Experiment: Benjamin Libet's Free Will Experiment

1. What was Benjamin Libet’s free will experiment? What did it demonstrate? Libet’s free will experiment was a study on whether human beings have free will/control over the actions they take or if it is just a response from the brain. He studied the electrical impulses that occur in the brain before actions take place- the readiness potential or RP. By using a cathode ray oscilloscope as a timer, he had subjects report when they became aware of conscious thought before an action. Subjects were asked to flex their wrists when they felt the need. Libet similarly observed subjects ability change their minds or not perform an action. Libet found the subjects could veto an action. Libet suggested that we all do this spontaneous veto action, normally

It is my choice to type or to write, my choice to get up and drink water, vs actions like grabbing my elbow when I knock into a door. The article has interesting implications about consciousness and how societal/religious structures affect the thought process. In regards to changing my opinion I think instead of changing it, the reading has expanded my idea of what free will is and how the human consciousness is perhaps performed. Before I hand I do not believe I had ever given much thought to how I decided to perform actions. I have more questions about where this experiment went further. It raised the question of, ok you know parts of how it is performed but now where is it coming from. What recess of the brain is sending the signals and what intern controls that. The veto aspect then comes into play and that is where the free will aspect comes in. The choice to act vs the thought of said action. In that way free wills is as exactly as I have conceptualized it. I can think about cheating on a test that I have been nervous about but I make the choice not to partially because society says it is wrong and partially because my definition of self doesn’t include that action. I don’t feel guilty about the thought because I did not perform the

What would happen if there was not the structure and social rules preventing people from acting on the unconscious parts of thought? I think the experiment suggests that we have the capability and do in fact think of all these possible actions to take, without knowing about it until the thought takes hold and we are compelled to take action (or not act).

With what you have learned about the reductionist perspective thus far in lecture, do you think this adds any further constraints on free will? In way yes, it assumes that because we understand how the action of free will in the brain works, at least partially, we understand how the ability works. It assumes that free will is a quantifiable action that we are on the way to measuring. In that assumption it constrains free will because it places it in a ridged category of what will happen and how it happens but I think while this article proves it can be measured it doesn’t sufficiently prove where free will and unconscious thought comes from. It doesn’t prove understanding of why but simply