Get Out of Your Own Way

WSJ ^ | 6-27-08 | ROBERT LEE HOTZ

[Dysart]

Fishing in the stream of consciousness, researchers now can detect our intentions and predict our choices before we are aware of them ourselves. The brain, they have found, appears to make up its mind 10 seconds before we become conscious of a decision -- an eternity at the speed of thought.

Their findings challenge conventional notions of choice.

"We think our decisions are conscious," said neuroscientist John-Dylan Haynes at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience in Berlin, who is pioneering this research. "But these data show that consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg. This doesn't rule out free will, but it does make it implausible."

Through a series of intriguing experiments, scientists in Germany, Norway and the U.S. have analyzed the distinctive cerebral activity that foreshadows our choices. They have tracked telltale waves of change through the cells that orchestrate our memory, language, reason and self-awareness.

In ways we are only beginning to understand, the synapses and neurons in the human nervous system work in concert to perceive the world around them, to learn from their perceptions, to remember important experiences, to plan ahead, and to decide and act on incomplete information. In a rudimentary way, they predetermine our choices.

[AnalogReigns]

“But these data show that consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg. This doesn’t rule out free will, but it does make it implausible.”

Just another reason I chose to be a Calvinist...

[AnalogReigns]

“But these data show that consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg. This doesn’t rule out free will, but it does make it implausible.”

Just another reason I chose to be a Calvinist...

[Libertarianize the GOP]

They didn’t look at Obama, he makes decisions months after the data is in and he has made his first statement on the issue, then he insists that his current decsion is the one he had all the time.

[I see my hands]

"neural static -- waves of disruptive signals -- preceded an error by up to 30 seconds"

In poker it's evidenced by playing on the tilt.

[Dysart]

But wait...

"Does this make our self-awareness just a second thought? All this work to deconstruct the mental machinery of choice may be the best evidence of conscious free will. By measuring the brain's physical processes, the mind seeks to know itself through its reflection in the mirror of science."

[I see my hands]

My response to God when asked to account for my thoughts, words, and deeds: What did you expect?

[Dysart]

I had a feeling you were gonna post that.

[I see my hands]

"I had a feeling you were gonna post that"

I was surprised to see I had.

[Psycho_Bunny]

"The brain, they have found, appears to make up its mind 10 seconds before we become conscious of a decision"

Ummmmm.....No. The average person makes hundreds of reaction-decisions a day, in a split second.

[ARridgerunner]

Interesting article.

I read The Stranger last night.

[rbg81]

Such experiments suggest that our best reasons for some choices we make are understood only by our cells. The findings lend credence to researchers who argue that many important decisions may be best made by going with our gut — not by thinking about them too much.

---

Well, they weren’t monitoring the making of important decisions here, were they? It might have been more interesting to monitor day traders, playing with their own $$.

As for the 10 second rule, this may explain why my mouth works faster than my brain.

[musicman]

"We think our decisions are conscious," said neuroscientist John-Dylan Haynes at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience in Berlin, who is pioneering this research. "But these data show that consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg. This doesn't rule out free will, but it does make it implausible."

[who_would_fardels_bear]

"reason I chose to be a Calvinist"

Interesting, because this is the same reason why I was predestined from all time to be a freethinker.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

Another way to interpet this data is that our brain is more like an orchestra than a soloist.

In order for an orchestra to properly play a symphonic work there needs to be days of solid practice and instruction by the conductor.

Similarly in order for our orchestra of neurons to come to the proper decision we need to train it in the proper environment to come up with the correct decision when the time comes.

So maybe our free will is applied more toward deciding which environments we want to live in, who our friends are, what we will be doing, etc. so that when crunch time comes we will automatically come to the correct conclusion.

[patton]

You posted that, 22 seconds before you posted it.

[1rudeboy]

ping

[NewJerseyJoe]