810 C. GREENE AND COHEN’S PREDICTION ........................................................ 811 D. WHERE THEIR PREDICTION NEEDS STRENGTHENING .............................. 813 II. A WEAK CASE THAT LAW IS INSULATED FROM REVOLUTION .......................... -
Biologicau Co~Ntrir~Utio~Rne to the Development Of
,- B BiologicaU Co~ntriR~utio~rneto the Development of Psychology KARL H. PRIBRAM AND DANIEL N. ROBINSON INTRODUCTION This chapter concerns several important influences that biology has had on the development of psychology as a science. Specifically, we attempt to account for an apparent paradox: In the nineteenth century, rapid advances were made in relating biology in general and brain func- tion in particular to the phenomena of mind. Throughout much of the first half of the twentieth century, however, these same relationships were all but ignored and the foundations for a scientific psychology were sought in the environment. The biological aspects of psychology, perhaps more than other special branches of the discipline, resist historical compression. Psychobiology, as we shall call the subject,' is deeply rooted in both philosophy and 4 ' There is still no universally accepted criterion for distinguishing among the terms physiological psychology, psychobiology, neuropsychology, and biopsychology. A grow- ' ing convention would reserve the term neuropsychology to theory about the human ; nervous system based on research involving complex cognitive processes, often in settings in which clinical findings are directly relevant. Physiological psychology strikes many as too restricted, for much current work falls under headings such as biophysics, computer science, or microanatomy that are synonymous with physiology. Thus, psychobiology is used here to refer to the broadest range of correlative studies in which biobehavioral investigations are undertaken and referenced to phenomenal experience. 345 POINTS OF VIEW IN THE Copyright 0 1985 by Academic Press, Inc. MODERN HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY All rights of reprod~lctionin any form resewed. ISBN 0-12-148510-2 346 Karl H. -
Sixth Decade of the International Neuropsychiatric Pula Congresses
PERIODICUM BIOLOGORUM UDC 57:61 VOL. 114, No 3, 243–252, 2012 CODEN PDBIAD ISSN 0031-5362 History Sixth decade of the International Neuropsychiatric Pula Congresses Abstract BO[KO BARAC The International Neuropsychiatric Pula Congresses, founded by Zagreb Pantov~ak 102, 10000 Zagreb and Graz University Neuropsychiatry Departments in 1961, celebrated in 2010 their 50 years anniversary, successfully continuing their sixth decade. The author witnessed and participated from 1966 in their development, 23 years as their Secretary General, from 2007 the Honorary President of the INPC Kuratorium. Starting when neuropsychiatry was unique discipline, the INPC followed processes of emancipation of neurology and psychiatry and of the evolution of independent disciplines with new subspecialties. These respectable conferences greatly surpassed the significance of the two disciplines, connecting experts in the region and those from European countries and the world. Inaugurated in times of the »cold war«, they enabled professional and human contacts between the divided »blocks«, thanks to the »non-aligned« political position of the then Yugoslavia, foster- ing ideas of mutual understanding and collaboration. For these achievements the meetings early earned the title of the »Pula school of science and humanism« promoting both interdisciplinary collabo- ration and humanism, unconditional presumption for peaceful living on the Earth. Medicine, as science and practice, although founded on biolo- gical grounds, is primarily a human activity serving to individual man and the whole human race. Modern neurology and psychiatry are no longer res- tricted to diagnosing and curing brain and psychic dysfunctions, becoming a science of human mind and discipline caring about the brain, the organ of the individual and collective human consciousness and his mental life. -
Organizers: INPC KURATORIUM CROATIAN ACADEMY of SCIENCES and ARTS
