Brain scanners Can See Your Decisions Before You Make Them [Sci/Tech]

[andyoyo]

You may think you decided to read this story -- but in fact, your brain made the decision long before you knew about it.

In a study published Sunday in Nature Neuroscience, researchers using brain scanners could predict people's decisions seven seconds before the test subjects were even aware of making them.

The decision studied -- whether to hit a button with one's left or right hand -- may not be representative of complicated choices that are more integrally tied to our sense of self-direction. Regardless, the findings raise profound questions about the nature of self and autonomy: How free is our will? Is conscious choice just an illusion?

"Your decisions are strongly prepared by brain activity. By the time consciousness kicks in, most of the work has already been done," said study co-author John-Dylan Haynes, a Max Planck Institute neuroscientist.

Read the whole article here

Source: Wired.com
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The graph above shows that the brains decision peaks at 7-8 seconds before the person is conscious of the action. --andyoyo

[Freelancer]

lol how nice. Another argument for living in the moment.

I can see the advertising:
Start living in the moment NOW and NEVER be mindcontrolled AGAIN.

[jsam]

Freelancer....

How about stop acting- BE!

Namaste...

[infinitethoughts]

Originally Posted by Wired magazine.

Regardless, the findings raise profound questions about the nature of self and autonomy: How free is our will? Is conscious choice just an illusion?

That's assuming the brain is the origin of consciousness.

Western science will always dig a hole for itself. No matter how many chunks they cut out of a rat's brain, they can't reduce it's memory to perform tasks.*

Mabbe they should pay closer attention to what they discover, instead of mauling rats, eh?

*In a series of landmark experiments in the 1920s, brain scientist Karl Lashley found that no matter what portion of a rat's brain he removed he was unable to eradicate its memory of how to perform complex tasks it had learned prior to surgery.

[Anagogy]

Originally Posted by andyoyo

You may think you decided to read this story -- but in fact, your brain made the decision long before you knew about it.

In a study published Sunday in Nature Neuroscience, researchers using brain scanners could predict people's decisions seven seconds before the test subjects were even aware of making them.

I have no empirical proof, but I'd like to add my firm testimony that consciousness was aware of the decision far before it was reflected in the electrical activity of the brain. The stuff that reaches the basest levels of our consciousness (our physical minds) has already been processed (most of the time) and a course of action deduced.

[jsam]

Originally Posted by Anagogy

I have no empirical proof, but I'd like to add my firm testimony that consciousness was aware of the decision far before it was reflected in the electrical activity of the brain. The stuff that reaches the basest levels of our consciousness (our physical minds) has already been processed (most of the time) and a course of action deduced.

ANAGOGY, I agree with you. For years, I have been aware of the non-verbal thinking of the brain; it figures out everything, then sends a verbal translation to "consciousness". I often think in this mode without the verbal translation, which is linear, and much slower. When you are talking or writing, the words flow into your consciousness and your mouth repeats them. This is how "channelling" works, but sometimes the channelled material is of a far better quality than what the brain usually comes up with. An unsolved mystery for me. And sometimes channelled material is harmful- go figure! All creative ideas and thinking is processed in the brain, then translated into analog, linear verbal thought. The reason the brain evolved the slow verbal thinking is for speach- communicating with eachother, which cannot be done by non-verbal thought.

Is the brain all there is? Does it create consciousness, awareness, will, etc.?
I don't think so...what are your thoughts about it?

[Billy]

My take is that its all mapped out to the excact detail before we are even born. I've taken a big long look at conciousness and the nature of things over the years and have come to the conclusion that we are asking the wrong questions about why we are here. I have found that it is not nescessary to actually be conciously making descisions but only to think that we are and in so doing we run a sort of program that gives us the illusion of the former and produces the desired result since giving us a total free reign would be inefficient for the universe. I have learned a great deal of information from my guides over the years in regards to the nature of reality and they tell me that the human being is a generator of a special energy that is much needed in the other planes, a sort of power source if you will. With this energy entities of a much higher order acomplish functions that my guides could just not convey to me since the concepts that govern these priciples are not in any way anchored to our reality. This energy is created when we suffer and grow and is a byproduct of this process, it really disturbed me I can tell you when I was conveyed this information because as anyone can imagine nobody wants to be relegated to the level of a battery, matrix style but I came to understand it as a truth because my guides don't push anything onto me they only give me what I ask for and I asked for the truth as it is and not as I wish it to be and they have never lied to me or led me astray. So if human beings think that they are conciouss and experience all of the problems associated with life such as guilt heartbreak suffering etc then there is no need to actually give them an open hand in their destiny and it leaves open the ability for the higher orders to tweak the system to get maximum results for the least input. Just look at our technological advancement over the last two hundred years and place that next to our moral and spiritual advancement, its no coincidence that they are not even remotely comparable, we will be at this game for a long time to come. I read Robert Bruce the astral traveller also describe it as feeling like a gas pump attendant when he found out the same thing, although my guides tell me that our work here is greatly appreciated and that we are doing a great service for the whole.

[Freelancer]

Originally Posted by jsam

Freelancer....

How about stop acting- BE!

Namaste...

Thats a nice one to although I've got no clue what 'namaste' means?