SherbyNet - /page/wikibook/entry.mu

Micron Document

<!DOCTYPE html>

<title>Benjamin Libet</title>

</head>

Benjamin Libet

</h1>

</header>

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data:not(.notheme)>div:not(.notheme)[style]{background:#1f1f23!important;color:#f8f9fa}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data:not(.notheme)>div:not(.notheme)[style]{background:#1f1f23!important;color:#f8f9fa}}@media(min-width:640px){body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table{display:table!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table>caption{display:table-caption!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table>tbody{display:table-row-group}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table th,body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table td{padding-left:inherit;padding-right:inherit}}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style><table class="infobox biography vcard"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-above" style="font-size:125%;"><div class="fn">Benjamin Libet</div></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Born</th><td class="infobox-data">(1916-04-12)April 12, 1916 <div style="display:inline" class="birthplace"><a href="Chicago%2C_Illinois" class="mw-redirect" title="Chicago, Illinois">Chicago, Illinois</a>, <a href="United_States" title="United States">United States</a></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Died</th><td class="infobox-data">July 23, 2007(2007-07-23) (aged 91) <div style="display:inline" class="deathplace"><a href="Davis%2C_California" title="Davis, California">Davis, California</a>, United States</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Alma mater</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="University_of_Chicago" title="University of Chicago">University of Chicago</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Known for</th><td class="infobox-data">Experimental investigation of consciousness</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data">Scientific career</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Fields</th><td class="infobox-data category"><a href="Neuroscience" title="Neuroscience">Neuroscience</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Institutions</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="University_of_California%2C_San_Francisco" title="University of California, San Francisco">University of California, San Francisco</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="Doctoral_advisor" title="Doctoral advisor">Doctoral advisor</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="Ralph_W._Gerard" title="Ralph W. Gerard">Ralph W. Gerard</a></td></tr><tr style="display:none"><td colspan="2">

</td></tr></tbody></table>

Benjamin Libet (/ˈlɪbət/;<a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a> April 12, 1916 – July 23, 2007) was an American <a href="Neuroscientist" title="Neuroscientist">neuroscientist</a> who was a pioneer in the field of <a href="Human" title="Human">human</a> <a href="Consciousness" title="Consciousness">consciousness</a>. Libet was a researcher in the <a href="Physiology" title="Physiology">physiology</a> department of the <a href="University_of_California%2C_San_Francisco" title="University of California, San Francisco">University of California, San Francisco</a>. In 2003, he was the first recipient of the Virtual Nobel Prize in <a href="Psychology" title="Psychology">Psychology</a> from the <a href="University_of_Klagenfurt" title="University of Klagenfurt">University of Klagenfurt</a> "for his pioneering achievements in the experimental investigation of consciousness, initiation of action, and <a href="Free_will" title="Free will">free will</a>".<a href="#cite_note-2">[2]</a>

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ul{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist .mw-empty-li{display:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dt::after{content:": "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li::after{content:" · ";font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li:last-child::after{content:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:first-child::before{content:" (";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:last-child::after{content:")";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol{counter-reset:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li{counter-increment:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li::before{content:" "counter(listitem)"\a0 "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li ol>li:first-child::before{content:" ("counter(listitem)"\a0 "}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1246091330">

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .sidebar{width:22em;float:right;clear:right;margin:0.5em 0 1em 1em;background:var(--background-color-neutral-subtle,#f8f9fa);border:1px solid var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1);padding:0.2em;text-align:center;line-height:1.4em;font-size:88%;border-collapse:collapse;display:table}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .sidebar{display:table!important;float:right!important;margin:0.5em 0 1em 1em!important}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-subgroup{width:100%;margin:0;border-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-left{float:left;clear:left;margin:0.5em 1em 1em 0}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-none{float:none;clear:both;margin:0.5em 1em 1em 0}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-outer-title{padding:0 0.4em 0.2em;font-size:125%;line-height:1.2em;font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-top-image{padding:0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-top-caption,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-pretitle-with-top-image,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-caption{padding:0.2em 0.4em 0;line-height:1.2em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-pretitle{padding:0.4em 0.4em 0;line-height:1.2em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-title,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{padding:0.2em 0.8em;font-size:145%;line-height:1.2em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{padding:0.1em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-image{padding:0.2em 0.4em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-heading{padding:0.1em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-content{padding:0 0.5em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-content-with-subgroup{padding:0.1em 0.4em 0.2em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-above,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-below{padding:0.3em 0.8em;font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-collapse .sidebar-above,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-collapse .sidebar-below{border-top:1px solid #aaa;border-bottom:1px solid #aaa}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-navbar{text-align:right;font-size:115%;padding:0 0.4em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-list-title{padding:0 0.4em;text-align:left;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6em;font-size:105%}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-list-title-c{padding:0 0.4em;text-align:center;margin:0 3.3em}@media(max-width:640px){body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .sidebar{width:100%!important;clear:both;float:none!important;margin-left:0!important;margin-right:0!important}}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .sidebar a>img{max-width:none!important}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-list-title,html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{background:transparent!important}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-list-title,html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{background:transparent!important}html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .sidebar{display:none!important}}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style><table class="sidebar sidebar-collapse nomobile nowraplinks"><tbody><tr><th class="sidebar-title" style="padding:0.2em"><a href="Neuropsychology" title="Neuropsychology">Neuropsychology</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-image"></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="border-top:1px solid #ccc;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">Topics</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist">

<ul><li><a href="List_of_regions_in_the_human_brain" title="List of regions in the human brain">Brain regions</a></li>

<li><a href="Clinical_neuropsychology" title="Clinical neuropsychology">Clinical neuropsychology</a></li>

<li><a href="Cognitive_neuropsychology" title="Cognitive neuropsychology">Cognitive neuropsychology</a></li>

<li><a href="Cognitive_neuroscience" title="Cognitive neuroscience">Cognitive neuroscience</a></li>

<li><a href="Dementia" title="Dementia">Dementia</a></li>

<li><a href="Human_brain" title="Human brain">Human brain</a></li>

<li><a href="Neuroanatomy" title="Neuroanatomy">Neuroanatomy</a></li>

<li><a href="Neurophysiology" title="Neurophysiology">Neurophysiology</a></li>

<li><a href="Neuropsychological_assessment" title="Neuropsychological assessment">Neuropsychological assessment</a></li>

<li><a href="Rehabilitation_(neuropsychology)" title="Rehabilitation (neuropsychology)">Neuropsychological rehabilitation</a></li>

<li><a href="Traumatic_brain_injury" title="Traumatic brain injury">Traumatic brain injury</a></li></ul></div></div></td>

</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="border-top:1px solid #ccc;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)"><a href="Brain" title="Brain">Brain functions</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist">

<ul><li><a href="Arousal" title="Arousal">Arousal</a></li>

<li><a href="Attention" title="Attention">Attention</a></li>

<li><a href="Consciousness" title="Consciousness">Consciousness</a></li>

<li><a href="Decision-making" title="Decision-making">Decision making</a></li>

<li><a href="Executive_functions" title="Executive functions">Executive functions</a></li>

<li><a href="Natural_language" title="Natural language">Natural language</a></li>

<li><a href="Learning" title="Learning">Learning</a></li>

<li><a href="Memory" title="Memory">Memory</a></li>

<li><a href="Motor_coordination" title="Motor coordination">Motor coordination</a></li>