Organizers: INPC KURATORIUM CROATIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS - DEPARTMENT OF MEDICAL SCIENCES MEDICAL CENTER „AVIVA“ Supporting organizations: WORLD FEDERATION OF NEUROLOGY WORLD FEDERATION OF NEUROLOGY, APPLIED RESEARCH GROUP ON THE DELIVERY OF NEUROLOGY SERVICES INTERNATIONAL INTERDISCIPLINARY MEDICINE ASSOCIATION EUROPEAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN STROKE SOCIETY Venue: Hotels „Park Plaza Histria“ & „Brioni“ – Pula, Croatia PROGRAM Wednesday, June 19th 6th INTERNATIONAL EPILEPSY SYMPOSIUM IN PULA CONTROVERSIES IN THE MANAGEMENT OF EPILEPSIES Park Plaza Histria - Executive B (Bianca Istriana) Chairperson: Hrvoje Hećimović (Zagreb, Croatia) Hrvoje Hećimović (Zagreb, Croatia), A PATHWAY TO EPILEPSY SURGERY 15:00 – 16:30 Bogdan Lorber (Ljubljana, Slovenia), IS FREEDOM OF SEIZURES THE ONLY GOAL OF EPILEPSY SURGERY? Tomislav Sajko (Zagreb, Croatia), WHY IS EPILEPSY SURGERY BETTER OPTION IN PHARMACORESISTANT PATIENTS Sunčana Divošević: (Zagreb, Croatia), PET IN PATIENTS WITH REFRACTORY TEMPORAL LOBE EPILEPSY - CONTRIBUTION TO SURGERY DECISION – MAKING ZAKON O PSIHOTERAPIJI / LAW ON PSYCHOTERAPHY EDUCATIONAL SYMPOSIUM (in Croatian) 15:00 – 16:30 Park Plaza Histria - Executive A (Bianchera) Chairperson: Jadran Morović (Zagreb, Croatia) Tatjana Babić (Zagreb, Croatia), ZAKON O PSIHOTERAPIJI Irena Bezić (Zagreb, Croatia), ZAKON O PSIHOTERAPIJI Jadran Morović (Zagreb, Croatia), EUROPSKI KRITERIJI PSIHOTERAPIJSKIH EDUKACIJA 16:30 – 17:00 COFFEE BREAK FORENZIČKA PSIHIJATRIJA / FORENSIC PSYCHIATRY EDUCATIONAL SYMPOSIUM -
Thèse 13.08.16
AU - DELÀ DU PHYSICALISME : LE RESSENTI DE CONSCIENCE. À la recherche d’une nécessaire articulation, attribuée aux corrélats neuronaux de la conscience, entre les processus neuronaux subséquents du cerveau et les ressentis subjectifs de conscience dans l’élaboration, au‐delà du physicalisme, d’une théorie néo‐dualiste de la conscience. 1 Dans les autres occupations, une fois qu’elles ont été menées à bien, avec peine, vient le fruit ; mais en philosophie, le plaisir va du même pas que la connaissance : car ce n’est après avoir appris que l’on jouit du fruit, mais apprendre et jouir vont ensemble. Épicure. Sentences Vaticanes, 27. 2 Tout être vivant est un fossile. Il porte en soi et jusque dans la structure microscopique de ses protéines, les traces sinon les stigmates de son ascendance. Jacques Monod, Le Hasard et la Nécessité. Et encore, Parménide dans son Poème, 4ème fragment, dit faisant allusion à l’espérance : «Mais vois pourtant comme les choses absentes, du fait de l’intellect imposent leur présence» puisque celui qui espère comme celui qui a la foi voit par la pensée les intelligibles et les futurs. Donc, si nous affirmons que quelque chose est juste et que quelque chose est beau, nous disons qu’il en est ainsi de cette chose, en vérité. Et pourtant nous ne voyons jamais par les yeux aucun de ces intelligibles et ne les appréhendons que par l’intellect . Clément d’Alexandrie ( Stromates, V, 15) 3 « L’homme est, à lui-même, le plus prodigieux objet de la nature car il ne peut concevoir ce que c’est que le corps et encore moins ce que c’est qu’esprit et moins qu’aucune chose comment un corps peut être uni avec un esprit. -
The Neural Basis of the Dynamic Unconscious
Neuropsychoanalysis, 2011, 13 (1) 5 The Neural Basis of the Dynamic Unconscious Heather A. Berlin (New York) A great deal of complex cognitive processing occurs at the unconscious level and affects how humans behave, think, and feel. Sci- entists are only now beginning to understand how this occurs on the neural level. Understanding the neural basis of consciousness requires an account of the neural mechanisms that underlie both conscious and unconscious thought, and their dynamic interac- tion. For example, how do conscious impulses, thoughts, or desires become unconscious (e.g., repression) or, conversely, how do unconscious impulses, desires, or motives become conscious (e.g., Freudian slips)? Research taking advantage of advances in technologies, like functional magnetic resonance imaging, has led to a revival and re-conceptualization of some of the key concepts of psychoanalytic theory, but steps toward understanding their neural