| Reference code: | PT/FB/BL-2014-388.03 |
| Location: | BF-GMS
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Title:
| Timing the onset of the decision to move in arbitrary and deliberate decisions
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| Publication year: | 2016
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URL:
| http://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/index.html#!/4071/presentation/22603
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| Abstract/Results: | ABSTRACT:
In its most general form, the Libet paradigm instructs subjects to arbitrarily move their left or their right hand, at a time of their choice, and report the time of the onset of their decision to move--henceforth W time--using a clock. It was shown that predictive information about upcoming action exists in the brain before W time. This led some to assert that conscious intentions play no part in the causal chain leading to action, rendering free will and moral responsibility illusory. However, free will and moral responsibility focus on deliberate decisions. So it is crucial to understand to what extent the Libet results extend to deliberate decisions. This was the focus of our investigation.
In the first part of the experiment, subjects tasted drinks and rated their favorability. In the second part of the experiment, subjects were presented with two randomly selected drinks and a rapidly changing stream of letters. The subjects then select a drink using the keyboard and reported the letter that was on the screen at the moment they decided which drink to select. The experiment included 3 types of decisions, in a randomly counterbalanced blocked design, with 10 trials per block. Subjects were informed that one trial per block would be selected and they would have to drink from the drinks presented in that trial, depending on the trial type. In deliberate-decision blocks, subjects were instructed to select the drink they preferred. To motivate them to deliberate, they were informed that they would only need to drink from the drink they chose on the selected trial at the end of the block. In arbitrary-different subjects were told that, regardless of their selection, they would have to drink both drinks in the selected trial, at the end of the block. In the arbitrary-same blocks, subjects were presented with the same drink twice, again motivating arbitrary selection. To ensure that subjects were paying attention throughout the experiment, we randomly introduced catch trials after some trials. There, subjects were required to identify which of the presented drinks was presented in the previous trial. If they answered incorrectly, they had to taste one of their least favorite drinks.
We observed clear and notable differences among the W time distributions for the 3 types of decisions, where the deliberate-decision block consistently resulted in earlier W time values compared to the other 2 arbitrary block types. This challenges the generalizability of the Libet results for arbitrary and deliberate decisions and, with that, the validity of the claims that free will and moral responsibility are illusory.
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| Accessibility: | Document does not exist in file
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Language:
| eng
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Author:
| Ziari, N.
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Secondary author(s):
| Wong, S., Samad, M., Maoz, U.
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Document type:
| Online abstract
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Number of reproductions:
| 1
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Reference:
| Ziari, N., Wong, S., Samad, M., & Maoz, U. (2016, November). Timing the onset of the decision to move in arbitrary and deliberate decisions. Poster presented at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, San Diego. Abstract retrieved at http://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/index.html#!/4071/presentation/22603
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| Indexed document: | No
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| Keywords: | Volition / Deliberate decisions / Arbitrary decisions
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