<li><a href="Perception" title="Perception">Perception</a></li>

<li><a href="Planning" title="Planning">Planning</a></li>

<li><a href="Problem_solving" title="Problem solving">Problem solving</a></li>

<li><a href="Thought" title="Thought">Thought</a></li></ul></div></div></td>

</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="border-top:1px solid #ccc;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">People</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist">

<ul><li><a href="Alan_Baddeley" title="Alan Baddeley">Alan Baddeley</a></li>

<li><a href="Arthur_Lester_Benton" title="Arthur Lester Benton">Arthur L. Benton</a></li>

<li><a href="David_Bohm" title="David Bohm">David Bohm</a></li>

<li><a href="Antonio_Damasio" title="Antonio Damasio">Antonio Damasio</a></li>

<li><a href="Phineas_Gage" title="Phineas Gage">Phineas Gage</a></li>

<li><a href="Norman_Geschwind" title="Norman Geschwind">Norman Geschwind</a></li>

<li><a href="Elkhonon_Goldberg" title="Elkhonon Goldberg">Elkhonon Goldberg</a></li>

<li><a href="Patricia_Goldman-Rakic" title="Patricia Goldman-Rakic">Patricia Goldman-Rakic</a></li>

<li><a href="Donald_O._Hebb" title="Donald O. Hebb">Donald O. Hebb</a></li>

<li><a href="Kenneth_Heilman" title="Kenneth Heilman">Kenneth Heilman</a></li>

<li><a href="Eric_Kandel" title="Eric Kandel">Eric Kandel</a></li>

<li><a href="Edith_Kaplan" title="Edith Kaplan">Edith Kaplan</a></li>

<li><a href="Muriel_Lezak" title="Muriel Lezak">Muriel Lezak</a></li>

<li><a href="Rodolfo_Llin%C3%A1s" title="Rodolfo Llinás">Rodolfo Llinás</a></li>

<li><a href="Alexander_Luria" title="Alexander Luria">Alexander Luria</a></li>

<li><a href="Brenda_Milner" title="Brenda Milner">Brenda Milner</a></li>

<li><a href="Karl_H._Pribram" title="Karl H. Pribram">Karl H. Pribram</a></li>

<li><a href="Pasko_Rakic" title="Pasko Rakic">Pasko Rakic</a></li>

<li><a href="Oliver_Sacks" title="Oliver Sacks">Oliver Sacks</a></li>

<li><a href="Mark_Rosenzweig_(psychologist)" title="Mark Rosenzweig (psychologist)">Mark Rosenzweig</a></li>

<li><a href="Roger_Wolcott_Sperry" title="Roger Wolcott Sperry">Roger W. Sperry</a></li>

<li><a href="Hans-Lukas_Teuber" title="Hans-Lukas Teuber">Hans-Lukas Teuber</a></li>

<li><a href="Henry_Molaison" title="Henry Molaison">Henry Molaison ("H.M.", patient)</a></li>

<li><a href="Kent_Cochrane" title="Kent Cochrane">K.C. (patient)</a></li></ul></div></div></td>

</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="border-top:1px solid #ccc;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)"><a href="Neuropsychological_test" title="Neuropsychological test">Tests</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist">

<ul><li><a href="Benton_Visual_Retention_Test" title="Benton Visual Retention Test">Benton Visual Retention Test</a></li>

<li><a href="Continuous_performance_task" title="Continuous performance task">Continuous Performance Task</a></li>

<li><a href="Halstead%E2%80%93Reitan_Neuropsychological_Battery" title="Halstead–Reitan Neuropsychological Battery">Halstead–Reitan Neuropsychological Battery</a></li>

<li><a href="Hayling_and_Brixton_tests" title="Hayling and Brixton tests">Hayling and Brixton tests</a></li>

<li><a href="Lexical_decision_task" title="Lexical decision task">Lexical Decision Task</a></li>

<li><a href="Luria%E2%80%93Nebraska_Neuropsychological_Battery" title="Luria–Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery">Luria–Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery</a></li>

<li><a href="Mini%E2%80%93mental_state_examination" title="Mini–mental state examination">Mini–mental state examination</a></li>

<li><a href="Rey%E2%80%93Osterrieth_complex_figure" title="Rey–Osterrieth complex figure">Rey–Osterrieth complex figure</a></li>

<li><a href="Stroop_effect" title="Stroop effect">Stroop Test</a></li>

<li><a href="Wechsler_Adult_Intelligence_Scale" title="Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale">Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale</a></li>

<li><a href="Wechsler_Memory_Scale" title="Wechsler Memory Scale">Wechsler Memory Scale</a></li>

<li><a href="Wisconsin_Card_Sorting_Test" title="Wisconsin Card Sorting Test">Wisconsin Card Sorting Task</a></li></ul></div></div></td>

</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-below" style="border-top:1px solid #aaa;padding:0.4em 0 0.5em;border-bottom:1px solid #aaa;">

<ul><li> <a href="Portal%3APsychology" title="Portal:Psychology">Psychology portal</a></li>

<li> <a href="Portal%3APhilosophy" title="Portal:Philosophy">Philosophy portal</a></li>

<li> <a href="Portal%3AMedicine" title="Portal:Medicine">Medicine portal</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style></td></tr></tbody></table>

Libet was the son of <a href="History_of_the_Jews_in_Ukraine" title="History of the Jews in Ukraine">Ukrainian Jewish</a> immigrants. Gamer Libitsky, his paternal grandfather, came to America in 1865 from a town called <a href="Brusyliv%2C_Zhytomyr_Oblast" title="Brusyliv, Zhytomyr Oblast">Brusyliv</a> in <a href="Ukraine" title="Ukraine">Ukraine</a>.

His mother, Anna Charovsky, emigrated from <a href="Kyiv" title="Kyiv">Kyiv</a> in 1913. His parents met in <a href="Chicago" title="Chicago">Chicago</a> and married in 1915 and had Libet the next year. He had a brother, Meyer, and a sister, Dorothy. Libet attended a public <a href="Elementary_school" class="mw-redirect" title="Elementary school">elementary school</a> and <a href="Marshall_Metropolitan_High_School" title="Marshall Metropolitan High School">John Marshall High School</a>. In 1939, Libet graduated from the <a href="University_of_Chicago" title="University of Chicago">University of Chicago</a>, where he studied with <a href="Ralph_W._Gerard" title="Ralph W. Gerard">Ralph W. Gerard</a>.<a href="#cite_note-3">[3]</a>

In the 1970s, Libet was involved in research into <a href="Neural" class="mw-redirect" title="Neural">neural</a> activity and <a href="Sensory_threshold" title="Sensory threshold">sensation thresholds</a>. His initial investigations involved determining how much activation at specific sites in the brain was required to trigger artificial <a href="Somatic_nervous_system" title="Somatic nervous system">somatic</a> sensations, relying on routine <a href="Psychophysics" title="Psychophysics">psychophysical</a> procedures. This work soon crossed into an investigation into human consciousness; his most famous experiment was meant to demonstrate that the unconscious electrical processes in the brain called <a href="Bereitschaftspotential" title="Bereitschaftspotential">Bereitschaftspotential</a> (or readiness potential) discovered by <a href="L%C3%BCder_Deecke" title="Lüder Deecke">Lüder Deecke</a> and <a href="Hans_Helmut_Kornhuber" title="Hans Helmut Kornhuber">Hans Helmut Kornhuber</a> in 1965<a href="#cite_note-4">[4]</a> precede conscious decisions to perform <a href="Volition_(psychology)" title="Volition (psychology)">volitional</a>, spontaneous acts, implying that <a href="Unconscious_mind" title="Unconscious mind">unconscious</a> neuronal processes precede and potentially cause volitional acts which are retrospectively felt to be consciously motivated by the subject. The experiment has caused controversy not only because it challenges the belief in free will, but also due to a criticism of its implicit assumptions.<a href="#cite_note-5">[5]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Volitional_acts_and_readiness_potential">Volitional acts and readiness potential</h2></div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Equipment">Equipment</h3></div>