basis have only just commenced. According to psychoanalytic theory, unconscious dynamic processes defensively remove anxiety-provoking thoughts and impulses from consciousness in re- sponse to one’s conflicting attitudes. The processes that keep unwanted thoughts from entering consciousness include repression, suppression, and dissociation. In this literature review, studies from psychology and cognitive neuroscience in both healthy and patient populations that are beginning to elucidate the neural basis of these phenomena are discussed and organized within a con- ceptual framework. Further studies in this emerging field at the intersection of psychoanalytic theory and neuroscience are needed. Keywords: unconscious; psychodynamic; repression; suppression; dissociation; neural “Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself.” 1998a). Early psychodynamic theorists attempted to Ludwig Wittgenstein [1889–1951] explain phenomena observed in the clinic, but lat- er cognitive scientists used computational models of the mind to explain empirical data. -
Neuroeconomics: How Neuroscience Can Inform Economics
mr05_Article 1 3/28/05 3:25 PM Page 9 Journal of Economic Literature Vol. XLIII (March 2005), pp. 9–64 Neuroeconomics: How Neuroscience Can Inform Economics ∗ COLIN CAMERER, GEORGE LOEWENSTEIN, and DRAZEN PRELEC Who knows what I want to do? Who knows what anyone wants to do? How can you be sure about something like that? Isn’t it all a question of brain chemistry, signals going back and forth, electrical energy in the cortex? How do you know whether something is really what you want to do or just some kind of nerve impulse in the brain. Some minor little activity takes place somewhere in this unimportant place in one of the brain hemispheres and suddenly I want to go to Montana or I don’t want to go to Montana. (White Noise, Don DeLillo) 1. Introduction such as finance, game theory, labor econom- ics, public finance, law, and macroeconomics In the last two decades, following almost a (see Colin Camerer and George Loewenstein century of separation, economics has begun 2004). Behavioral economics has mostly been to import insights from psychology. informed by a branch of psychology called “Behavioral economics” is now a prominent “behavioral decision research,” but other fixture on the intellectual landscape and has cognitive sciences are ripe for harvest. Some spawned applications to topics in economics, important insights will surely come from neu- roscience, either directly or because neuro- ∗ Camerer: California Institute of Technology. science will reshape what is believed about Loewenstein: Carnegie Mellon University. Prelec: psychology which in turn informs economics. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. -
On Benjamin Libet
ON BENJAMIN LIBET: IS THE MIND AHEAD OF THE BRAIN? BEHIND IT? by Ted Honderich Determinism and Freedom Website -- http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctytho/libetnew.html The most scientific, speculative and copious thinking bearing on free will in the past three decades or so is in The Self and Its Brain, by the philosopher of science Karl Popper and the Nobel neurophysiologist J. C. Eccles. It is a kind of celebration of a thing called the self-conscious mind and its freedom. It depends greatly on the research of some Californian neurophysiologists with Professor Benjamin Libet at their head. The research in question is taken as showing, in brief, that the mind is ahead of the brain. This research, however, has been succeeded by another period or tranche of research. It is taken by Libet himself and others to be as relevant, indeed as powerful, with respect to the question of determinism and freedom. What it comes to, until a surprising second thought, is that the mind is behind the brain. If high reasoning by philosophers on freedom uninformed by science cannot now be reassuring, nor is there reassurance in the idea that science is uniquely placed to decide the questions. It is somewhat less uniquely placed than philosophy. I include the piece below in a forthcoming book, On Determinism and Freedom (Edinburgh University Press, 2005), partly in order to illustrate that general point for those in need of the illustration. They include quite a few workers in the flourishing industry of the science of consciousness. -------------------------------------------------------- 1. Some Experimental Findings About Experiences Benjamin Libet and also Libet and collaborators claim to advance a single hypothesis, with important consequences, about the time of a conscious experience in relation to the time when there occurs a certain physical condition in the brain. -
