FALCONIUM

The saying “you know yourself the best” may not be true anymore, for science begs to differ.

Did you really choose to take the longer path back to class? Did you really decide to buy that cookie during lunch? Did you even choose to read this article? A recent study at Max Planck Institute reveals that we may not have as much control over our actions as we think we do. Whether you decide to drop this magazine here and never touch it again or to continue reading, your decision was made seven to eight seconds before you were consciously aware of it. As frightening as it may sound, this new discovery may reveal that the notion of freewill is a mere illusion. After years of ignorance, are we actually only doomed prisoners of our own brains?

The brain, a three pound mass of tissue, has been at the center of scientific inquisition for centuries, yet we still do not know exactly how and why we do the things the way we do. Why do some people believe in superstitions? Why do you drink that soda even though you know you shouldn’t? The answers are hidden in the depths of our unconscious. Sigmund Freud, a prominent neurologist and psychotherapist, first suggested peering into the unconscious in the late nineteenth century. He believed that things beyond our control, like addictions and sudden impulses, had roots deep in our unconscious thoughts and that dreams were the windows into this otherwise hidden realm. Although Freud’s simplistic approach to the brain has since been disproved, his ideas may have been in the right direction.

John-Dylan Haynes, a neuroscientist at Max Planck Institute, conducted an investigation in which he observed subjects making a simple decision—whether to press a button with their left or right hands. He then monitored their brain activity with a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine. He observed that activity shifted in their frontopolar cortex, a region of the brain associated with planning, seven seconds before the subjects chose to push the button. Soon, activity was observed in the parietal cortex, a region responsible for sensory integration, or the coordination, processing, and response to sensory input.

After monitoring the shift in neural activity, Haynes was able to accurately predict the subject’s decision seconds before it actually occurred. Although Haynes’ fMRI predictions have only succeeded with simple decisions, and have not proven to be applicable with more dynamic decisions, the results reveal important information that could potentially open up a new road for scientists and psychologists alike.

Haynes believes that although most decision making occurs in the unconscious seconds before it is carried out, there may still be a part of the conscious responsible for enacting the choice. He admits, "We can't rule out that there's a free will that kicks in at this late point." Yet he also adds, "But I don't think it's plausible."
If Haynes is correct, we may have to look at the brain and our conscious from a completely new perspective. We are only in control of our conscious self, and our conscious self is only aware of a small fraction of what the brain is doing at any moment. Further research indicates that our conscious may be even less in control than Haynes suggested. When you stop at a red light or steer around an obstacle in the road, you don’t consciously think about what you’re doing. Instead, your brain makes decisions without your knowledge, and studies suggest it tends to make the right ones.

Lex Pouget, associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, conducted a simple experiment in which he tested the ability of the unconscious to make a decision. He presented subjects with a computer screen in which many dots moved in random directions, but a select few moved together in a specific direction. He then asked the subjects whether the select dots moved to the left or right of the screen.

According to Pouget, the longer a subject looked at the dots, the more information he gathered and the surer he became of his decision. For the subject, it was suddenly clear which direction the dots were moving towards. Little did he know that his brain had accumulated information about the dots subconsciously until it met a confidence threshold, at which point it transmitted the answer to the conscious mind as a definite answer. Instead of experiencing the complex calculations performed in the subconscious, the subject simply felt as though he realized the answer spontaneously.

What occurs in the subconscious is a series of neuron impulses that determines whether or not the conscious mind realizes the answer. As sensory input is transmitted from the primary visual cortex, a series of neurons coded for either rightward or leftward movement fire. The conscious doesn’t become aware until the threshold of neuron activity is overcome. So, until a certain number of "rightward" or "leftward" neurons fire, the answer isn’t sent to the conscious mind and the subject has no clue as to which way the dots are moving. Until the calculations are performed and the threshold is met, the subject is completely in the dark, not knowing what is happening except that he is thinking about the answer. In essence, we are completely unaware of the thousands of calculations that are performed in our unconscious in a fraction of a second.

It you’re still reading this article, it means that the reasons to keep reading outweighed the reasons to put it down. And if Hayne’s theory is correct, it’s your unconscious that made that decision for you. But the question now is how. Our experiences, our knowledge, and our values are all registered somewhere in our brain, often without our knowing. We make decisions based on the endless archive of memories and facts that are stored within our head. You may have chosen to keep reading this article because it sounded interesting to you, or maybe simply because you were bored. But upon making that seemingly insignificant decision, your brain “thought” about everything.

Do I have enough time to read this? What will I gain? Am I interested? Would I rather do something else? After considering all these things, in a matter of milliseconds, it comes up with a conclusion based on that endless archive of selective memories and experiences. Those memories, values, and experiences may define us, but that does not mean that we had any conscious control in choosing them.

- Praneet Mylavarapu

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Salinas, Emilio. "So Many Choices: What Computational Models Reveal about Decision-Making Mechanisms." Neuron 26 Dec. 2008: 946-49. Neuron. Elsvier Books, 26 Dec. 2008. Web. 5 Nov. 2009.

Sherwood, Jonathan. "Our Unconscious Brain Makes the Best Decisions Possible." University of Rochester, 26 Dec 2008. Web. 31 Oct. 2009. .

Soon, Chung Siong, Marcel Brass, Hans-Jochen Heinze, and John-Dylan Haynes. "Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human brain." Nature Neuroscience Apr. 2008: 543-45. 13 Apr. 2008. Web. 5 Nov. 2009.