To gauge the relation between unconscious readiness potential and subjective feelings of volition and action, Libet required an <a href="Objectivity_(science)" title="Objectivity (science)">objective</a> method of marking the subject's conscious experience of the will to perform an action in time, and afterward comparing this information with data recording the brain's electrical activity during the same interval.<a href="#cite_note-6">[6]</a><a href="#cite_note-7">[7]</a> For this, Libet required specialized pieces of equipment.

The first of these was the <a href="Cathode_ray" title="Cathode ray">cathode ray</a> <a href="Oscilloscope" title="Oscilloscope">oscilloscope</a>, an instrument typically used to graph the <a href="Amplitude" title="Amplitude">amplitude</a> and <a href="Frequency" title="Frequency">frequency</a> of electrical signals. With a few adjustments, however, the oscilloscope could be made to act as a timer: instead of displaying a series of waves, the output was a single dot that could be made to travel in a circular motion, similar to the movements of a second hand around a clock face. This timer was set so that the time it took for the dot to travel between intervals marked on the oscilloscope was approximately forty-three <a href="Milliseconds" class="mw-redirect" title="Milliseconds">milliseconds</a>. As the <a href="Angular_velocity" title="Angular velocity">angular velocity</a> of the dot remained constant, any change in distance could easily be converted into the time it took to travel that distance.

To monitor brain activity during the same period, Libet used an <a href="Electroencephalogram" class="mw-redirect" title="Electroencephalogram">electroencephalogram</a> (EEG). The EEG uses small <a href="Electrodes" class="mw-redirect" title="Electrodes">electrodes</a> placed at various points on the scalp that measure neuronal activity in the <a href="Cerebral_cortex" title="Cerebral cortex">cortex</a>, the outermost portion of the <a href="Brain" title="Brain">brain</a>, which is associated with higher <a href="Cognition" title="Cognition">cognition</a>. The transmission of electrical signals across regions of the cortex causes differences in measured voltage across EEG electrodes. These differences in voltage reflect changes in neuronal activity in specific areas of the cortex.

To measure the actual time of the voluntary motor act, an <a href="Electromyography" title="Electromyography">electromyograph</a> (EMG) recorded the muscle movement using electrodes on the skin over the activated muscle of the forearm. The EMG time was taken as the zero time relative to which all other times were calculated.

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Methods">Methods</h3></div>

Researchers carrying out Libet's procedure would ask each participant to sit at a desk in front of the oscilloscope timer. They would affix the EEG electrodes to the participant's scalp, and would then instruct the subject to carry out some small, simple motor activity, such as pressing a button, or flexing a finger or wrist, within a certain time frame. No limits were placed on the number of times the subject could perform the action within this period.

During the experiment, the subject would be asked to note the position of the dot on the oscilloscope timer when "he/she was first aware of the wish or urge to act" (control tests with Libet's equipment demonstrated a comfortable <a href="Margin_of_error" title="Margin of error">margin of error</a> of only −50 milliseconds). Pressing the button also recorded the position of the dot on the oscillator, this time electronically. By comparing the marked time of the button's pushing and the subject's conscious decision to act, researchers were able to calculate the total time of the trial from the subject's initial volition through to the resultant action. On average, approximately two hundred milliseconds elapsed between the first appearance of conscious will to press the button and the act of pressing it.

Researchers also analyzed EEG recordings for each trial with respect to the timing of the action. It was noted that brain activity involved in the initiation of the action, primarily centered in the secondary <a href="Motor_cortex" title="Motor cortex">motor cortex</a>, occurred, on average, approximately five hundred milliseconds before the trial ended with the pushing of the button. That is to say, researchers recorded mounting brain activity related to the resultant action as many as three hundred milliseconds before subjects reported the first awareness of conscious will to act. In other words, apparently conscious decisions to act were preceded by an unconscious buildup of electrical activity within the brain – the change in EEG signals reflecting this buildup came to be called <a href="Bereitschaftspotential" title="Bereitschaftspotential">Bereitschaftspotential</a> or <a href="Readiness_potential" class="mw-redirect" title="Readiness potential">readiness potential</a>. As of 2008, the upcoming outcome of a decision could be found in study of the brain activity in the prefrontal and parietal cortex up to 7 seconds before the subject was aware of their decision.<a href="#cite_note-8">[8]</a> Since then, even the readiness potential argument has been refuted.<a href="#cite_note-:0-9">[9]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Implications_of_Libet's_experiments">Implications of Libet's experiments</h2></div>

There is no majority agreement about the interpretation or the significance of Libet's experiments.<a href="#cite_note-New_Perspectives_for_a_Dualistic_Conception_of_Mental_Causation-10">[10]</a> However, Libet's experiments suggest to some<a href="#cite_note-11">[11]</a> that unconscious processes in the brain are the true initiator of volitional acts, and <a href="Free_will" title="Free will">free will</a> therefore plays no part in their initiation. If unconscious brain processes have already taken steps to initiate an action before consciousness is aware of any desire to perform it, the causal role of consciousness in volition is all but eliminated, according to this interpretation. For instance, <a href="Susan_Blackmore" title="Susan Blackmore">Susan Blackmore</a>'s interpretation is "that conscious experience takes some time to build up and is much too slow to be responsible for making things happen".<a href="#cite_note-12">[12]</a>

Such a conclusion would be overdrawn as in a subsequent run of experiments, Libet found that even after the awareness of the decision to push the button had happened, people still had the capability to veto the decision and not to push the button. So they still had the capability to refrain from the decision that had earlier been made. Some therefore take this brain impulse to push the button to suggest just a readiness potential which the subject may either then go along with or may veto. So the person still has power over his or her decision.<a href="#cite_note-New_Perspectives_for_a_Dualistic_Conception_of_Mental_Causation-10">[10]</a>

For this reason, Libet himself regards his experimental results to be entirely compatible with the notion of free will.<a href="#cite_note-New_Perspectives_for_a_Dualistic_Conception_of_Mental_Causation-10">[10]</a> He finds that conscious volition is exercised in the form of 'the power of veto' (sometimes called "free won't");<a href="#cite_note-13">[13]</a><a href="#cite_note-14">[14]</a> the idea that conscious acquiescence is required to allow the unconscious buildup of the <a href="Readiness_potential" class="mw-redirect" title="Readiness potential">readiness potential</a> to be actualized as a movement. While consciousness plays no part in the instigation of volitional acts, Libet suggested that it may still have a part to play in suppressing or withholding certain acts instigated by the unconscious. Libet noted that everyone has experienced the withholding from performing an unconscious urge. Since the subjective experience of the conscious will to act preceded the action by only 200 milliseconds, this leaves consciousness only 100–150 milliseconds to veto an action (this is because the final 20 milliseconds prior to an act are occupied by the activation of the <a href="Spinal_cord" title="Spinal cord">spinal</a> <a href="Motor_neurones" class="mw-redirect" title="Motor neurones">motor neurons</a> by the primary motor cortex, and the margin of error indicated by tests utilizing the oscillator must also be considered). However, <a href="Max_Velmans" title="Max Velmans">Max Velmans</a> has argued: "Libet

has shown that the experienced intention to perform an act is preceded by cerebral initiation. Why should the experienced decision to veto that intention, or to actively or passively promote its completion, be any different?"<a href="#cite_note-15">[15]</a>

