'Free Will' May Stem from Brain Noise: How We Make Choices

What gives us free will? That's a good question, and one that scientists may now have a new idea about. They've found that our choices and mistakes might be enabled by random fluctuations in the brain's background electrical noise.

The brain has a normal level of "background noise" as electrical activity patterns fluctuate across the brain. In order to further understand this background noise, the researchers placed volunteers in front of a screen and told them to fix their attention on the center. The scientists then used electroencephalography, EEG, in order to record the brains' electrical activity. The participants were asked to make a decision to look either to the left or to the right when a cue symbol appeared on the screen, and then report their decision.

The cue to look either left or right appeared at random intervals. This made it so that the participants couldn't consciously or unconsciously prepare for it. In the end, the researchers found that the pattern of brain activity in the second or so before the cue appeared could actually predict the likely outcome of the person's decision.

"The state of the brain right before presentation of the cue determines whether you will attend to the left or to the right," said Jesse Bengson, one of the researchers, in a news release.

In fact the new study reveals that brain activity actually precedes decision. The random timing also showed the volunteers weren't making the decision in advance; instead, the brain activity determined the decision.

The findings actually raise questions of free will. If our brain is preparing to act before we know we are going to act, how do we make a conscious decision to act? It turns out that "brain noise" might actually create the opening for free will. It inserts a random effect that allows us to be freed from simple cause and effect.

The findings are published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.