Volition and the Brain - Revisiting a Classic Experimental Study
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Updated: Feb 8, 2026

An Experimental Platform to Study the Closed-loop Performance of Brain-machine Interfaces
Published on: March 10, 2011
Chris D Frith1, Patrick Haggard2
1Institute of Philosophy, University of London, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU, UK; Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging at University College London, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK.
Abstract:
In 1983 Libet et al. demonstrated that brain activity associated with a voluntary act precedes conscious experience of the intention to act by several hundred milliseconds. The implication that it is the brain, rather than 'free will', that initiates voluntary acts has been discussed ever since by philosophers and lawyers, as well as by scientists. We show here how Libet's original study gave rise to an entire research field of experimental investigations of volition.
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