In a study published in 2012, Aaron Schurger, Jacobo D. Sitt, and <a href="Stanislas_Dehaene" title="Stanislas Dehaene">Stanislas Dehaene</a> proposed that the occurrence of the readiness potentials observed in Libet-type experiments is stochastically occasioned by ongoing spontaneous subthreshold fluctuations in neural activity, rather than an unconscious goal-directed operation.<a href="#cite_note-16">[16]</a><a href="#cite_note-17">[17]</a>

In an empirical study in 2019, researchers found that readiness potentials were absent for deliberate decisions, and preceded arbitrary decisions only.<a href="#cite_note-18">[18]</a>

Libet's experiments have received both support and opposition from other research related to the <a href="Neuroscience_of_free_will" title="Neuroscience of free will">neuroscience of free will</a>.

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Reactions_by_dualist_philosophers">Reactions by dualist philosophers</h3></div>

The German <a href="Philosophy" title="Philosophy">philosopher</a> Uwe Meixner commented, "For making an informed decision, the self needs to be conscious of the facts relevant to the decision prior to making the decision; but...the self certainly does not need to be conscious of making the decision at the very same time it makes it...the consciousness of a state of affairs P being (presently) the case is always somewhat later than the actual fact of P's being the case...".<a href="#cite_note-New_Perspectives_for_a_Dualistic_Conception_of_Mental_Causation-10">[10]</a>

When one is speaking to another individual, as a result of the limited velocity of light signals and the limited velocity of sound waves and the limited velocity of nerve signals, what one is experiencing as now is always slightly in the past. No person ever has a definite present awareness of what is occurring around them. There is a small time delay due to the limited velocity of these many different signals that is indiscernible to people because it is extremely short. Meixner also says, "it is hardly surprising that the consciousness of making a decision is no exception to this general rule, which is due to the dependence of consciousness on neurophysiology".<a href="#cite_note-New_Perspectives_for_a_Dualistic_Conception_of_Mental_Causation-10">[10]</a>

Just as nothing that is actually presently there can be observed because of the limited velocity of light but events as they are just a little in the past can be observed, in the same way people do not have a consciousness of their own decisions simultaneously with their making them but they have it undetectedly afterwards.<a href="#cite_note-New_Perspectives_for_a_Dualistic_Conception_of_Mental_Causation-10">[10]</a>

If the mind has the power to think without being causally determined, then all it requires to do in order to make accountable, knowledgeable, free decisions is consciousness of the pertinent facts before its decision making. However, the mind does not require to be aware or conscious of the decision itself at the same it makes that decision.<a href="#cite_note-New_Perspectives_for_a_Dualistic_Conception_of_Mental_Causation-10">[10]</a>

It has been suggested that consciousness is merely a side-effect of neuronal functions, an <a href="Epiphenomenon" title="Epiphenomenon">epiphenomenon</a> of brain states (see also: <a href="Epiphenomenalism" title="Epiphenomenalism">Epiphenomenalism</a>). Libet's experiments have been proffered in support of this theory; our reports of conscious instigation of our own acts are, in this view, a mistake of retrospection. However, some dualist philosophers have disputed this conclusion:

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 32px}.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;margin-top:0}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{padding-left:1.6em}}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style><blockquote class="templatequote">

In short, the [neuronal] causes and correlates of conscious experience should not be confused with their <a href="Ontology" title="Ontology">ontology</a> ... the only evidence about what conscious experiences are like comes from first-person sources, which consistently suggest consciousness to be something other than or additional to neuronal activity.<a href="#cite_note-19">[19]</a></blockquote>

A more general criticism from a dualist-interactionist perspective has been raised by Alexander Batthyany<a href="#cite_note-20">[20]</a> who points out that Libet asked his subjects to merely "let the urge [to move] appear on its own at any time without any pre-planning or concentration on when to act".<a href="#cite_note-21">[21]</a> According to Batthyany, neither reductionist nor non-reductionist agency theories claim that urges which appear on their own are suitable examples of (allegedly) consciously caused events because one cannot passively wait for an urge to occur while at the same time being the one who is consciously bringing it about. Libet's results thus cannot be interpreted to provide empirical evidence in favour of agency reductionism, since non-reductionist theories, even including dualist interactionism, would predict the very same experimental results.

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Timing_issues">Timing issues</h3></div>

American philosopher, writer, and <a href="Cognitive_science" title="Cognitive science">cognitive scientist</a> <a href="Daniel_Dennett" title="Daniel Dennett">Daniel Dennett</a> argues that no clear conclusion about volition can be derived from Libet's experiment because of ambiguities in the timings of the different events involved. Libet tells when the readiness potential occurs objectively, using electrodes, but relies on the subject reporting the position of the hand of a clock to determine when the conscious decision was made. As Dennett points out, this is only a report of where it seems to the subject that various things come together, not of the objective time at which they actually occur:<a href="#cite_note-22">[22]</a><a href="#cite_note-23">[23]</a>

<blockquote class="templatequote">Suppose Libet knows that your readiness potential peaked at millisecond 6,810 of the experimental trial, and the clock dot was straight down (which is what you reported you saw) at millisecond 7,005. How many milliseconds should he have to add to this number to get the time you were conscious of it? The light gets from your clock face to your eyeball almost instantaneously, but the path of the signals from retina through lateral geniculate nucleus to striate cortex takes 5 to 10 milliseconds—a paltry fraction of the 300 milliseconds offset, but how much longer does it take them to get to you. (Or are you located in the striate cortex?) The visual signals have to be processed before they arrive at wherever they need to arrive for you to make a conscious decision of simultaneity. Libet's method presupposes, in short, that we can locate the intersection of two trajectories:

<ul><li>the rising-to-consciousness of signals representing the decision to flick</li>

<li>the rising to consciousness of signals representing successive clock-face orientations</li></ul>

so that these events occur side-by-side as it were in place where their simultaneity can be noted.

