FundaÃÃo Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Cientifico e TecnolÃgico / Analisou-se o legado de Benjamin Libet e o estado atual de seus achados. Os trabalhos de Libet sobre neurofisiologia do ato voluntÃrio provocaram uma intensa discussÃo no campo da filosofia da mente em geral e do livre arbÃtrio em particular. As evidÃncias de seus principais estudos sÃo de que o processo cerebral responsÃvel pelo ato tido como voluntÃrio inicia-se de modo prÃ-consciente. O inÃcio desse processo neural seria definido pelo aparecimento do potencial de prontidÃo em registros eletroencefalogrÃficos. Isso desafia a noÃÃo comum de que o sujeito pode escolher, de modo consciente e livre, sobre o como e quando agir. O cientista defende a ideia de que a possibilidade de se vetar conscientemente o ato que se iniciou inconscientemente pode garantir o exercÃcio do livre arbÃtrio. O indivÃduo teria cerca de 200 milissegundos para usar esse poder de veto antes da concretizaÃÃo da respectiva aÃÃo enquanto tal. Libet procurou elaborar uma teoria filosÃfica de interaÃÃo mente-corpo para compor com seus achados empÃricos o que entendia ser a configuraÃÃo do agir humano e do livre arbÃtrio. As reaÃÃes a esses trabalhos foram considerÃveis. Trata-se de exemplo significativo de interseÃÃo estreita entre o conhecimento filosÃfico e o conhecimento cientÃfico, onde hà tanto a possibilidade de enriquecimento quanto de mal entendidos. Um levantamento do trabalho de Libet e um apanhado dos principais comentadores de suas reflexÃes mostram que a discussÃo foi muito rica e que ainda continua bastante intensa em nossos dias. Os novos mÃtodos de registro de atividade cerebral e as recentes replicaÃÃes do modelo experimental libetiano enfatizam a importÃncia de sua obra. O exame conceitual mais rigoroso e sofisticado de seus achados e de suas anÃlises se mostrou enriquecedor. Algumas de suas conclusÃes estÃo fortalecidas com o tempo, apesar de certos pontos de suas ilaÃÃes se mostrarem mais frÃgeis. Pode-se considerar seu legado como referencial inescapÃvel para qualquer um que se debruce sobre a questÃo do livre arbÃtrio. / Benjamin Libetâs legacy and the current status of his findings were analysed. Libetsâ works on neurophisiology of voluntary act prompted a huge discussion on philosophy of mind in general and specifically on free will. The evidence from his main studies shows that the brain process that is responsible for the so called voluntary act begins preconsciously. The beginning of this neural process would be defined as the appearance of a readiness potential in eletroencephalographics recordings. This defies the common notion that a person can counsciously and freely choose how and when to act. The scientist holds the idea of consciously vetoing the act that has unconsciously begun and thus enable the exercise of free will. One would have about 200 milliseconds to use this veto power before the concrete onset of the respective action. Libet has tried to figure out a philosophic mind-brain interaction theory to compound with his empiric findings and so to shape what he understood as a human action and free will characterization. The reactions to these works were substantial. It seems to be a noticeable example of close interaction between philosophic and scientific knowledge, with a prospect of both enrichment and misunderstandings. A comprehensive review of Libetâs work and the main thinkers who commented on it shows that the discussion was quite rich and still has a great ammount at the present days. New methods of assessing brain activities and the recent replications of Libetâs experimental model emphasize the importance of his work. Some of his conclusions are now strengthened, in spite of the weakening of other points in his argumentations. His legacy can be ultimately regarded as an unavoidable reference to every person who investigates the free will issue.

Scientific research on free will was started by Libet et al. (1982). They detected that thereadiness potential (RP) proceeded urges with up to 350ms. One interpretation of the RP wasthat it represented motor planning. The research progress of antecedent brain activity inrelation to conscious urges is investigated by looking at contemporary studies. How differentassumptions and definitions of the free will concept influences interpretation of these studiesis also discussed. The evidence is in favor that the RP is not representing motor planning.Antecedent activity has been detected with numerous technologies, most notably fMRIclassifiers which have been used to predict decisions in advance. Scrutiny of these resultsreveals that the experimental setups are dependent on time-locking trials which may construethe results. It is shown that predictions based on probabilistic antecedents can be interpretedin numerous ways. The review shows that free will positions differ from each other onseveral factors, such as whether free will is either-or or exists on a spectrum. Some notablepositions are not dependent on antecedent activity at all. The notion of control is one of thepivotal factors deciding if a subject experience free will, not if they are the causer per se.Future discussion will be improved by systematizing the differences between the free willpositions and communicating them clearly. Convergent evidence points at the explanatorymodel of free will being a cognitive feeling – A feeling which reports ownership over actionsbut does not cause them.

