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Related Experiment Videos

Conscious intention and motor cognition.

Patrick Haggard1

  • 1Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, 17 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR, UK.

Trends in Cognitive Sciences
|June 1, 2005
PubMed
Summary

Conscious intention and agency arise from brain activity preparing actions, not from retrospective inference. Neuroscience suggests these experiences stem from predictive motor control processes.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Science
  • Philosophy of Mind

Background:

  • The concept of conscious intention and its role in voluntary action has been debated in philosophy and neuroscience.
  • Traditional views explored 'conscious free will' and mind-body causation.
  • Modern neuroscience challenges the notion that conscious intentions directly cause actions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the neural basis of the subjective experience of intention and agency.
  • To explore the relationship between brain activity, predictive motor control, and the sense of acting voluntarily.
  • To re-evaluate the origins of conscious intention in light of contemporary neuroscientific findings.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of recent findings in neuroscience related to action preparation.
  • Examination of brain activity in frontal and parietal areas during intentional actions.
  • Integration of concepts from predictive motor control and cognitive neuroscience.

Main Results:

  • The conscious experience of intending to act originates from action preparation in frontal and parietal brain regions.
  • Intentional actions are associated with a robust sense of agency, or the feeling of controlling external events.
  • Both intention and agency are products of the brain's predictive motor control mechanisms.

Conclusions:

  • Neuroscience suggests that conscious intention and agency are not merely retrospective inferences but arise from predictive brain processes.
  • The subjective experience of willing an action is linked to the neural preparation for that action.
  • This understanding reframes the debate on free will by grounding intention and agency in neural mechanisms of motor control.

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