</blockquote>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Subjective_backward_referral_or_"antedating"_of_sensory_experience">Subjective backward referral or "antedating" of sensory experience</h3></div>

Libet's early theory, resting on study of stimuli and sensation,<a href="#cite_note-L1979-24">[24]</a> was found bizarre by some commentators, including <a href="Patricia_Churchland" title="Patricia Churchland">Patricia Churchland</a>,<a href="#cite_note-25">[25]</a> due to the apparent idea of backward causation. Libet<a href="#cite_note-26">[26]</a> argued that data suggested that we retrospectively "antedate" the beginning of a sensation to the moment of the primary neuronal response. People interpreted Libet's work on stimulus and sensation in a number of different ways. <a href="John_Carew_Eccles" class="mw-redirect" title="John Carew Eccles">John Eccles</a><a href="#cite_note-27">[27]</a> presented Libet's work as suggesting a backward step in time made by a non-physical mind. Edoardo Bisiach (1988)<a href="#cite_note-28">[28]</a> described Eccles as tendentious, but commented:

This is indeed the conclusion that the authors (Libet, et al.) themselves seem to be willing to force upon the reader. ... They dispute an alternative explanation, suggested by Mackay in a discussion with Libet (1979, p. 219)<a href="#cite_note-L1979-24">[24]</a> to the effect that 'the subjective referral backwards in time may be due to an illusory judgment made by the subject when he reports the timings', and more significant, Libet, et al. (1979, p. 220)<a href="#cite_note-L1979-24">[24]</a> hint at 'serious though not insurmountable difficulties' for the identity theory (of mind and matter) caused by their data.</blockquote>

Libet later concluded<a href="#cite_note-L2004-29">[29]</a> that there appeared to be "no neural mechanism that could be viewed as directly mediating or accounting for" the subjective sensory referrals backward in time (emphasis Libet's). Libet postulated that the primary <a href="Evoked_potential#Sensory_evoked_potentials" title="Evoked potential">evoked potential</a> (EP) serves as a "time marker". The EP is a sharp positive potential appearing in the appropriate sensory region of the brain about 25 milliseconds after a skin stimulus. Libet's experiments demonstrated that there is an automatic subjective referral of the conscious experience backwards in time to this time marker.<a href="#cite_note-L1979-24">[24]</a> The skin sensation does not enter our conscious awareness until about 500 milliseconds after the skin stimulus, but we subjectively feel that the sensation occurred at the time of the stimulus.

For Libet, these subjective referrals would appear to be purely a mental function with no corresponding neural basis in the brain. Indeed, this suggestion can be more broadly generalized:

<blockquote class="templatequote">The transformation from neuronal patterns to a subjective representation would appear to develop in a mental sphere that has emerged from that neuronal pattern. ... My view of mental subjective function is that it is an emergent property of appropriate brain functions. The conscious mental cannot exist without the brain processes that give rise to it. However, having emerged from brain activities as a unique 'property' of that physical system, the mental can exhibit phenomena not evident in the neural brain that produced it.<a href="#cite_note-30">[30]</a></blockquote>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Conscious_mental_field_theory">Conscious mental field theory</h2></div>

In the later part of his career, Libet proposed a theory of the conscious mental field (CMF)<a href="#cite_note-31">[31]</a> to explain how the mental arises from the physical brain. The two main motivations prompting this proposal were: (1) the phenomenon of the unity of subjective conscious experience and (2) the phenomenon that conscious mental function appears to influence nerve cell activity.

Regarding the unity of conscious experience, it was increasingly evident to Libet that many functions of the cortex are localized, even to a microscopic level in a region of the brain, and yet the conscious experiences related to these areas are integrated and unified. We do not experience an infinite array of individual events but rather a unitary integrated consciousness, for example, with no gaps in spatial and colored images. For Libet, some unifying process or phenomenon likely mediates the transformation of localized, particularized neuronal representations into our unified conscious experience. This process seemed to be best accountable in a mental sphere that appears to emerge from the neural events, namely, the conscious mental field.

The CMF is the mediator between the physical activities of nerve cells and the emergence of subjective experience. Thus the CMF is the entity in which unified subjective experience is present and provides the causal ability to affect or alter some neuronal functions. Libet proposed the CMF as a "property" of an emergent phenomenon of the brain; it does not exist without the brain but emerges from the appropriate system of neural activity. This proposal is related to <a href="Electromagnetic_theories_of_consciousness" title="Electromagnetic theories of consciousness">electromagnetic theories of consciousness</a>.

To test the proposed causal ability of the CMF to affect or alter neuronal functions, Libet proposed an experimental design,<a href="#cite_note-32">[32]</a><a href="#cite_note-33">[33]</a> which would surgically isolate a slab of cerebral cortex (in a patient for whom such a procedure was therapeutically required). If electrical stimulation of the isolated cortex can elicit an introspective report by the subject, the CMF must be able to activate appropriate cerebral areas in order to produce the verbal report. This result would demonstrate directly that a conscious mental field could affect neuronal functions in a way that would account for the activity of the conscious will. Detailed description of the proposed experimental test is as follows:

<blockquote class="templatequote">A small slab of sensory cortex (subserving any modality) is neuronally isolated but kept viable by making all the cortical cuts subpially. This allows the blood vessels in the pia to project into the isolated slab and provide blood flow from the arterial branches that dip vertically into the cortex. The prediction is that electrical stimulation of the sensory slab will produce a subjective response reportable by the subject. That is, activity in the isolated slab can contribute by producing its own portion of the CMF.<a href="#cite_note-telefonica.net-34">[34]</a></blockquote>

Libet further elaborated on CMF:

<blockquote class="templatequote">The CMF is not a Cartesian dualistic phenomenon; it is not separable from the brain. Rather, it is proposed to be a localizable system property produced by appropriate neuronal activities, and it cannot exist without them. Again, it is not a ghost in the machine. But, as a system produced by billions of nerve cell actions, it can have properties not directly predictable from these neuronal activities. It is a non-physical phenomenon, like the subjective experience that it represents. The process by which the CMF arises from its contributing elements is not describable. It must simply be regarded as a new fundamental given phenomenon in nature, which is different from other fundamental givens, like gravity or electromagnetism.<a href="#cite_note-telefonica.net-34">[34]</a>

</blockquote>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Tributes">Tributes</h2></div>

Robert W. Doty, professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the <a href="University_of_Rochester" title="University of Rochester">University of Rochester</a>:<a href="#cite_note-35">[35]</a>

<blockquote class="templatequote">Benjamin Libet's discoveries are of extraordinary interest. His is almost the only approach yet to yield any credible evidence of how conscious awareness is produced by the brain. Libet's work is unique, and speaks to questions asked by all humankind.</blockquote>

<a href="Susan_J._Blackmore" class="mw-redirect" title="Susan J. Blackmore">Susan J. Blackmore</a>, visiting lecturer at the <a href="University_of_the_West_of_England" title="University of the West of England">University of the West of England</a>, <a href="Bristol" title="Bristol">Bristol</a>:<a href="#cite_note-36">[36]</a> <blockquote class="templatequote">Many philosophers and scientists have argued that free will is an illusion. Unlike all of them, Benjamin Libet found a way to test it.</blockquote>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="In_popular_culture">In popular culture</h2></div>

Libet and his research into the delay is referenced several times in song titles by musical artist <a href="The_Caretaker_(musician)" title="The Caretaker (musician)">the Caretaker</a>, who was influenced by some of his work. The 2011 album <a href="An_Empty_Bliss_Beyond_This_World" title="An Empty Bliss Beyond This World">An Empty Bliss Beyond This World</a> contains a song called "Libet's Delay", which went on to be one of the more popular tracks from it.<a href="#cite_note-37">[37]</a> The Caretaker's final release, <a href="Everywhere_at_the_End_of_Time" title="Everywhere at the End of Time">Everywhere at the End of Time</a>, contains the songs "Back There Benjamin," (Referring to his first name) "Libet's All Joyful Camaraderie" and "Libet Delay", with the latter being a far more twisted, distorted version of the original "Libet's Delay".<a href="#cite_note-38">[38]</a> Also, the 2019 extra album <a href="Everywhere%2C_an_Empty_Bliss" title="Everywhere, an Empty Bliss">Everywhere, an Empty Bliss</a> includes a track named "Benjamin Beyond Bliss".<a href="#cite_note-39">[39]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style><div class="reflist reflist-columns references-column-width" style="column-width: 30em;">

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("./mw/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("./mw/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("./mw/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("./mw/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110706085825/http://cognition.uni-klu.ac.at/nobel/Ben_Libet_low_res.mov">"2003 Virtual Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech"</a>. cognition.uni-klu.ac.at. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://cognition.uni-klu.ac.at/nobel/Ben_Libet_low_res.mov">the original</a> on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2010-04-09.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.today/20121127175234/http://wwwg.uni-klu.ac.at/psy/cognition/index.php?page=nobelprize&lang=english">Virtual Nobel Prize web site.</a> This prize has no relation to the <a href="Nobel_Prize" title="Nobel Prize">Nobel Prize</a> of the Swedish Nobel Foundation.