Magister Artium - MA / According to our ordinary conception of voluntary action, our actions are the causal result of conscious intentions. To take a very basic example: I wish to take a sip of coffee, and I therefore reach out and take hold of the mug. However, studies performed by Libet challenge this ordinary conception. What Libet found in his experiments was that the brain initiates voluntary actions and the person becomes consciously aware of an intention to act only some 400 msec after the brain’s initiation; for instance, my brain has already initiated the process of causing my arm to reach out and take hold of the mug some 400 msec before I am aware that I wish to take a sip of coffee. That is, conscious intention doesn’t appear to precede voluntary action at all – it actually follows it (or follows its initiation, at least), and thus Libet’s studies present a serious challenge to our ordinary conception of voluntary action. This project will investigate whether a particular theory of mind – namely, Armstrong’s Central State Materialism – can cope with the challenge posed by Libet’s studies and salvage our ordinary conception of voluntary action. Armstrong’s theory appears promising in this regard because his account of consciousness and introspection as higher-order states seems to allow room that we will become aware of our willings only after those willings are already initiated.

Die Willensfreiheit ist ein zentraler Bestandteil des alltäglichen menschlichen Denkens und bildet eine wichtige Grundlage für Mechanismen unserer Gesellschaft. Trotz dieser zentralen Stellung herrscht unter Philosophen und Psychologen Uneinigkeit darüber, was Willensfreiheit eigentlich bedeutet. Dies wird besonders bei Experimenten zur Untersuchung der Willensfreiheit wie das Libet-Experiment deutlich. In dieser Arbeit wird in drei Surveys empirisch untersucht, ob der Freiheitsbegriff, mit dem die Libet-Experimente operieren, von den Freiheitsintuitionen der Laien gestützt wird, oder ob Laien eher den konträren Freiheitsintuitionen der Philosophen zuneigen. Die Ergebnisse der vorgestellten Untersuchungen zeigen, dass Laien eine von den philosophischen Vorstellungen abweichende Vorstellung von Freiheit haben. / Free will is one of the most crucial concepts in our daily life. It represents one of the most important aspects of daily human behaviour and has crucial importance in societal mechanism. However, despite its importance and long tradition philosophers still disagree on a definition. At the heart of the problem lie diverging intuitions about what is important for the concept of freedom. This is particular obvious in neuroscientific experiment, like the famous Libet-Experiment. Here I investigate in three empirical surveys whether the lay intuitions about freedom match freedom intuitions on which the Libet-experiment are based or rather the classical philosophical intuitions about freedom. For this purpose I adopt the empirical approach of experimental philosophy. The results demonstrate that lay people’s intuitions are pretty much in line with assumption that are made by the Libet-Experiment and contradict common philosophical intuitions about free will.

Student Number : 9112588A - MA Dissertation - School of Social Sciences - Faculty of Humanities / There is a concern that causal determinism might render free-will impossible. I compare some different perspectives, namely Compatibilism, Incompatibilism, Libertarianism, and Hard Determinism, and conclude that Hard Determinism is correct—we lack free-will. To further bolster the case, I consider the work of Libet, who has found neuropsychological evidence that our brains non-consciously cause our actions, prior to our being aware of it. Thus we are also not choosing consciously. I then consider Dennett’s work on the role of the conscious self. I defend his model—of a fragmented self—which could not cause our actions. Finally I argue that many things that free-will purportedly provides, eg., justification for the penal system and reactive attitudes, can be reconstructed without free-will. I then end with some speculations about why people still want free-will.

