Predicting free choices for abstract intentions

Abstract

Unconscious neural activity has been repeatedly shown to precede and potentially even influence subsequent free decisions. However, to date, such findings have been mostly restricted to simple motor choices, and despite considerable debate, there is no evidence that the outcome of more complex free decisions can be predicted from prior brain signals. Here, we show that the outcome of a free decision to either add or subtract numbers can already be decoded from neural activity in medial prefrontal and parietal cortex 4 s before the participant reports they are consciously making their choice. These choice-predictive signals co-occurred with the so-called default mode brain activity pattern that was still dominant at the time when the choice-predictive signals occurred. Our results suggest that unconscious preparation of free choices is not restricted to motor preparation. Instead, decisions at multiple scales of abstraction evolve from the dynamics of preceding brain activity.T he subjective experience that our voluntary actions are initiated in the conscious mind has been challenged by the finding that the human brain may already start shaping spontaneous decisions even before they enter into conscious awareness (1, 2). Specifically, the human brain can start preparing spontaneous movements up to several seconds before a person believes themselves to be consciously making a decision to move (1-3).To date, such early choice-predictive signals have only been investigated for simple movement decisions (1-6). However, there are several reasons to assess whether preparatory processes also occur for higher-level, more abstract types of decisions. First, the relevance of motor decisions for understanding the neural formation and preparation of intentions has been heavily debated (7,8), mainly because of their reduced complexity (9, 10) and the limited levels of awareness in motor control (11,12). Second, previous studies on predictive signals for motor choices have revealed early information in prefrontal and parietal brain regions. These regions are not generally considered "motor," but they have been sporadically observed in motor preparation (13,14). This invites the question of whether these regions provide only unconscious preparation of motor intentions or a common, task-independent network for preparing multiple types of decisions before awareness. Given the fundamentally different neural processes involved in performing motor acts and mental calculations, identifying overlap between the early choice-predictive signals would be of high relevance because it would point toward a common cerebral starting point for different types of choices.We also aimed to address another question regarding the prediction of free choices. Previous studies (2, 4) have found early choice-predictive information in areas that overlap with the so-called "default mode" network (DMN) (15)(16)(17). For this reason, we also directly investigated the link between our choice-predictive signals and these "off-task" brain signals. Interestingl...

An inclusive account of mind across spatiotemporal scales of cognition

“…Thus, the freely chosen decision-to-act was initially detectable in the frontal lobes before the person was consciously aware of their decision-to-act. More recently, similar results have been found with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), but with PFC activity providing information about the decision-to-act as much as 10 s before the participant's conscious awareness of their decision-to-act (Soon et al 2008;Soon et al 2013). While these results rule out a version of intentionality that relies on a nonphysical free will being causally responsible for the decision to act, it is worth noting that a version of intentionality that relies on complex nonlinear dynamics spanning across multiple spatial and temporal scales is consistent with these findings (Van Orden and Holden 2002;Spivey 2013).…”

The point of no return in vetoing self-initiated movements

“…3, p. 623). Similar preparatory signals have been observed using invasive electrophysiology (8,9) and functional MRI (7,10), and have been demonstrated also for choices between multiple-response options (6,7,10), for abstract decisions (10), for perceptual choices (11), and for value-based decisions (12). To date, the exact nature and causal role of such early signals in decision making is debated (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20).…”

Influences of unconscious priming on voluntary actions: Role of the rostral cingulate zone

“…4 Soon, Brass, Heinze, & Haynes, 2008;Soon, He, Bode, & Haynes, 2013). Intuitively one would think that free choices are mostly determined by our own intentions and internal goals.…”