</li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFSquire" class="citation web cs1">Squire, Larry R. (ed.). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.sfn.org/~/media/SfN/Documents/TheHistoryofNeuroscience/Volume%201/c13.ashx">"The History of Neuroscience in Autobiography"</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201129195243/https://www.sfn.org/~/media/SfN/Documents/TheHistoryofNeuroscience/Volume%201/c13.ashx">Archived</a> from the original on 2020-11-29. Retrieved 2016-06-08.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-4"><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFKornhuber_H.H.Deecke_L.1965" class="citation journal cs1">Kornhuber H.H.; Deecke L. (1965). "Hirnpotentialänderungen bei Willkürbewegungen und passiven Bewegungen des Menschen: Bereitschaftspotential und reafferente Potentiale". Pflügers Arch. 284: 1–17. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF00412364">10.1007/BF00412364</a>. <a href="S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:41483856">41483856</a>.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-5"><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFJarrett" class="citation web cs1">Jarrett, Christian. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210722150208/https://digest.bps.org.uk/2008/09/19/exposing-some-holes-in-libets-classic-free-will-study/">"Exposing some holes in Libet's classic free will study"</a>. Research Digest. British Psychological Society. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2008/09/19/exposing-some-holes-in-libets-classic-free-will-study/">the original</a> on 22 July 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2021.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-6"><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFLibetGleasonWrightPearl1983" class="citation journal cs1">Libet, Benjamin; Gleason, Curtis A.; Wright, Elwood W.; Pearl, Dennis K. (1983). "Time of Conscious Intention to Act in Relation to Onset of Cerebral Activity (Readiness-Potential) – The Unconscious Initiation of a Freely Voluntary Act". Brain. 106 (3): 623–642. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fbrain%2F106.3.623">10.1093/brain/106.3.623</a>. <a href="PMID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="PMID (identifier)">PMID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6640273">6640273</a>.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-7"><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFLibet1985" class="citation journal cs1">Libet, Benjamin (1985). "Unconscious Cerebral Initiative and the Role of Conscious Will in Voluntary Action". The Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 8 (4): 529–566. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1017%2Fs0140525x00044903">10.1017/s0140525x00044903</a>. <a href="S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:6965339">6965339</a>.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-8"><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFKeim,_Brandon2008" class="citation news cs1">Keim, Brandon (April 13, 2008). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/04/mind_decision">"Brain Scanners Can See Your Decisions Before You Make Them"</a>. Wired News. CondéNet. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080414181130/http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/04/mind_decision">Archived</a> from the original on 2008-04-14. Retrieved 2008-04-13.</cite> and <cite id="CITEREFChun_Siong_SoonMarcel_BrassHans-Jochen_HeinzeJohn-Dylan_Haynes2008" class="citation journal cs1">Chun Siong Soon; Marcel Brass; Hans-Jochen Heinze; <a href="John-Dylan_Haynes" title="John-Dylan Haynes">John-Dylan Haynes</a> (April 13, 2008). "Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human brain (Abstract)". Nature Neuroscience. 11 (5): 543–5. <a href="CiteSeerX_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="CiteSeerX (identifier)">CiteSeerX</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.520.2204">10.1.1.520.2204</a>. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnn.2112">10.1038/nn.2112</a>. <a href="PMID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="PMID (identifier)">PMID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18408715">18408715</a>. <a href="S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:2652613">2652613</a>.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-:0-9"><a href="#cite_ref-:0_9-0">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFGholipour2019" class="citation web cs1">Gholipour, Bahar (10 September 2019). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/09/free-will-bereitschaftspotential/597736/">"A Famous Argument Against Free Will has been Debunked"</a>. The Atlantic. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201022181520/https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/09/free-will-bereitschaftspotential/597736/">Archived</a> from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-New_Perspectives_for_a_Dualistic_Conception_of_Mental_Causation-10">^ <a href="#cite_ref-New_Perspectives_for_a_Dualistic_Conception_of_Mental_Causation_10-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-New_Perspectives_for_a_Dualistic_Conception_of_Mental_Causation_10-1">b</a> <a href="#cite_ref-New_Perspectives_for_a_Dualistic_Conception_of_Mental_Causation_10-2">c</a> <a href="#cite_ref-New_Perspectives_for_a_Dualistic_Conception_of_Mental_Causation_10-3">d</a> <a href="#cite_ref-New_Perspectives_for_a_Dualistic_Conception_of_Mental_Causation_10-4">e</a> <a href="#cite_ref-New_Perspectives_for_a_Dualistic_Conception_of_Mental_Causation_10-5">f</a> <a href="#cite_ref-New_Perspectives_for_a_Dualistic_Conception_of_Mental_Causation_10-6">g</a> <cite id="CITEREFMeixner2008" class="citation journal cs1">Meixner, Uwe (2008). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.informationphilosopher.com/presentations/Milan/papers/Meixner.pdf">"New perspectives for a dualistic conception of mental causation"</a> (PDF). Journal of Consciousness Studies. 15 (1): 17–38. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20240726163128/https://www.informationphilosopher.com/presentations/Milan/papers/Meixner.pdf">Archived</a> (PDF) from the original on July 26, 2024. Retrieved May 23, 2020.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-11"><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a> <a href="Daniel_Wegner" title="Daniel Wegner">Wegner D.</a>, 2002. The Illusion of Conscious Will. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

</li>

<li id="cite_note-12"><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/Conferences/tucson96.html">"Why psi tells us nothing about Consciousness"</a>. 2002-03-25. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160321214326/http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/Conferences/tucson96.html">Archived</a> from the original on 2016-03-21. Retrieved 2009-12-20.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-13"><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a> <a href="V._S._Ramachandran" title="V. S. Ramachandran">V. S. Ramachandran</a>, <a href="New_Scientist" title="New Scientist">New Scientist</a>, 5 Sep 1998, p. 35

</li>

<li id="cite_note-14"><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a> <cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121108224702/http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/07/18/stories/2008071851530400.htm">"It's a matter of neurons"</a>. <a href="The_Hindu" title="The Hindu">The Hindu</a>. 2008-07-17. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/07/18/stories/2008071851530400.htm">the original</a> on 2012-11-08. Retrieved 2011-03-01.</cite> Interview with V. S. Ramachandran, <a href="The_Hindu" title="The Hindu">The Hindu</a>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-15"><a href="#cite_ref-15">^</a> "Consciousness from a First-Person Perspective,"

Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 14, pp. 702–719.

