We are not actually consciously in charge of our self?

user-pic
Vote 0 Votes

When I watched the BBC Horizon video I came in thinking there was no way the fMRI could tell which decision Marcus was going to make. The part I found most interesting was the very end when Marcus would as randomly as he could pick which hand to squeeze the button. The fMRI could tell six seconds before Marcus squeezed the button which hand he would squeeze. Marcus was just as surprised to find this information out as I was because he seemed very confident he was in charge of his decision making and movements.
fMRI.jpg
I thought about this and was wondering what is really under our control is what we do just effected by stimulus or do we make the decisions before we know we have and is really still freewill? This video was very helpful in explaining what the fMRI exactly can measure. Can the fMRI be used in new ways to help us better understand the brain and how exactly stimulus and action can be related. Also would you be willing to donate your brain after you die to research? In summary the brain is still so unknown to us that we are still figuring out what its capabilities are and how to account for situations that we consider common sense but have no exact link to the brain.
47:53 - end

No TrackBacks

TrackBack URL: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/178801

Leave a comment

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by mann0386 published on February 19, 2012 5:08 PM.

We are not actually consciously in charge of our self? was the previous entry in this blog.

We are not actually consciously in charge of our self? is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.