Experiments in free will and goals | Science | Offensive Squid | Forum for the squidlings of author Peter Watts

Experiments in free will and goals

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9:23 pm
April 13, 2011

sheila

mindsided by Blindsight

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I was hoping to be able to find a full version of this online. I'm having trouble with the abstract.

On the Foundations of Beliefs in Free Will: Intentional Binding and Unconscious Priming in Self-Agency

Abstract
[...] Specifically, Experiment 1 demonstrates that free-will beliefs are strengthened when conscious intentions to produce action outcomes bind the perception of action and outcome together in time. Experiment 2 shows that these beliefs are strengthened when unconscious priming of action outcomes creates illusory experiences of self-agency when the primed outcomes occur. Together, these findings suggest that beliefs in free will are associated with self-agency and are enhanced by both conscious and unconscious information processing of goal-directed behavior.

In any case, I found a page where the authors have some other articles available in full online. Goallab Publications. At this lab they study the "conscious experiences of goal pursuit and self-agency", among other things.

12:10 pm
April 14, 2011

sheila

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I'm still trying to parse the sentence about Experiment I (well, that whole bit I quoted really). I asked the editor at BPS Research Digest if he would consider blogging about the paper (but considering how busy people are, I wouldn't think it likely).

So, it sounds like experiment 1 is claimed to show that when someone consciously intends to do something, the perception of this intent and the perception of the action, due to their juxtaposition, appear to be linked. So, the action follows the intent therefore the person feels that their action was caused by their intent.

In experiment 2, I have no clue what the variation was, but it sounds like they primed participants for something, then had a task in which the prime was unconsciously able to elicit the same belief as in experiment 1.

But the wording is confusing to me, so I am not sure I've parsed it correctly. Also, man, I wish they described the experiment a little better in the abstract. And man, it sucks that all of this is behind a paywall.

12:12 pm
April 14, 2011

sheila

mindsided by Blindsight

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Oh! and this had me pondering.

We could alter the juxtaposition in time of an intent and an action, and I wonder if that would lead to the person not feeling like they had an intent?

e.g. I move a mouse and the cursor moves. I intended to move the cursor. We can make it so that the cursor doesn't move for a time. Does it then feel like something else moved the cursor?

I think that is a flawed one, because I can feel myself moving the mouse. What if I could interrupt signals to my arm and then it moves at some delay after I intend to move it? Oh, I wonder if people who have agnosias about parts of their body could have problems like this.

10:21 pm
April 15, 2011

Flanders

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There was an interesting experiment with shaking hands a couple of years ago. Basically, you stick your hand out, then decide to stick your hand out, THEN YOUR BRAIN REWIRES YOUR PERCEPTION OF EVENTS to reverse their order. This happens a lot with rote actions.

Ceci n'est pas un sig.

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