FERREIRA, Maria Andreia. Livre-arbítrio: um debate filosófico e neurocientífico. 2016. 147f. - Dissertação (Mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia, Fortaleza (CE), 2016. / Submitted by Gustavo Daher (gdaherufc@hotmail.com) on 2017-01-04T14:15:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao de Maria Andreia Ferreira.pdf: 1392682 bytes, checksum: 93b6bd185a35c9b0ba0053c6840d2ba5 (MD5) / Rejected by Maria Josineide Góis (josineide@ufc.br), reason: on 2017-01-06T12:01:18Z (GMT) / Submitted by Gustavo Daher (gdaherufc@hotmail.com) on 2017-01-06T13:44:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_dis_maferreira.pdf: 1392682 bytes, checksum: 93b6bd185a35c9b0ba0053c6840d2ba5 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2017-01-25T10:37:28Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_dis_maferreira.pdf: 1392682 bytes, checksum: 93b6bd185a35c9b0ba0053c6840d2ba5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-25T10:37:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_dis_maferreira.pdf: 1392682 bytes, checksum: 93b6bd185a35c9b0ba0053c6840d2ba5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016 / Sabemos que o problema do livre-arbítrio é tratado, pelo menos, desde Epiteto. A liberdade de escolha que “julgamos” possuir é algo que supomos ser inerente à natureza humana. Além disso, parece que só poderemos ser pessoalmente responsáveis por nossos atos se os realizarmos livremente. Acreditamos que ser responsáveis por nossas ações e escolhas é o que nos torna diferentes dos outros animais. No entanto, apesar de todas essas nossas intuições, não só algumas correntes filosóficas defendem que não somos livres, mas também a ciência parece nos dizer que somos sistemas ou máquinas determinísticas. Os resultados de vários experimentos neurocientíficos têm sugerido que não escolhemos conscientemente fazer o que fazemos. E, posto que a noção de livre-arbítrio tem como pré-requisito básico a noção de consciência, então parece que há um conflito entre nossas intuições cotidianas e as conclusões científicas e filosóficas. O objetivo central desta dissertação será, não somente analisar a coerência conceitual das diversas teses sobre o livre-arbítrio que surgiram na Grécia clássica e nos estudos neurocientíficos atuais, mas também mostrar que as explicações que tentam conectar os fenômenos subjetivos e objetivos relativos ao problema nos levaram, ao menos, até o presente momento, a uma lacuna explicativa. Isto é, uma lacuna na explicação sobre como podemos conectar nossas intuições subjetivas sobre como somos os autores de nossas ações e as explicações objetivas sobre como nosso corpo executa tais ações.

FÉLIX, Francisco Hélio Cavalcante. O estado atual do legado de Benjamin Libet, sua coerência e seu impacto na filosofia da mente e no estudo do livre arbítrio. 2014. 116f. – Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-graduação em Filosofia, Fortaleza (CE), 2014. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2015-03-12T14:12:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_dis_fhcfelix.pdf: 646316 bytes, checksum: 1e7496a8ad9966924cff8a1359d6e39a (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo(marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2015-03-13T17:10:52Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_dis_fhcfelix.pdf: 646316 bytes, checksum: 1e7496a8ad9966924cff8a1359d6e39a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-13T17:10:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_dis_fhcfelix.pdf: 646316 bytes, checksum: 1e7496a8ad9966924cff8a1359d6e39a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Benjamin Libet’s legacy and the current status of his findings were analysed. Libets’ works on neurophisiology of voluntary act prompted a huge discussion on philosophy of mind in general and specifically on free will. The evidence from his main studies shows that the brain process that is responsible for the so called voluntary act begins preconsciously. The beginning of this neural process would be defined as the appearance of a readiness potential in eletroencephalographics recordings. This defies the common notion that a person can counsciously and freely choose how and when to act. The scientist holds the idea of consciously vetoing the act that has unconsciously begun and thus enable the exercise of free will. One would have about 200 milliseconds to use this veto power before the concrete onset of the respective action. Libet has tried to figure out a philosophic mind-brain interaction theory to compound with his empiric findings and so to shape what he understood as a human action and free will characterization. The reactions to these works were substantial. It seems to be a noticeable example of close interaction between philosophic and scientific knowledge, with a prospect of both enrichment and misunderstandings. A comprehensive review of Libet’s work and the main thinkers who commented on it shows that the discussion was quite rich and still has a great ammount at the present days. New methods of assessing brain activities and the recent replications of Libet’s experimental model emphasize the importance of his work. Some of his conclusions are now strengthened, in spite of the weakening of other points in his argumentations. His legacy can be ultimately regarded as an unavoidable reference to every person who investigates the free will issue. / Analisou-se o legado de Benjamin Libet e o estado atual de seus achados. Os trabalhos de Libet sobre neurofisiologia do ato voluntário provocaram uma intensa discussão no campo da filosofia da mente em geral e do livre arbítrio em particular. As evidências de seus principais estudos são de que o processo cerebral responsável pelo ato tido como voluntário inicia-se de modo pré-consciente. O início desse processo neural seria definido pelo aparecimento do potencial de prontidão em registros eletroencefalográficos. Isso desafia a noção comum de que o sujeito pode escolher, de modo consciente e livre, sobre o como e quando agir. O cientista defende a ideia de que a possibilidade de se vetar conscientemente o ato que se iniciou inconscientemente pode garantir o exercício do livre arbítrio. O indivíduo teria cerca de 200 milissegundos para usar esse poder de veto antes da concretização da respectiva ação enquanto tal. Libet procurou elaborar uma teoria filosófica de interação mente-corpo para compor com seus achados empíricos o que entendia ser a configuração do agir humano e do livre arbítrio. As reações a esses trabalhos foram consideráveis. Trata-se de exemplo significativo de interseção estreita entre o conhecimento filosófico e o conhecimento científico, onde há tanto a possibilidade de enriquecimento quanto de mal entendidos. Um levantamento do trabalho de Libet e um apanhado dos principais comentadores de suas reflexões mostram que a discussão foi muito rica e que ainda continua bastante intensa em nossos dias. Os novos métodos de registro de atividade cerebral e as recentes replicações do modelo experimental libetiano enfatizam a importância de sua obra. O exame conceitual mais rigoroso e sofisticado de seus achados e de suas análises se mostrou enriquecedor. Algumas de suas conclusões estão fortalecidas com o tempo, apesar de certos pontos de suas ilações se mostrarem mais frágeis. Pode-se considerar seu legado como referencial inescapável para qualquer um que se debruce sobre a questão do livre arbítrio.