Isaacashovb BOOKOF \SCIEI\CEN
IsaacAshovb BOOKOF \SCIEI\CEN Editedby IsaacAsimou andlason A. Shulman A BLUE CLIFF EDITIONS BOOK - XN WeidenfeUWtf:; Copyright @ 1988by Blue Cliff Editions, Inc. All rights reserved.No reproductionof this book in whole or in part or in any form may be madewithout written authorizationof the copyright owner. Publishedby Weidenfeld& Nicolson, New York A Division of Vheatland Corporation 10 East53rd Street New York, NY 10022 Publishedin Canadaby GeneralPublishing Company, Ltd. Due to limitationsof space,permissions appear on Page 337. Library of CongressCataloging-in-Publication Data IsaacAsimov's book of scienceand nature quotations / editedby Isaac Asimov andJasonA. Shulman.-lst ed. p. cm. 'A Blue Cliff editionsbook. " Includesindex. rsBN 1-555-84111-2 1. Science-Quotations,maxims, etc. I. Asimov,lsaac, I92A- II. Shulman,Jason. Iil. Title: Book of scienceand nature quotations. Q173.r831983 87-22489 5oo-dc19 cIP Manufacturedin the United Statesof America Designedby lrving PerkinsAssociates, Inc. First Edition 1098765432r FOR MY DAUGHTER ARIANA ELIZABETH: May the Seasstay DrE andthe Skystay HW May yourHeait ttoy Oput andBeauty fiU yourEyt, J. A. S. Acklrowledg*ents THts BooK could not havebeen createdwithout a number of peopleI would like to acknowledg. here: A*y Appleby, ashead researcher,was responsiblefor gathering mosr of the raw material used in the book. Her skill in findirg quotarions for every subject I could conceive of (and some she inventedl) was truly amtzing. This proJectcould not have gotten out of its infancy without her care and work. SusanWalker not only added many of the quotations, but did much of the original researchin finding quotations from news stories and scientific abstracts alike. -
Advantages of EEG Phase Patterns for the Detection of Gait Intention in Healthy and Stroke Subjects
1 Advantages of EEG phase patterns for the detection of gait intention in healthy and stroke subjects Andreea Ioana Sburlea1,2,* Luis Montesano1,2 Javier Minguez1,2 Abstract— One use of EEG-based brain-computer in- electroencephalogram (EEG), is the movement terfaces (BCIs) in rehabilitation is the detection of move- related cortical potential (MRCP) [2], [3]. The ment intention. In this paper we investigate for the first relation between MRCP and movement intention time the instantaneous phase of movement related corti- has been extensively studied with EEG-based BCIs cal potential (MRCP) and its application to the detection of gait intention. We demonstrate the utility of MRCP in the context of self-paced lower limb movements phase in two independent datasets, in which 10 healthy and gait [4]–[10]. subjects and 9 chronic stroke patients executed a self- All studies that used MRCP information for the initiated gait task in three sessions. Phase features were detection of movement intention explored the ampli- compared to more conventional amplitude and power tude representation of the neural correlate [9], [11]– features. The neurophysiology analysis showed that phase [17]. In particular, the amplitude of the MRCP has features have higher signal-to-noise ratio than the other features. Also, BCI detectors of gait intention based been used to detect gait intention in healthy subjects on phase, amplitude, and their combination were eval- within session [9] and between sessions [16]. In the uated under three conditions: session specific calibration, frequency domain, the neural correlate of movement intersession transfer, and intersubject transfer. Results intention is the event related (de)-synchronization show that the phase based detector is the most accurate (ERD/S) in mu and beta bands [18]–[23].