Using a variety of neuroimaging tools in humans and animals, it is now possible to determine the types of information carried by brain circuits or regions and the cognitive operations they perform.
We can see how the thinking process takes place in general.
In some cases, it is even possible to predict an incipient action before the individual actually performs it.
Moreover, it is even possible to implant false memories into the animal’s brain that will affect its behavior.
But according to neuroscientists, the nervous system is much more than an electrochemical machine. It is a mechanism that creates meaning.
By mapping the evolution of action and cognitive control systems, scientists are beginning to understand how living organisms can act for their own reasons and actually decide what to do. This allows us to see that humans are not robots running a program, but beings with real autonomy and causal power in the world—that is, with free will.
This topic is discussed in more detail in the book Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will.
Source: Ferra
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