</li>

<li id="cite_note-16"><a href="#cite_ref-16">^</a> Aaron Schurger, Jacobo D. Sitt, and Stanislas Dehaene, "An accumulator model for spontaneous neural activity prior to self-initiated movement", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, October 16, 2012, 109 (42) E2904-E2913; <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1210467109">https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1210467109</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20240726163142/https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1210467109">Archived</a> 2024-07-26 at the <a href="Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-17"><a href="#cite_ref-17">^</a> Bahar Gholipour, The Atlantic Monthly, "A Famous Argument Against Free Will Has Been Debunked" <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/09/free-will-bereitschaftspotential/597736/">https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/09/free-will-bereitschaftspotential/597736/</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20240726163142/https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/09/free-will-bereitschaftspotential/597736/">Archived</a> 2024-07-26 at the <a href="Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-18"><a href="#cite_ref-18">^</a> Uri Maoz, Gideon Yaffe, Christof Koch, Liad Mudrik, "Neural precursors of decisions that matter—an ERP study of deliberate and arbitrary choice", eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd., October 23, 2019;

<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.39787">https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.39787</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20240726163146/https://elifesciences.org/articles/39787">Archived</a> 2024-07-26 at the <a href="Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-19"><a href="#cite_ref-19">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFVelmans2000" class="citation book cs1">Velmans, Max (2000). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/understandingcon0000velm">Understanding Consciousness</a>. London: <a href="Routledge" title="Routledge">Routledge</a>. pp. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/understandingcon0000velm/page/35">35–37</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-415-22492-5</bdi>.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-20"><a href="#cite_ref-20">^</a> Batthyany, Alexander: Mental Causation and Free Will after Libet and Soon: Reclaiming Conscious Agency. In Batthyany und Avshalom Elitzur. Irreducibly Conscious. Selected Papers on Consciousness, Universitätsverlag Winter Heidelberg 2009, p.135ff.

</li>

<li id="cite_note-21"><a href="#cite_ref-21">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFLibet_B.Wright_E.W.,_Gleason1983" class="citation journal cs1">Libet B.; Wright E.; W., Gleason (1983). "Readiness potentials preceding unrestricted spontaneous pre-planned voluntary acts". Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology. 54 (3): 322–325. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0013-4694%2882%2990181-x">10.1016/0013-4694(82)90181-x</a>. <a href="PMID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="PMID (identifier)">PMID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6179759">6179759</a>.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-22"><a href="#cite_ref-22">^</a> "Freedom Evolves" by Daniel Dennett, p. 231

</li>

<li id="cite_note-23"><a href="#cite_ref-23">^</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/papers/SelfasaResponding.pdf">Dennett, D. The Self as Responding and Responsible Artefact</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160701075451/http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/papers/SelfasaResponding.pdf">Archived</a> July 1, 2016, at the <a href="Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-L1979-24">^ <a href="#cite_ref-L1979_24-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-L1979_24-1">b</a> <a href="#cite_ref-L1979_24-2">c</a> <a href="#cite_ref-L1979_24-3">d</a> <cite id="CITEREFLibetWright_Jr.FeinsteinPearl1979" class="citation journal cs1">Libet, Benjamin; Wright Jr., Elwood W.; Feinstein, Bertram; Pearl, Dennis K. (1979). "Subjective Referral of the Timing for a Conscious Sensory Experience – A Functional Role for the Somatosensory Specific Projection System in Man". Brain. 102 (1): 193–224. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fbrain%2F102.1.193">10.1093/brain/102.1.193</a>. <a href="PMID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="PMID (identifier)">PMID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/427530">427530</a>.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-25"><a href="#cite_ref-25">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFChurchland1981" class="citation journal cs1">Churchland, Patricia Smith (Jun 1981). "On the Alleged Backwards Referral of Experiences and its Relevance to the Mind-Body Problem". Philosophy of Science. 48 (2): 165–181. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1086%2F288989">10.1086/288989</a>. <a href="S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:123308941">123308941</a>.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-26"><a href="#cite_ref-26">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFLibet1981" class="citation journal cs1">Libet, Benjamin (1981). "The Experimental Evidence for Subjective Referral of a Sensory Experience Backwards in Time: Reply to P.S. Churchland". Philosophy of Science. 48 (2): 182–197. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1086%2F288990">10.1086/288990</a>. <a href="S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:224830158">224830158</a>.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-27"><a href="#cite_ref-27">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFEccles_J.C.1985" class="citation journal cs1">Eccles J.C. (1985). "Mental summation: The timing of voluntary intentions by cortical activity". Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 8 (4): 542–543. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1017%2Fs0140525x00044952">10.1017/s0140525x00044952</a>. <a href="S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:144996827">144996827</a>.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-28"><a href="#cite_ref-28">^</a> Bisiach, E. (1988). The (haunted) brain and consciousness. In (A. Marcel and E. Bisiach, eds) Consciousness in Contemporary Science. Oxford University Press, <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-19-852237-1</bdi>.

</li>

<li id="cite_note-L2004-29"><a href="#cite_ref-L2004_29-0">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFLibet2004" class="citation book cs1">Libet, Benjamin (2004). Mind Time – The Temporal Factor in Consciousness. Harvard University Press. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-674-01320-9</bdi>.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-30"><a href="#cite_ref-30">^</a> Libet, B. (2004). op. cit. pp. 86–87.

</li>

<li id="cite_note-31"><a href="#cite_ref-31">^</a> Libet, B. (2004). op. cit., pp. 157–184.

</li>

<li id="cite_note-32"><a href="#cite_ref-32">^</a> Libet, B. (2004). op. cit., pp. 172–179.

</li>

<li id="cite_note-33"><a href="#cite_ref-33">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFLibet2006" class="citation journal cs1">Libet, Benjamin (2006). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110718052421/http://www.telefonica.net/web2/lupelandia/piramidescerebro/Libet.pdf">"Reflections on the Interaction of the Mind and Brain"</a> (PDF). Progress in Neurobiology. 78 (3–5): 322–326. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.pneurobio.2006.02.003">10.1016/j.pneurobio.2006.02.003</a>. <a href="PMID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="PMID (identifier)">PMID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16675090">16675090</a>. <a href="S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:10976745">10976745</a>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.telefonica.net/web2/lupelandia/piramidescerebro/Libet.pdf">the original</a> (PDF) on 2011-07-18.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-telefonica.net-34">^ <a href="#cite_ref-telefonica.net_34-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-telefonica.net_34-1">b</a> Libet, B. (2006). op. cit., p. 324. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.telefonica.net/web2/lupelandia/piramidescerebro/Libet.pdf">PDF</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110718052421/http://www.telefonica.net/web2/lupelandia/piramidescerebro/Libet.pdf">Archived</a> July 18, 2011, at the <a href="Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-35"><a href="#cite_ref-35">^</a> Perlman, D. (2007). "Benjamin Libet – neurophysiologist studied the nature of free will", The San Francisco Chronicle, August 18, 2007. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/18/BANFRK1TG.DTL">Obituary</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20111116042136/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2007%2F08%2F18%2FBANFRK1TG.DTL">Archived</a> November 16, 2011, at the <a href="Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-36"><a href="#cite_ref-36">^</a> Blackmore, S. (2007). "Mind over matter? Many philosophers and scientists have argued that free will is an illusion. Unlike all of them, Benjamin Libet found a way to test it.", commentary at Guardian Unlimited, August 28, 2007. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/sue_blackmore/2007/08/mind_over_matter.html">Commentary</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080518190445/http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/sue_blackmore/2007/08/mind_over_matter.html">Archived</a> May 18, 2008, at the <a href="Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>.

