TY  - JOUR
A1  - Miller, Jeff
A1  - Schwarz, Wolfgang
T1  - Brain signals do not demonstrate unconscious decision making: An interpretation based on graded conscious awareness
JF  - Consciousness and cognition
N2  - Neuroscientific studies have shown that brain activity correlated with a decision to move can be observed before a person reports being consciously aware of having made that decision (e.g., Libet, Gleason, Wright, & Pearl, 1983; Soon, Brass, Heinze, & Haynes, 2008). Given that a later event (i.e., conscious awareness) cannot cause an earlier one (i.e., decision-related brain activity), such results have been interpreted as evidence that decisions are made unconsciously (e.g., Libet, 1985). We argue that this interpretation depends upon an all-or-none view of consciousness, and we offer an alternative interpretation of the early decision-related brain activity based on models in which conscious awareness of the decision to move develops gradually up to the level of a reporting criterion. Under this interpretation, the early brain activity reflects sub-criterion levels of awareness rather than complete absence of awareness and thus does not suggest that decisions are made unconsciously.
KW  - Neuroscience
KW  - Consciousness
KW  - Decision making
KW  - Libet
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2013.12.004
SN  - 1053-8100
SN  - 1090-2376
VL  - 24
SP  - 12
EP  - 21
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - San Diego
ER  -