Abstract
There has been a long controversy as to whether subjectively 'free' decisions are determined by brain activity ahead of time. We found that the outcome of a decision can be encoded in brain activity of prefrontal and parietal cortex up to 10 s before it enters awareness. This delay presumably reflects the operation of a network of high-level control areas that begin to prepare an upcoming decision long before it enters awareness.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Brain / physiology*
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Brain Mapping
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Choice Behavior / physiology*
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Cognition / physiology*
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Consciousness / physiology*
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Decision Making / physiology*
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Humans
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Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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Nerve Net / physiology
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Neural Pathways / physiology
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Neuropsychological Tests
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Parietal Lobe / physiology
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Photic Stimulation
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Prefrontal Cortex / physiology
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Psychomotor Performance / physiology
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Reaction Time / physiology
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Time Factors
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Unconscious, Psychology*