</li>

<li id="cite_note-37"><a href="#cite_ref-37">^</a> <cite class="citation cs2"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6ZvOCYSOVQ">The Caretaker - Libet's Delay</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/C6ZvOCYSOVQ">archived</a> from the original on 2021-12-13, retrieved 2021-03-31</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-38"><a href="#cite_ref-38">^</a> <cite class="citation cs2"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuIGJiqCb8w">The Caretaker - Everywhere at the end of time - Stage 3 (FULL ALBUM)</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/DuIGJiqCb8w">archived</a> from the original on 2021-12-13, retrieved 2021-03-31</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-39"><a href="#cite_ref-39">^</a> <cite class="citation cs2"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGpLs-LCvZ8">The Caretaker - Benjamin Beyond Bliss</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/MGpLs-LCvZ8">archived</a> from the original on 2021-12-13, retrieved 2021-08-06</cite>

</li>

</ol></div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Further_reading">Further reading</h2></div>

<ul><li>Benjamin Libet, Anthony Freeman, and J. K. B. Sutherland, Editors, The volitional brain: Towards a neuroscience of free will. Imprint Academic, 1999. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-907845-50-9</bdi>.</li>

<li>Benjamin Libet, Mind time: The temporal factor in consciousness, Perspectives in Cognitive Neuroscience. <a href="Harvard_University_Press" title="Harvard University Press">Harvard University Press</a>, 2004. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-674-01320-4</bdi>.</li>

<li><a href="Daniel_C._Dennett" class="mw-redirect" title="Daniel C. Dennett">Daniel C. Dennett</a>, <a href="Freedom_Evolves" title="Freedom Evolves">Freedom Evolves</a>. <a href="Allen_Lane" title="Allen Lane">Allen Lane</a>, 2003. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-14-028389-7</bdi>.</li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFPauen_Michael2004" class="citation journal cs1">Pauen Michael (2004). "Does Free Will Arise Freely?". Scientific American Mind. 14: 1.</cite></li>

<li>In his Virtual Nobel <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.today/20121129104805/http://wwwg.uni-klu.ac.at/psy/cognition/index.php?page=np2003&lang=english">acceptance speech</a>, Libet summarized his life's research and highlighted his work on <a href="#Volitional_acts_and_readiness_potential">conscious volitional acts</a> and the <a href="#Subjective_backward_referral_or_"antedating"_of_sensory_experience">antedating of sensory awareness</a>.</li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div>

<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-me-libet27aug27,1,3692178.story?coll=la-news-a_section&ctrack=1&cset=true">Obituary</a> from The Los Angeles Times, August 27, 2007.</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/18/BANFRK1TG.DTL">Obituary</a> from The San Francisco Chronicle, August 18, 2007.</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070312055936/http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/psy/cognition/fr_nobel_E2003.html?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.uni-klu.ac.at%2Fpsy%2Fcognition%2Fnobelpreis_2003E.html">Virtual Nobel Prize in Psychology</a> Including video of Libet's acceptance speech.</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.consciousentities.com/libet.htm">Short account of Libet's experiments and theory</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150415185748/http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/culture/philosophy/ou-on-the-bbc-history-ideas-free-will-and-the-brain">Short BBC/Open University animation explaining Liber's experiment</a></li></ul>

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .navbox{box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;width:100%;clear:both;font-size:88%;text-align:center;padding:1px;margin:1em auto 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbox{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox-styles+.navbox{margin-top:-1px}.mw-parser-output .navbox-inner,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{width:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-title,.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow{padding:0.25em 1em;line-height:1.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group{white-space:nowrap;text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{background-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list{line-height:1.5em;border-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list-with-group{text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid}.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-group,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-image,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-list{border-top:2px solid #fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title{background-color:#ccf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-title{background-color:#ddf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-abovebelow{background-color:#e6e6ff}.mw-parser-output .navbox-even{background-color:#f7f7f7}.mw-parser-output .navbox-odd{background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ul,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ul{padding:0.125em 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbar{display:block;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title .navbar{float:left;text-align:left;margin-right:0.5em}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .navbox-image img{max-width:none!important}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .navbox{display:none!important}}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Neuropsychology687" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks hlist mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><div id="Neuropsychology687" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="Neuropsychology" title="Neuropsychology">Neuropsychology</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Topics</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Brain%E2%80%93computer_interface" title="Brain–computer interface">Brain–computer interface</a></li>

<li><a href="List_of_regions_in_the_human_brain" title="List of regions in the human brain">Brain regions</a></li>

<li><a href="Clinical_neuropsychology" title="Clinical neuropsychology">Clinical neuropsychology</a></li>

<li><a href="Cognitive_neuroscience" title="Cognitive neuroscience">Cognitive neuroscience</a></li>

<li><a href="Human_brain" title="Human brain">Human brain</a></li>

<li><a href="List_of_misconceptions_about_the_brain" class="mw-redirect" title="List of misconceptions about the brain">Misconceptions</a></li>

<li><a href="Neuroanatomy" title="Neuroanatomy">Neuroanatomy</a></li>

<li><a href="Neurophysiology" title="Neurophysiology">Neurophysiology</a></li>

<li><a href="Phrenology" title="Phrenology">Phrenology</a></li>

<li><a href="Traumatic_brain_injury" title="Traumatic brain injury">Traumatic brain injury</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="Brain_function" class="mw-redirect" title="Brain function">Brain functions</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Arousal" title="Arousal">Arousal</a></li>

<li><a href="Attention" title="Attention">Attention</a></li>

<li><a href="Consciousness" title="Consciousness">Consciousness</a></li>

<li><a href="Decision_making" class="mw-redirect" title="Decision making">Decision making</a></li>

<li><a href="Executive_functions" title="Executive functions">Executive functions</a></li>

<li><a href="Learning" title="Learning">Learning</a></li>

<li><a href="Memory" title="Memory">Memory</a></li>

<li><a href="Motor_coordination" title="Motor coordination">Motor coordination</a></li>

<li><a href="Natural_language" title="Natural language">Natural language</a></li>

<li><a href="Perception" title="Perception">Perception</a></li>

<li><a href="Planning" title="Planning">Planning</a></li>

<li><a href="Problem_solving" title="Problem solving">Problem solving</a></li>

<li><a href="Thought" title="Thought">Thought</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">People</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Arthur_Lester_Benton" title="Arthur Lester Benton">Arthur Lester Benton</a></li>

<li><a href="David_Bohm" title="David Bohm">David Bohm</a></li>

<li><a href="Ant%C3%B3nio_Dam%C3%A1sio" class="mw-redirect" title="António Damásio">António Damásio</a></li>

<li><a href="Phineas_Gage" title="Phineas Gage">Phineas Gage</a></li>

<li><a href="Norman_Geschwind" title="Norman Geschwind">Norman Geschwind</a></li>

<li><a href="Elkhonon_Goldberg" title="Elkhonon Goldberg">Elkhonon Goldberg</a></li>

<li><a href="Kurt_Goldstein" title="Kurt Goldstein">Kurt Goldstein</a></li>