Three separate fMRI studies were conducted to study the neural dynamics of free decision formation. In Study 1, we first searched across the brain for spatiotemporal patterns that could predict the specific outcome and timing of free motor decisions to make a left or right button press (Soon et al., 2008). In Study 2, we replicated Study 1 using ultra-high field fMRI for improved temporal and spatial resolution to more accurately characterize the evolution of decision-predictive information in prefrontal cortex (Bode et al., 2011). In Study 3, to unequivocally dissociate high-level intentions from motor preparation and execution, we investigated the neural precursors of abstract intentions as participants spontaneously decided to perform either of two mental arithmetic tasks: addition or subtraction (Soon et al., 2013). Across the three studies, we consistently found that upcoming decisions could be predicted with ~60% accuracy from fine-grained spatial activation patterns occurring a few seconds before the decisions reached awareness, with very similar profiles for both motor and abstract intentions. The content and timing of the decisions appeared to be encoded in two functionally dissociable sets of regions: frontopolar and posterior cingulate/ precuneus cortex encoded the content but not the timing of the decisions, while the pre-supplementary motor area encoded the timing but not the content of the decisions. The choice-predictive regions in both motor and abstract decision tasks overlapped partially with the default mode network. High-resolution imaging in Study 2 further revealed that as the time-point of conscious decision approached, activity patterns in frontopolar cortex became increasingly stable with respect to the final choice.

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Three separate fMRI studies were conducted to study the neural dynamics of free decision formation. In Study 1, we first searched across the brain for spatiotemporal patterns that could predict the specific outcome and timing of free motor decisions to make a left or right button press (Soon et al., 2008). In Study 2, we replicated Study 1 using ultra-high field fMRI for improved temporal and spatial resolution to more accurately characterize the evolution of decision-predictive information in prefrontal cortex (Bode et al., 2011). In Study 3, to unequivocally dissociate high-level intentions from motor preparation and execution, we investigated the neural precursors of abstract intentions as participants spontaneously decided to perform either of two mental arithmetic tasks: addition or subtraction (Soon et al., 2013). Across the three studies, we consistently found that upcoming decisions could be predicted with ~60% accuracy from fine-grained spatial activation patterns occurring a few seconds before the decisions reached awareness, with very similar profiles for both motor and abstract intentions. The content and timing of the decisions appeared to be encoded in two functionally dissociable sets of regions: frontopolar and posterior cingulate/ precuneus cortex encoded the content but not the timing of the decisions, while the pre-supplementary motor area encoded the timing but not the content of the decisions. The choice-predictive regions in both motor and abstract decision tasks overlapped partially with the default mode network. High-resolution imaging in Study 2 further revealed that as the time-point of conscious decision approached, activity patterns in frontopolar cortex became increasingly stable with respect to the final choice.:Abstract 1 1. General Introduction 5 2. Study 1: Decoding the Unconscious Formation of Motor Intentions 21 3. Study 2: Temporal Stability of Neural Patterns Involved in Intention Formation 56 4. Study 3: Decoding the Unconscious Formation of Abstract Intentions 89 5. General Discussion 119 References 145