Image of Benjamin Libet
An important aspect of consciousness is free will. How do we consciously control our actions? Neuroscientist Benjamin Libet said our unconscious neural activity precedes conscious actions (Libet, 1999).
Benjamin Libet believed that free will is not a component of consciousness. Rather, he questions free will using an experiment. In this experiment, Libet has a participant perform a simple task and note the time at which they felt as though they had conscious awareness of their movement. Libet found that there was unconscious activity in the brain that he called a "readiness potential." Seeing this, Libet thought that our brains prime us for our conscious actions with unconscious activity, leading him to question the concept of free will (Libet, 1999).
The implications of Libet's work on our lives could be significant. For instance, his work could suggest that we as humans do not actually have complete free will. Additionally, his work suggests that we may be experiencing an illusion of conscious control over our actions rather than actually having control over them. It is important to note, though, that Libet is not denying the existence of free will altogether but rather saying that we may not have as much of it as we think. Although his work is controversial as many have pointed to problems being present in his experiment, Libet has nonetheless helped to create an interesting way to think about consciousness.
References:
Libet, B. W. (1999). Do We Have Free Will? Journal of Consciousness Studies, 6(8–9), 47–57.
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